Going for Gold: Women Leading the Way

Nasrin is responsible for overall cybersecurity at Verizon, including defending the company’s enterprise, network and overseeing cyber governance for commercial products. Previously, she was Global Chief Information and Product Cyber Security Officer at GE, Global CISO for GE Capital, and head of Corporate Governance, Technology Risk and M&A security for the industrial GE businesses. Prior to GE, Nasrin was Chief Technology Risk Officer at State Street and CTO of Security at Cisco Systems. She holds a bachelor’s degree in information systems, and an MBA.

Sarah has spent nearly two decades of practice working with organizations, small and large, public and private, in navigating their relationships and communications with key stakeholders, including their investors, regulators, employees and communities. She has regularly worked with boards of directors and senior management on their approaches to corporate governance, oversight and disclosure, crisis management, succession planning and board education.

Sarah is the Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Ford Motor Company. Prior to joining Ford, Sarah was a corporate governance partner and global co-chair of the sustainability practice at Latham & Watkins. Before joining Latham, Sarah was the mind behind the creation of one of the first cross-functional governance and sustainability groups at a U.S.-based global law firm, where she also served as the firm’s dedicated corporate governance expert.

Sarah is a key thought leader in U.S. corporate governance and on matters regarding environmental and social corporate risks and opportunities, including those relating to governance, corporate culture, climate change and human rights. She has helped clients create consistent, effective and meaningful stakeholder communications (both required and voluntary), and has worked with companies across multiple industries in times of calm and in times of crisis, as well as during key strategic transactions.

Sarah has created a unique perspective on and approach to corporate cultural wellness that connects an in-depth understanding of leadership, governance, the ethics and compliance functions, employee incentives and initiatives, and corporate risk and crisis management. She has a sophisticated understanding of incentive structures and how they function across various levels of an organization given an organization’s strategies, goals and values.

Lee-Anne Mulholland has spent nearly 20 years conducting internal investigations, building compliance programs, and representing companies and individuals before regulatory agencies across the world. She began her career as a Barrister in the North of Ireland, where she successfully handled jury and bench trials, appeared before the UK Supreme Court, and represented family members of individuals who were killed by the British Army during a civil rights march in 1972 before the internationally-chaired Bloody Sunday Inquiry. After pursuing her LLM and SJD at Berkeley, Lee-Anne practiced at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in the San Francisco Bay Area. She eventually made it to Google and is now the Vice President of Alphabet’s Global Regulatory Affairs team. She and her team handle internal and regulatory investigations across the world. With a passion for proactively solving problems, Lee-Anne and her team also handle other strategic projects to ensure the trust of Google’s users and society. Lee-Anne has been a dedicated provider of pro bono services, having litigated cases with NGOs such as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Center for Justice and Accountability. 

Raquel Ettrick Thompson is a Senior Vice President who serves as the Chief Technology Risk Officer at USAA. In this role she establishes and oversees all aspects of USAA’s Technology, Security, Data, Business Continuity, Privacy, Technology Compliance Testing, and Third-Party risk management programs. In her role she collaborates with functional leaders and key business stakeholders to assist in identifying, assessing, and mitigating all relevant IT risks for all USAA products and processes across all distribution channels. Raquel has over 20 years of experience in technology and cyber audit, risk, and compliance, with global leadership roles across all three lines of defense, including Big Four public consulting, financial services, and IT communications.

Prior to USAA, Raquel was a Managing Director, Global Head of Technology & Cyber Risk Management at Bank of New York (BNY), overseeing risk governance for over 500 applications and more than 200 third party vendors. Raquel was also responsible for the oversight and governance of all artificial intelligence initiatives across all BNY business functions, including establishing the governance policy, frameworks and standards for the enterprise. Raquel also served as the Global Co-Chair for the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) – the largest employee business resource group in the company, which focused on the development, advancement, allyship and retention of women globally.

She is a strong advocate for inclusion, Raquel leads by example in driving positive workplace change. Recognized for her career achievements and commitment to future talent, Raquel was named a HITEC awardee in 2022 and 2023, honored as a 2024 Empower Role Model sponsored by YouTube, and was a finalist for the 2024 Technology Executive of the Year – Enterprise Edition. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Florida State University and a Master of Science from Nova Southeastern University. In addition, Raquel has completed Executive Education Programs at Carnegie Mellon University and holds Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification.