Dennis Barnes, Jr., serves as Chief Marketing Officer of RGA and as the Chief Executive Officer of RGAX, the transformation engine of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA). He is also a member of RGA’s Extended Leadership Team; the co-chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and is Executive Sponsor to RGA’s U.S.-based Employee Resource Groups.

Dennis joined RGA after more than two decades of experience as an entrepreneur and innovator in insurance direct marketing. His company, Marketing Direct, Inc. (MDI), an integrated healthcare marketing services company which he founded in 1997, was acquired in 2010 by WPP, the world’s largest provider of marketing and communication services. There, he was president of Wunderman St. Louis and Chief Client Officer of Wunderman Health, a digital agency for life insurance, pharmaceutical, medical devices, and other health and wellness verticals.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia, and holds a certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Birthing of Giants program, which focuses on entrepreneurial development. Dennis’ awards include international recognition from Ernst & Young as the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year and local recognition from the St. Louis Chapter of the Direct Marketing Association as Direct Marketer of the Year.

Dennis is Emeritus Director of the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), and serves on the Board of the American Lung Association in Missouri. Previously, he has served on the University of Missouri Strategic Development Board; as President of the St. Louis chapter of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO); and as a member of the Board of Directors of The Magic House, (St. Louis’ Children’s Museum). An author and speaker, Dennis has been featured in Inc. Magazine, St. Louis Commerce Magazine, Fast Forward, St. Louis Business Journal, and St. Louis Small Business Monthly.