Executive leadership selected me to create and serve in a role designed to drive high-level IT strategy for the assurance line of business and provide technical operational leadership. Currently, I oversee a team and all common systems and solutions utilized by BDO firms and staff on a global scale, supporting 160+ independent firms and 36K+ auditors and acting as the assurance line of business CIO. I consistently interface with Global IT and outside vendors, including outsourced development teams and specialized technical resources, to manage programs. Additionally, I oversee project and operations budgets of up to $40M, ensuring we acquire and allocate all resources optimally. Finally, I navigate significant technology and regulatory differences to define technology strategy impacting firms in 160 countries.Standout achievements in this role include:• Building multi-disciplinary and multi-firm team to define, develop, and deliver Digital Strategy for Global Audit practice, reducing technology redundancy, driving audit quality, and improving efficiency.• Driving multi-firm initiative aligning data models, processing, and analytics platforms, to enable global-scale implementation of AI-powered anomaly detection and other leading edge analytics• Leading effort to achieve alignment across digital approach to quality initiatives in all firms, including ISQM1.• Drove introduction and development of business intelligence program as part of global data strategy. Collaborated with Global IT and Microsoft’s development team to roll out in 120+ firms that saw immediate ROI. Continue to champion investment in global BI/analytics tools (based on value/need) to executive team.• Ideated creative solutions to obtain funding for projects of vital importance to individual firms but outside of top-level priorities. Established means for individual firms to invest resources to support Global IT and/or accomplish development of globally-useful solutions.

This role straddled Assurance, IT, and strategy. I oversaw development of solutions for the assurance line of business for use by auditors worldwide. My team and I ensured a proper fit for organizational needs and alignment with business strategy. Later we rolled out full utilization of the tools by firms and staff. I directed troubleshooting and addressed escalations. To address issues prior to escalations, I consulted with firms proactively, providing trainings and assistance and collecting feedback to support operations. I also handled resource management and project management.My achievements in this role include:• In a large-scale project, I liaised between business and the contracted Microsoft India Global Development group that was tasked with fully re-developing the APT solution (a very large scale, proprietary methodology tool), advising the development team on the real-world implications of requirements and potential solutions, connecting developers with individual firms’ leadership, and translating project requirements for firms and the development team.• I intervened when Microsoft’s sales leadership nearly sold BDO Global IT on subpar solutions that would fail to meet the needs of individual firms and users, hosting a series of workshops with key architects and lead designers from Microsoft and internal subject matter experts to walk development teams through real life scenarios, ultimately causing a shift in approach that resulted in a final tool that fully met the business’ needs.• Guiding development of the company’s first fully functional client portal, now hosting 175K+ clients online, I shifted our approach to development of global client portal by bringing leadership back to the basics and drawing a delineation between inherent portal features and external functions to integrate with the portal.

In this role, I led a team of analysts, project managers, deployment & support specialists, and QA staff, reporting to Global Director of IT. My priority was to ensure a cohesive approach and execution of the architecture strategy. I provided guidance to individual BDO firms throughout architecture development. In addition, I expanded Global IT as a centralized service, focusing on development, release, and enhancements to the first generation of BDO’s methodology tool (APT) for the Assurance business line. I also served as a lead resource for APT design and development, ensuring proper integration with BDO functions and infrastructure. My team and I created and standardized a wide range of processes and policies within the fledgling Global IT division, defining an approach to interactions with business and technical departments in individual firms to facilitate delivery and support for global solutions. I also maximized resources to deliver on business line objectives.Highlights of this role include:• I drove alignment and consistency among individual firms’ previously fragmented IT practices and architecture by founding director-level collaborative group, International IT Council (IITC), to share best practices and jointly negotiate contracts with vendors to support BDO across the global business.• By introducing and enforcing consistency and standardized processes and strategy, I strengthened BDO’s position throughout the firm accreditation process.• As an architect, I led an architectural effort to establish a standardized global directory and database of firm and user information, laying the groundwork to implement consistent tools across all firms and integrate with global infrastructure; I also enabled standardized business intelligence reporting.• To earn trust, establish competence, and ensure compliance with local regulatory environments, I led the technical launch of APT globally, supported by the company’s first global hosting services (GHS).

During this time frame, I was promoted through 3 positions of growing responsibility and increasingly global scope, supporting the US organization’s role as part of an expanding international company.My best achievements include:• To create a consistent approach to architecture across the organization, I developed and established an Enterprise Architecture practice and framework within BDO USA. This led to the elimination of silos both within IT and across business lines and the creation of alignment between business, technology, security, and data architecture. It also enhanced project management processes and facilitated the implementation of new ITIL processes.• I introduced a business architecture philosophy within IT that positioned IT to take a more active role in strategy development and in the achievement of objectives. I did this by developing cross-functional relationships with the heads of business lines and hosting semi-annual strategic planning IT Advisory Council meetings to jointly collaborate on solutions and prepare for longer term business changes.

Business operations consultant