Brian Schwartz Joins PwC's Risk Assurance Practice as Governance, Risk and Compliance Leader

NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PwC US today announced that Brian Schwartz has joined the firm as a partner in the Risk Assurance practice, leading PwC's Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) offering across all sectors. As a Washington, D.C., based partner in this practice, Brian and his team will help companies better identify and manage the significant and growing risks to their businesses, including strategic, operational, financial and compliance risks.

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In his new role, Schwartz will work closely with PwC's Internal Audit Services team, led by Jason Pett, in a collaborative effort to provide companies with a holistic, strategic and integrated view of risk across Internal Audit, Compliance, and Risk functions and activities.

Prior to joining PwC, Schwartz worked for Ernst & Young where he had been a partner since 2005 and most recently served as the Global & Americas Internal Audit leader since 2011. In addition to his internal audit leadership role, Schwartz served as a member of the Americas Advisory leadership team and Americas Risk leadership team. Before that, Schwartz was the Advisory Services practice leader for the Baltimore/Washington market, including internal audit, enterprise risk management, GRC and broader Advisory services.

"Given our continued investment in the Risk Assurance practice, specifically to enhance our capabilities to meet the changing regulatory and complicated risk landscape our clients are dealing with, we are continuously looking to expand our capabilities and bring in the right talent," said Dean Simone, leader of PwC's U.S. Risk Assurance practice. "Brian has a diverse background with deep compliance and risk experiences and capabilities, including consulting and corporate leadership roles as a Chief Audit Executive and a Corporate Compliance Officer, and is a perfect complement to the leadership team within Risk Assurance.  He has a proven track record helping companies think through emerging and future risks and providing them with the right, tailored solution to address those risks and concerns. We are excited to welcome him to our team."

"Businesses are struggling to adopt the right risk management processes that are critically important to assist them in first identifying and understanding the various risks to their businesses and then developing solutions to effectively mitigate or manage the risk," said Pett. "Well-positioned companies have broken through the internal silos and look at risks across the full organization to gain a clear picture of existing and potential issues that could have a significant impact on their operations and strategies. I'm looking forward to working with Brian to help companies bridge the risk gaps between the roles of Internal Audit and multiple risk and compliance functions within companies so they can better achieve their goals and objectives."

"This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage my skills and competencies developed over the past 24 years in Governance, Risk and Compliance to bring practical, integrated solutions to organizations of all shapes and sizes," said Schwartz.  "PwC is the ideal firm for me given its unwavering commitment and approach to client service and belief in viewing risk holistically, which matches my personal philosophy and approach to helping clients assess and actively mitigate their key business risks so strategies can be realized."

Schwartz will succeed Ken Coy as the Risk Assurance GRC practice leader. "Under Ken's leadership, our GRC practice has developed and launched leading edge methodologies, tools and capabilities to meet the growing demand for risk related services. Ken's efforts have resulted in a very strong foundation for our GRC practice and will continue to play a key role in special GRC initiatives and remain as our Market Team Leader for Detroit," Simone added.

Schwartz received a B.S. in finance from the University of Baltimore and holds an MBA from Western New England University. He is a Certified Bank Auditor, Certified Financial Services Auditor, Certified Risk Professional and has a certification in Risk Management Assurance. Schwartz also sits on the Board at the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore.

About PwC's Risk Assurance practice
PwC understands that significant risk is rarely confined to discrete areas within an organization.  Rather, most significant risks have a wide-ranging impact across the organization. As a result, PwC's Risk Assurance practice has developed a holistic approach that helps to identify and protect businesses from risks, facilitates strategic decision making, and enhances efficiency. This approach is complemented by the extensive risk and controls technical knowledge and sector-specific experience of its Risk Assurance professionals. The end result is a risk solution tailored to meet the unique needs of clients.

About PwC US
PwC US helps organizations and individuals create the value they're looking for.  We're a member of the PwC network of firms in 158 countries with more than 180,000 people.  We're committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services.  Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.com/US.

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SOURCE PwC US