Stephanie Richard

Stephanie Richard is the Chief Audit Executive (CAE) for Ally Financial, a $180 billion U.S. digital banking institution. She is responsible for leading Ally’s Internal Audit and Credit Review functions, with over 160 employees. As a regulated bank, Internal Audit is key to the company’s success by ensuring the organization is operating and managing risks effectively. Richard reports directly to Ally’s Board of Directors (Audit Committee) and the CEO. She is also a member of the Executive Committee and is involved in all major strategy, human resource and leadership matters at the company.

Over the course of her career Richard has held roles in nearly every major function in the organization, including Accounting, Finance, Treasury, Risk Management, and Internal Audit. She has played a crucial role in nearly every major milestone for the company over the past 10+ years, including: a company restructuring and turnaround, formation as a bank holding company, implementation of processes to meet major regulatory requirements, an initial public offering and numerous product expansions. Through her experiences, Richard has had significant exposure to every aspect of the company’s operations and has gained extensive boardroom experience. In her current role, she is responsible for setting the Audit Committee’s agenda and frequently leads discussions on risk, internal controls, and regulatory matters.

Since being appointed as CAE in early 2018 Richard has used her passions for reinvention and talent development by establishing a strategic focus on the transformation of the internal audit function, with efforts on cultivating innovation, expanding the use of technology and data analytics, and establishing an early talent program to bring in diverse employees, who can use internal audit as an initial step in establishing careers in banking. She has successfully leveraged relationships across the company to influence change to historical practices and perceptions of the internal audit function to be more forward-looking and advisory focused and better enable the bank to execute successful growth strategies.

Richard is also heavily involved in diversity and inclusion efforts across the company, with a particularly strong passion for developing women leaders. She currently sponsors and leads the Ally Women’s Employee Resource Group, whose purpose is to provide support and development of women to advance their careers at Ally. In 2022, Richard was honored with a Women in Business Achievement Award by the Charlotte Business Journal.