How You Can Uplift Others and Yourself: 4 Women Leaders Share Their Advice

Denise is an Advisory Partner based in Houston with over 19 years of experience assisting clients with software license compliance, IT Asset Management, supplier reviews and internal audit. She has delivered these services across multiple industries including Technology, Energy, Logistics/Transportation, Telecom and Healthcare. She is the North American Lead for KPMG US largest software license compliance engagement. Assisted clients in developing processes and controls for managing their software assets throughout the software life cycle. She has helped her clients identify risk areas (i.e. compliance, security, operational and financial) related to their software assets and has provided recommendations to close gaps. Additionally, she has helped her clients, identify several areas of cost savings by optimizing deployments, reducing maintenance cost and re-harvesting unused licenses for multiple publishers. Overseen ServiceNow SAM Pro and HAM Pro implementation for Energy clients. Provided multi-year SAM managed services for clients, supporting their IBM software portfolio and assisting with IBM reporting requirements. Assisted clients with improving compliance processes, developing KPIs for compliance programs and improving software asset management processes. Assisted clients with building and managing their global contract compliance programs. She has led and executed a number of software license reviews which included the collection of software deployment data, the analysis of the deployment and entitlement positions and reporting.

Sophia is a Sr. Lead Tax Partner based in San Francisco and serves as the Major Market Tax Leader for KPMG San Francisco. She has 20 years of experience advising highly innovative cloud computing, digital marketplace, electronic payments, and subscription-based businesses with international (direct and indirect) tax planning, intercompany operating models, transfer pricing, international expansion, internal restructurings, cross border M&A and post-acquisition integration, and global tax controversy. She also advises clients on global tax policy developments and potential implications to their businesses. Sophia also advises large and geographically distributed Tax Departments on improving their tax operations, optimizing the use of technology to enable the Tax Department to be operationally efficient, while being a valued business partner that brings data-driven insight to further enhance shareholder value. Prior to joining KPMG, Sophia was Director of Tax Planning and Transfer Pricing at Keysight Technologies, the original Hewlett Packard business; Tax Director of AIG’s Global Property & Casualty Business Unit, a $60B revenue business unit, responsible for global tax planning, strategic transfer pricing, and tax controversy in over 90 countries; and Tax Associate at Baker & McKenzie’s Silicon Valley office where she advised high tech and bio tech companies.

Heather Paquette serves as the National Technology Assurance Leader – Audit where she’s responsible for leading a team of over 1200 professionals focused on IT Audit, SOC Attestation, ERP Controls and Data & Analytics in the audit. Building a dynamic National Tech Assurance practice within KPMG Audit is part of a multidimensional and multiyear transformation that highlights technology as the future of audit. Heather is a member of the Audit Leadership Team and helps to develop and execute our strategic vision for our team of more than 900 Audit partners and 7,000 Audit professionals in the US. We also continue to invest in cyber, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies, blockchain, cloud and ERP control capabilities. Heather recently served as the practice leader for the Bay Area Risk Assurance practice, focused on delivering Internal Audit & Enterprise Risk, Technology Risk Management and Technology Assurance services. Heather previously served as the Michigan Managing Partner for KPMG, leading a team of almost 400 professionals and responsible for creating innovative market strategies for various service lines and aligning KPMG services to the market demand. Heather specializes in Technology Assurance and has more than 26 years of financial audit, information technology / business process experience, focusing on risk and control. Heather is a veteran of the United States Air Force and served in the United Kingdom and then in Southern Regional Operation Center for NATO in Naples, Italy prior to joining KPMG and has led the firm’s Veterans Advisory Board. Heather is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), YPO Pacific One, International Women’s Forum (IWF) and Women Corporate Directors (WCD), where she co-founded the Detroit chapter. Heather is currently a director with the Western Golf Association Evans Scholarship Foundation, helping to provide full scholarships to golf caddies. Heather has a long history of supporting the communities where she’s lived and worked and most recently served of the boards of the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit Regional Chamber, Downtown Detroit Partnership, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and St. John Providence Health System Board of Trustees. While serving as a board member for United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Heather helped to launch the WomenUNITED initiative dedicated to providing health and basic needs to the community. Heather has been recognized as one of Crain’s Detroit Business 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan and by ATHENA International 2012 National ATHENA Award Recipient for her work as the international board chair helping to develop, support and honor women leaders worldwide. Heather is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Heather is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), licensed in California, Michigan and Illinois. Heather is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a member of the American Institue of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

KPMG Advisory Partner with 18+ years leading risk transformation initiatives at many Fortune 100 companies. Lisa’s passion for innovation, technology, and streamlining business activities allows her clients to achieve measurable results through proactive risk management. Serving as KPMG GRC Service Network Leader for the Americas region, Lisa is responsible for a team of over 300 professionals who specialize in Integrated Risk Management and ERP Application Security and Controls across the major ERPs: SAP, Oracle, Workday, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Microsoft Dynamics. Lisa was recognized as a 2019 Women Leader in Consulting by Consulting Magazine and received the Future Leader Award. She co-founded the Women of Risk Community (WORC) which has a mission of advancing women in the Risk profession. WORC is growing at a rapid pace and has over 2000 members in over 40 countries. Lisa is dedicated to giving back and paying it forward. She sits on the board of a DC-based non-profit, Young Playwrights’ Theater – focused on arts education for underprivileged youth, and is an active volunteer at N Street Village – a women’s homeless rehabilitation center in DC, and with KPMG’s Families for Literacy.