Baker Tilly Professional

Russell Sommers

CPA, CISA

Principal

+1 (646) 776 6214

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Russ leads Baker Tilly’s New York financial services risk advisory practice. He has nearly 20 years of experience in serving insurance, banking, financial services and their supporting technology organizations navigate their governance risk and compliance expectations, specializing in IT risk and cybersecurity. Russ has led a broad array of projects, including regulatory insurance examinations, internal controls advisory, internal audit, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance consulting, information technology audit and risk assessment, vendor risk management, enterprise risk management and SOC 1/2 reporting.

  • Leads Baker Tilly’s IT and cybersecurity examinations practice, executing IT and cyber examinations on behalf of more than 30 state departments of insurance
  • Leads enterprise risk management (ERM) advisory engagements, reviewing, assessing and training on enterprise risk, risk assessment, risk treatment as well as the integration of ERM to internal audit, compliance and strategic planning.
  • Oversees planning, execution and client management for a wide variety of complex governance, risk, IT, compliance and regulatory projects
  • Collaborates with clients to prepare for IPO readiness, design and implement ERM programs, conduct Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) control gap assessments, execute SOX programs
  • Executes internal, compliance and MAR/SOX audit plans in a fully outsourced and co-sourced capacity for insurance companies (P&C, life and heath), financial institutions and national securities exchanges
  • Trains financial services regulators and examiners on how to conduct examinations addressing emerging regulations
  • Assists clients in mapping business processes to regulatory and industry guidance including NAIC, SEC, NIST, FINRA, CFTC, IOSCO, NY DFS Part 500, NIST, ISO, COBIT, GDPR, CA CPA, etc.
  • Leads SOC 1/2 readiness assessments and examinations with financial services clients
  • Designs and executes tests of incident response, disaster recovery and business continuity plans

  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
  • Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)
  • Insurance Accounting & Systems Association, Inc. (IASA)
  • National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC)
  • New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA)
  • Society of Financial Examiners (SOFE)
  • Society of Insurance and Financial Management (SIFM), board member
  • American Property and Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

Location

Iselin, NJ

Education

Bachelor of Science in accounting
Ramapo College (Mahwah, New Jersey)

American Bankers Association Compliance School – depository and lending modules