Strategic Happy Hour: Effective Risk Management for the Private Company

Panelists

Don Holmes Partner PwC

Don is a Partner with PwC’s Audit practice, based out of Boston with significant ERM and governance experience. He has more than 31 years of experience managing and leading all aspects of assurance and advisory engagements for a wide range of organizations, including public companies, multinational companies, and privately held enterprises. His experience includes providing private and public growing companies with audit and business advisory services across a broad range of sectors, including retail and consumer, industrial products, technology, and healthcare.

Mark Kristall Consulting Solutions Partner PwC

Mark Kristall is a PwC Consulting Solutions Partner based in Boston MA. Mark’s primary area of responsibility is the delivery of Risk and Regulatory services including Internal Audit, Enterprise Risk Management, Investigative Support, SOX Compliance, IPO Readiness and Risk Management Solutions to our clients in the Consumer Markets, Technology, and Industrials sectors. During Mark’s 23+ years with PwC, he has held numerous client service roles in the Assurance and Consulting practices. In 2010, Mark took on the responsibility of Director of Operations in the Risk Assurance Delivery Center. In addition, Mark participated in PwC’s leadership development program, Genesis Park. He is also a co-author of PwC's 2017 & 2018 State of the Internal Audit Profession studies - a global publication involving the input of over 1,500 internal audit and risk professionals worldwide.

During Mark’s career he has managed and executed projects related to the full life cycle of Internal Audit including; Quality Assessment Reviews, Internal Audit Transformations, and sourcing models. In addition to leading companies through initial or redesigned efforts for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.  For his clients Mark has led sourced internal audit and SOX projects globally working directly with companies and our teams on the ground in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. While Mark’s approach is practical, he works to identify opportunities to maximize the efficiency in the way his clients operate. Outside of Internal Audit, Mark has led many Risk Advisory projects that focused on Enterprise Risk Management, Business Process Reviews, and ‎Risk Assessments.

John D. Farina Northeast Managing Partner (retired) PwC

As a partner at PwC, John has over three decades of experience advising both domestic and multinational Fortune 500 companies on financial accounting, regulatory, and tax matters. He has significant experience working with c-suites and boards across several industry sectors with deep expertise in the insurance industry.

At PwC, John held a variety of senior leadership roles and has strong operational skills. Most recently, he served as the Managing Partner of PwC’s Northeast Region. This is one of PwC’s largest regions with 5 offices, 280 partners, 3,800 staff and $1+billion in revenue. In this role, John gained significant experience in strategic planning, operations, finance, risk management, human capital, and sales & Marketing.

John has extensive governance experience. While at PwC, he was elected by his partners to serve 2 terms (8 years) on both the firm’s US and Global Boards, providing governance and oversight to the firm’s $43B in revenue and 280,000+ people. In addition, he is currently serving on a public company board and has served (or is serving) on the Boards of 7 non-profit organizations. He also recently completed “Preparing to Be A Corporate Director” at Harvard Business School. John received his BBA in Accounting, summa cum laude, from Evangel University. He is a CPA in Massachusetts and Texas. He currently lives in Boston.

Christopher A. Harrison External Advisor Bain & Company, Board Director, Consultant

Chris Harrison is an accomplished C-suite executive / CHRO, current board director and advisor with 30+ years of experience partnering with CEOs, Boards and executive teams to drive growth and value creation with market leading Fortune 500, private/PE and non-profit organizations. Harrison has a unique combination of human capital, muti-functional and line operating experience with a proven track record in complex transformational situations including organic and new product growth environments, 30 strategic transactions (acquisitions/integrations/divestitures/sales), operating model and OPEX optimization programs, COVID pandemic response and ESG / DE&I strategy implementation. He has deep expertise leading effectual human capital strategies at all levels including CEO/CXO succession, Board composition and partnership, CEO and C-suite leader transitions, executive assessments, development planning and team building. He is also highly passionate about driving employee value propositions that are authentic, values based and distinctly aligned with company purpose and strategy. Harrison holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS from Southern Connecticut State University.

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