Elizabeth M Kay

Elizabeth Kay is an associate managing director at Kroll. Her recent assignments include managing financial crime compliance advisory and independent testing engagements for cryptocurrency exchanges, Stablecoin issuers, FinTech companies, digital banks and money service businesses. Prior to joining Kroll, she held senior compliance, audit, and finance positions at prominent financial institutions.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

What makes me a Risk Woman is that I am okay working out of my comfort zone when advising or assessing a client’s compliance program. Often viewed as conservative, my approach is rooted in the facts of the compliance program and whether it’s designed adequately and operating in an effective/sustainable manner.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. I was the first person, male or female, in my family to attend college and I paid for most it myself.
2. I was responsible for overseeing the completion of key requirements established under an MOU that related to combining the audit functions of various legacy companies under a newly formed bank holding company. This work included establishing a new audit methodology, a universe of audit entities, and preparing reports for the audit committee of the board. The results of this work were presented to the Federal Reserve, and we were praised not only for the quality of the work but how quickly we were able to accomplish it.
3. My background encompasses finance, audit and compliance. I’ve been able to leverage those skills to reinvent myself throughout my career – pivoting from a CFO role to project lead for a credit redesign initiative for middle market businesses in the emerging markets to audit standards and methodology development to financial crime and fiduciary compliance – ultimately pivoting from financial services to consulting.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

The biggest risk was leaving a company that I spent 20 years of career and even after I was assured of a promotion on the audit team. Unbeknownst to me, I would do so just in advance of the financial crisis.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I’m not sure. I’m rather open about myself and past.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Open-mindedness and adaptability.