text: Lisa Rawls named one of 2019 Women Leaders in Consulting - Future Leaders
  KPMG Advisory Services › Lisa Rawls named one of Women Leaders in Consulting - Future Leaders for 2019
  Lisa Rawls, the Service Network Leader for KPMG's U.S. GRC Technology practice, has been awarded Consulting magazine's Women Leaders in Consulting - Future Leaders for 2019.
  KPMG LLP is proud to congratulate Lisa Rawls for her selection as one of Consulting magazine's Women Leaders in Consulting - Future Leaders for 2019.
  Lisa will be recognized and celebrated at the gala dinner and awards ceremony hosted by the magazine on November 14 in New York City.
  "I am passionate about what I do, and I am truly honored and grateful to have been nominated by my firm and recognized by Consulting magazine. As I spend time with many of my mentees and younger team members, I'm inspired for the future and what it means for women in the consulting industry."
  Lisa has over 15 years of experience in client services and currently leads a team of 300 professionals as KPMG's U.S. GRC Technology leader. While in this role, she has led the team to be recognized as "Global Partner of the Year" from several KPMG alliance partners. Another leading effort that has come out of Lisa's service to KPMG and the Risk profession is the creation of the Women of Risk Community, which currently has over 1,500 participants across 35 countries.
  As I spend time with many of my mentees and younger team members, I'm inspired for the future and what it means for women in the consulting industry.
  Lisa Rawls, Principal, GRC Technology, KPMG LLP
  Lisa answered some questions on her award, advice for young professionals, and the future for women in Risk.
  1. How did you get into the consulting profession? Was it by design or accident?
  A little bit of both. After finishing university with a B.S. in Systems and Information Engineering, I knew that I wanted to help solve business problems. I wasn't completely sold on one specific job and through discussions at university career fairs as well as with professors, I decided that consulting would give me the opportunity to solve problems at multiple organizations, which was appealing. That was 15 years ago and I still love going to work every day.
  2. What do you enjoy most about the work that you do?
  I absolutely love working with industry leaders to help solve challenging problems in innovative and integrated ways. I enjoy developing my team members as well as those at my clients with whom I interact. The world is changing at an ever increasing pace which keeps my work interesting. The work is fast paced, and the passion and excitement my team members bring to each of our client projects keep me energized.
  3. What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?
  I was honored to be admitted into the KPMG Partnership in 2016 and was asked the following year to lead an amazing team of more than 250 professionals. Since that time, I've led the team's growth, expanded our service offerings, and supported the career advancement of my team members. Our team has also received accolades from external organizations including several 'Global Partner of the Year' awards from technology partners. I am proud of our collective success.
  While serving in this leadership role, I recognized a need within KPMG and the industry to do more to support women in the Risk profession. To address that need, I launched the Women of Risk Community, which is a group aligned to KPMG's Network of Women (KNOW). The Women of Risk Community is KPMG's first virtual KNOW chapter with the mission of supporting and connecting women in the Risk profession. The chapter is open to all KPMG professionals and our clients. We have more than 1,500 participants in 35 countries. We host events at KPMG, with our clients, and at industry conferences to help us achieve our mission. To celebrate our first anniversary in 2019, we hosted an event in over 20 KPMG offices on International Women's Day where we had more than 800 participants. I was honored to moderate a panel discussion and held individual round table discussions on our theme of "Innovating, Changing, and Leading."
  4. What's the best advice (consulting or otherwise) you give to team members?
  I take the time to mentor and assist others, listen to their challenges, and lift them up as I can. Through self-reflection, I identify ways to improve and act upon them with the goal of continuous improvement so that we can all move upward together. We work as a trusted team to grow, mature, and achieve our collective goals and objectives.
  5. What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?
  Be inquisitive, authentic, and resilient. Learn as much as you can from your team members and clients. You will have some amazing experiences and be exposed to opportunities that others may never have in their careers. Bring your authentic self to work – people want to work with those they trust and being authentic helps build that trust. It is also important to set goals and share those with your mentors and managers openly so they can help guide and coach you along the way. Learn to flex the resiliency muscle. I view it as a muscle, and it takes practice to really be resilient. Learning how to 'not sweat the small stuff' and get back on your feet can be challenging, especially for women who aim for perfection like many of us do.
  6. Professionally, what are you most looking forward to in 2020?
  Being in the technology risk consulting industry, I work with clients to leverage technology to gain more insights to provide risk-informed and data-driven business decisions. These companies are focused on building stakeholder trust. As a trusted advisor to my clients, I stay ahead of emerging technologies and regulatory changes that impact my clients. In 2020, we are focused on evolving our services to be even more integrated, allowing us be the trusted advisor for more organizations as they prepare for and embrace the future.