Cassandra Brown Ray, CPA, MBA, joined the Saint Louis Zoo in 1992 as a staff accountant and has served as the Controller/Director of Finance since 1999. In 2019, Ray was named Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for the finance and procurement operations of the Saint Louis Zoo. She also works closely with the governance of the Saint Louis Zoo, including the Audit, Investment and Finance committees.

In 2021, Mrs. Ray was named one of the Saint Louis Business Journal’s Most Influential Business Women. Ray serves on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Finance and Audit Committee and the Premier Charter School Board of Directors. She is a graduate of FOCUS Leadership St. Louis (2014) and a member of the inaugural class of the FOCUS Impact Fellows, a team charged with developing and implementing an action plan using the 2015 Ferguson Commission Report as a guideline.

She earned her MBA from Lindenwood University and her undergraduate accounting degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before joining the Zoo, she worked for General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas.