The 2019 Women Leaders in Consulting: Lisa Rawls

After finishing college, Lisa Rawls knew she wanted to help solve business problems and wasn't completely sold on one specific job. She decided that consulting would give her 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," she says. 

Today, Rawls is a Principal in KPMG's Advisory Services practice who focuses on enterprise GRC and guiding organizations through risk and compliance transformation initiatives, ultimately enabled by enterprise GRC Technology. She specializes in assisting organizations to navigate complex risk transformation initiatives by leveraging her analytical, technology, and process engineering skills. 

"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," Rawls says. "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." 

And she's excelled. Rawls was admitted into the KPMG Partnership in 2016 and was asked the following year to lead a team of more than 250 professionals. Since that time, she's led the team's growth, expanded the firm's service offerings, and supported the career advancement of her team members. "I am proud of our collective success," she says.

While serving in this leadership role, she recognized a need within KPMG and the industry to do more to support women in the Risk profession. To address that need, Rawls 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 women in the Risk profession. 

"We have more than 1,000 participants in 27 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," she says. 

Being in the technology risk sector, Rawls works 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, I stay ahead of emerging technologies and regulatory changes that impact my clients," she says. "In 2020, we are focused on evolving our services to be even more integrated, allowing us to be the trusted advisor for more organizations as they embrace the future."

Q&A: What does winning the Women Leaders in Consulting award mean to you?

"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."