Iliyas Adewale

Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) and IT Audit professional with 12+ years of experience leading SOC 2, HITRUST, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and PCI DSS compliance programs, audit readiness, and enterprise risk management across regulated financial and technology environments. Expert in end-to-end audit lifecycle execution, control testing, risk assessments, control mapping, and remediation tracking, ensuring scalable and repeatable compliance operations. Experienced in customer security questionnaires, RFP responses, trust center management, and reusable security response libraries, supporting customer assurance and enterprise transparency.

Trusted cross-functional partner to Security, Engineering, Legal, and Business teams, translating technical risks into clear business impact while supporting fast-paced, high-growth SaaS and fintech environments.

Lead IT Audit – Senior Information Systems Auditor - American National Insurance - League City, Texas

(2025-09)

• Led and executed end-to-end IT audits (planning, risk assessment, walkthroughs, control testing, issue validation, and reporting), delivering high-quality audit reports and presenting findings and risk insights directly to senior IT and business management, improving decision-making on remediation priorities.
• Directed the development and implementation of a continuous monitoring program for IT General Controls (ITGCs), reducing manual testing effort by 40% and improving real-time risk identification and control effectiveness tracking.
• Conducted enterprise cybersecurity and technology risk assessments, maintaining the IT risk register and tracking 50+ control deficiencies and remediation actions, improving governance maturity and reducing overdue audit issues by 35%.
• Evaluated enterprise data governance controls, identifying gaps and providing recommendations that strengthened data integrity, security, and regulatory compliance.
• Executed cloud security and compliance audits (AWS) across 20+ critical systems, evaluating IAM, configuration management, SAN/NAS Storage, data protection, BCDR, Network/Endpoint controls, Incident and Change Management controls to ensure alignment with internal policies and regulatory expectations.

Information Systems Auditor 2 - New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) - Albany, NY

(2023-08 - 2025-09)

• Executed risk-based IT and cybersecurity audits across 15+ state agencies and major technology initiatives exceeding $5M, assessing governance, security controls, compliance requirements, and operational effectiveness.
• Conducted NIST-aligned assessments of IAM, cybersecurity governance, data protection, and cloud-related controls, identifying key risks and delivering recommendations that improved the overall security posture by 27%.
• Developed audit programs, testing methodologies, project plans, and risk assessments to support complex audit engagements while ensuring compliance with audit standards and departmental methodologies.
• Directed audit procedures for seven large-scale state technology initiatives over a 12-month span, utilizing TeamMate+ to evaluate compliance with internal and regulatory standards, which elevated audit coverage by 34% and improved issue detection rates.

Independent IT Audit Consultant - Beech Valley Consultants - Remote

(2023-02 - 2023-07)

• Performed SOX IT controls testing, SOC 1/SOC 2 report reviews, vendor risk assessments, and FFIEC-aligned control evaluations, including assessment of Complementary User Entity Controls (CUECs) and remediation recommendations.
• Identified and assessed an average of 15 high-risk technology vulnerabilities per client, developing remediation roadmaps that strengthened security posture and audit readiness.
• Applied analytics-driven testing, automation, and continuous monitoring techniques to improve audit efficiency, increase testing coverage, and provide actionable risk insights to senior stakeholders.

Senior IT Auditor - Infotech Consulting - Houston, TX

(2020-05 - 2023-07)

• Implemented analytics-driven audit methodologies using SQL, Python, and automated testing procedures, improving audit efficiency, evidence quality, and control validation accuracy.
• Partnered with client technology and security leadership to enhance incident response, business continuity, and risk management capabilities, improving organizational resilience, audit outcomes, cloud governance, and control effectiveness.
• Spearheaded the assessment of IT environments against SOC 2 frameworks during 10 projects per year over a 3-year period, leveraging TeamMate+ and ACL Analytics to identify control gaps, enhance compliance readiness, and support successful client attestation outcomes.

Lead IT Governance and Compliance - Access Bank Plc - Lagos, Nigeria

(2018-09 - 2020-02)

• Led enterprise Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) initiatives across digital banking platforms, maintaining and enhancing information security policies, standards, procedures, control documentation, and governance frameworks aligned with ISO 27001/27002, PCI DSS, GDPR, NIST CSF, and regulatory requirements, improving regulatory compliance from 83% to 93%.
• Mapped security controls to multiple compliance frameworks, maintained risk assessments, risk registers, policy exceptions, risk acceptances, control narratives, and evidence repositories, while partnering with control owners to remediate security and compliance gaps across 22 technology initiatives.
• Leveraged Laika (Thoropass), Secureframe and Workiva audit management platforms to automate evidence collection, control monitoring, compliance reporting, and repeatable GRC workflows, supporting scalable SaaS and fintech compliance operations while reducing manual effort by 22%.
• Directed SOC 2 and HITRUST readiness, coordinating audit preparation, evidence collection, auditor requests, control testing, remediation tracking, audit response management, and closure of audit findings, improving audit readiness by 15%.
• Streamlined IT and Digital Banking governance workflows through automation and standardized compliance reporting, reducing manual compliance activities by 30%.

Lead IT Auditor - Access Bank Plc - Lagos, Nigeria

(2016-12 - 2018-09)

• Conducted a targeted audit of high-risk transactions, identifying potential fraud cases totaling over $1 million.
• Recommended process optimization strategies, including automation of routine tasks, which resulted in a 25% reduction in operational costs and a 15% increase in overall productivity across branches.
• Led the audit team whose findings supported the introduction of a standardized customer service training program and improved complaint resolution process, resulting in a 30% improvement in customer satisfaction scores and a 10% increase in customer retention rates.

Head, Technology and Operations - Access Bank (SL) Ltd - Freetown, Sierra Leone

(2013-03 - 2016-11)

• Managed technology infrastructure and banking operations, ensuring seamless execution and integrity across credit and loan functions for a financial institution.
• Championed the development and implementation of a new IT risk management framework, enhancing proactive risk identification and mitigation strategies across all technology operations.
• Spearheaded the establishment of a comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity plan, ensuring operational resilience and minimal downtime during critical events.
• Established and managed the IT governance structure, defining policies and procedures to ensure compliance with banking regulations and international standards.
• Orchestrated the implementation of robust IT security policies and procedures, ensuring adherence to international standards and regulatory mandates.

PG Certificate - Cybersecurity - Rice University (2021)

MBA - Aston University (2017)

MSc - Financial Services Management - University of Salford

Management Program - Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania) (2016)

BSc - Accounting & Finance - University of Derby (2011)