50 Women to Watch Honoree
Bank of the Orient
San Francisco, CA
2025 Cohort
Freda Lam Zietlow is a global finance executive and board director with more than 25 years of experience in asset and wealth management, capital markets, banking, and real estate. Recognized as an Qualified Financial Expert with extensive business experience, she brings governance depth across audit, risk management, compliance, and digital transformation to regulated and growing enterprises. Freda is known for her strategic vision, international perspective, and ability to drive growth and innovation. For over a decade, Freda has served as an independent director on corporate and nonprofit boards. As Audit Committee Chair at Bank of the Orient, a commercial bank with operations in the U.S. and China, she oversees financial reporting, internal controls, and complex asset valuations. Freda played a pivotal role in guiding the bank through post-crisis recapitalization, CEO successions, and strategic pivots, helping the institution double its assets and regain regulatory standing. She also serves as Vice Chair...
Freda Lam Zietlow is a global finance executive and board director with more than 25 years of experience in asset and wealth management, capital markets, banking, and real estate. Recognized as an Qualified Financial Expert with extensive business experience, she brings governance depth across audit, risk management, compliance, and digital transformation to regulated and growing enterprises. Freda is known for her strategic vision, international perspective, and ability to drive growth and innovation.
For over a decade, Freda has served as an independent director on corporate and nonprofit boards. As Audit Committee Chair at Bank of the Orient, a commercial bank with operations in the U.S. and China, she oversees financial reporting, internal controls, and complex asset valuations. Freda played a pivotal role in guiding the bank through post-crisis recapitalization, CEO successions, and strategic pivots, helping the institution double its assets and regain regulatory standing. She also serves as Vice Chair and Audit Committee Chair at Myriad USA, a global grant-making facilitator operating in over 100 countries, and currently advises Daylight Advisors, a philanthropic education and certification company.
Freda’s executive career is distinguished by her extensive investment and capital market experience. As Managing Director/Sr. Portfolio Manager at Fiduciary Trust International (a $40B Franklin Templeton wealth management and trust company), she led key client relationships and portfolio management for the Western United States, overseeing the selection of public, private, sustainable, and alternative managers. Previously, at the Fremont Group (Bechtel Family Office), she sourced and structured over $1B in private real estate equity and debt investments. Freda began her career at JPMorgan in New York and Hong Kong as an M&A investment banker and fixed-income analyst, covering energy and commodities.
Freda holds an MBA in Finance from Wharton, an MS in Real Estate from Columbia, and a BA in Architecture with High Honors from UC Berkeley. She has completed advanced programs in AI Governance (Stanford) and DeCentralized Finance (Duke). Freda is a CFA Charterholder, an NACD-certified director, and is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Freda has been recognized as a "Director to Watch" (Private Company Director, 2026), a Financial Times "Agenda Future 50 Director" (2025), a "50 Women to Watch for Boards" (50/50 Women on Boards, 2025), and one of the "Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley" (2024).
