Chief Compliance Officer at Aviva, Canada (2021-08 – 2025-11)
Accountable for enterprise-wide regulatory compliance and conduct risk frameworks, including transformation of regulatory reporting through automation and AI-enabled insights. Primary liaison to OSFI and Canadian regulators with direct engagement with Aviva Group and UK compliance leadership to align Canadian programs with PRA/FCA standards. Led a team of six and managed a $5M regulatory budget.
- Rebuilt Aviva's regulatory engagement and supervision model, strengthening federal (OSFI) and provincial regulators' (OSFI, AMF, ASI) confidence through timely, data-driven submissions and clear executive accountability.
- Acted as Canadian compliance liaison to Aviva Group, supporting global regulatory alignment, cross-jurisdictional issue management, and information sharing with UK and international regulators, including PRA / FCA-driven initiatives related to conduct, outsourcing, and operational resilience.
- Led enterprise operational resilience initiatives, including major OSFI guidelines (B-10, E-13, E-21), across third-party risk, outsourcing and business continuity frameworks aligned to OSFI expectations and global standards.
- Strengthened customer conduct and fair treatment governance by embedding conduct risk appetite, customer outcome metrics, and product-lifecycle controls, improving consistency of customer experience oversight and outcomes.
- Provided second line oversight and challenge across business units, ensuring consistent application of risk frameworks and strengthening enterprise-wide risk outcomes.
- Introduced machine-learning-enabled regulatory horizon scanning, reducing manual effort by ~40% and materially improving early identification of emerging regulatory risks and issues.
- Presented enterprise risk and resilience insights to executive leadership and governance committees, supporting risk appetite monitoring and strategic decision-making.
- Elevated Board and executive reporting by shifting from retrospective compliance metrics to forward-looking regulatory and conduct risk insights, strengthening governance oversight, prioritization of remediation investments and readiness for heightened supervisory scrutiny.
AVP, Operational Risk at Aviva, Canada (2019-01 – 2021-08)
Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, appointed to build and lead the enterprise Operational Risk and Financial Controls function in response to OSFI supervisory findings and recommendations to strengthen risk management, issue remediation discipline, and control ownership across the organization. Led a team of six and a $3M budget, digitized risk reporting, and delivered large-scale change during the COVID-19 period.
- Designed and implemented Aviva's enterprise operational risk framework across all major business units, clarifying first-line risk ownership and control accountability.
- Led enterprise risk and controls transformation following an OSFI downgrade, addressing supervisory concerns related to operational risk maturity, control testing, and remediation tracking.
- Established enterprise-wide risk taxonomy, RCSA, and KRI frameworks aligned to risk appetite, improving proactive risk monitoring and escalation.
- Modernized testing and monitoring programs across multiple business units, reducing cycle times by ~30% and improving issue clarity and root-cause alignment, accelerated remediation timelines and enhanced visibility of material operational risks for senior leadership and the Board.
- Reviewed and challenged audit and control issues across financial and operational functions to ensure clear articulation of control weaknesses and root causes.
- Improved consistency of risk identification and issue management, contributing to faster escalation, fewer repeat issues and stronger executive and Board oversight.
- Implemented OpenPages ERM platform to enable enterprise-wide risk aggregation, analytics and Board-level reporting, enhancing decision-making and scalability of risk management.
AVP, Internal Audit at Aviva, Canada (2010-06 – 2019-01)
Member of the global Internal Audit leadership network, contributing to audit strategy, methodology and portfolio planning across regions. Led complex, risk-based audits across core insurance functions, financial crime, compliance, data management and shared services, including audit coverage supporting Aviva's acquisition and integration of RBC Insurance with regular reporting to senior executives and the Board Audit Committee.
- Developed forward-looking, risk-based audit strategies aligned to regulatory supervisory priorities and enterprise risk appetite, improving coverage of emerging risks and enabling earlier identification of control gaps.
- Supported global audit coordination and execution, partnering with UK and Group Internal Audit teams on cross-jurisdictional reviews and global thematic audits to ensure consistency of coverage, risk assessment, and reporting across markets.
- Contributed to the global Internal Audit function by supporting the Canadian Chief Audit Officer on audit strategy, risk assessment and audit methodology enhancements, helping drive consistency of standards, scoping discipline and leadership practices across markets.
- Led enterprise-wide thematic audits across insurance fundamentals – Underwriting, Claims, Investments & Capital management, Data Governance, strengthening control design consistency and effectiveness across multiple business units and improving audit ratings and regulatory alignment.
- Presented emerging risk insights and audit results to the Board Audit Committee, strengthening Board oversight of key enterprise risks to influence remediation prioritization and control investment decisions.
Internal Audit at Ernst & Young
Held progressive Internal Audit roles delivering SOX and operational audits using COSO and ISO 31000 frameworks.
Internal Audit at Altran Control Solutions
Held progressive Internal Audit roles delivering SOX and operational audits using COSO and ISO 31000 frameworks.
