A Global Nod to Excellence

Eric Wilson, CIA, director of Internal Audit and CAE for Gulfport Energy Corp. in Oklahoma City, received the Thurston Award for his article, “Playing the Long Game” (August 2025). “It is an honor to receive the 2026 Thurston Award and to have had the opportunity to contribute to the profession’s global knowledge base,” Wilson says. His article outlines how risk assessments can help auditors prioritize and subdivide components of a larger organizational strategy audit. 

“Although strategy audits can feel akin to balancing a nation's budget overnight, they often unfold over multiple projects and span a year or more,” Wilson writes. “That way, auditors can address an organization’s strategic risks piece by piece — a process auditors are accustomed to with limited resources and broad organizational mandates.”

Aadesh Gandhre, CIA, CISA, managing director and CAE at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. (DTCC), has led a digital transformation at his organization focused on cyber resilience, artificial intelligence (AI) governance, and systemic risk. The DTCC team earned the Audit Trailblazer Award at the 2026 GAM Conference and the Audit Innovator Award at the 2025 GAM Conference. Gandhre serves on the board of the IIA–New York Chapter, which recently named him Best CAE of the Year.

Osman Turgut is CAE at Garanti BBVA, one of Türkiye’s largest private sector banks. As chair of IIA–Türkiye and a European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing board member, Turgut launched the Balkan and Near Asia Internal Audit Summit, a cross-border cooperation platform now spanning 13 countries. He spearheaded SIDUS, a new government-approved certification developed in partnership with Türkiye’s Public Oversight Authority that recognizes internal auditors as trusted sustainability advisors.

Larry Harrington, CIA, CRMA, CPA, vice president of Internal Audit at V2X Inc., was honored for his dedication and lifetime accomplishments in the profession. Harrington was the 2015-2016 IIA Global Board chair and the 2011-2012 North American Board chair. He has been a longtime CAE at Fortune 100 and Fortune 250 companies, including Aetna, Raytheon, and Staples. He was inducted into The IIA’s North American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners in 2018 and received the Victor Brink Award for Distinguished Service to The IIA in 2019.

Elena Dobinda, managing director at Barclays and recent president of the IIA–New York Chapter, grew the chapter’s membership by more than 350 in the first four months of her tenure. She also delivered multiple high-impact conferences and roundtables with record attendance, deepened academic partnerships, increased scholarships, and invited students onto executive committees.

Mike Levy, CIA, CRMA, CISA, CEO and managing principal of Cherry Hill Advisory, was The IIA’s 2023-2024 North American Board chair. He has served on The Institute’s Global Board of Directors, North American Nominating Committee, and the International Internal Audit Standards Board, where he contributed to the development and adoption of the Global Internal Audit Standards.

Imran Zia, CIA, CISA, CFE, CRMA, has dedicated more than a decade to advancing internal audit through his consistent volunteer leadership across six continents. A former president of IIA–Vancouver Island Chapter, he served on IIA–Canada’s Advisory Committee, has spoken at several IIA conferences, and is currently an active mentor in The IIA’s Emerging Leaders Mentoring Program.

Grace Mubako, CIA, professor of accounting at California State University Sacramento, was recognized for her impact on advancing internal audit education in colleges and universities. A member of The IIA’s Committee of Research and Education Advisors since 2022, Mubako has supported initiatives including Vision 2035, academic pipeline development, and the rebranding of the Internal Audit Academic Alliance. She was instrumental in enrolling the University of Texas at El Paso in the Alliance and establishing a student IIA chapter at California State University Sacramento.

Daines Mbao, a master’s student in project planning and management at the University of Dar es Salaam, received the Student Champion Award, which recognizes students for their impact on the field of internal auditing at their college or university. Mbao founded the first student-led internal audit association in Tanzania, UDIAA, which has grown to 200 active members. She also organized the first Internal Audit Student Conference in Africa in 2024, which is now in its third year.

Dana Alyazeedi, a consultant from the United Arab Emirates, partnered with IIA–UAE to design and launch the nation’s Chief Audit Executive Majlis, a confidential platform for CAEs to share challenges, emerging risks, and leading practices. The platform has become a model for other IIA institutes in the Gulf region.

Stephen Odipo Nyaki, CISA, manager of systems audit at CPF Financial Services in Nairobi, Kenya, is a 2025 Internal Auditor Emerging Leader who has helped transform his organization’s audit function, championing data analytics and automated IT general controls. Odipo’s push for cybersecurity audit methods at his company helped reduce audit duplication by 30% and improve coverage by 40%, which was recognized at the IIA–Kenya Risk and Audit Awards.

In her career, Maria Ivy Jovellanos Lanuevo, CIA, CPA, CFE, CAMS, has bridged international financial crime investigation and public sector audit reform. As a financial investigator with the Philippines Financial Intelligence Unit, she played a central role in the investigation of the 2016 Bangladesh Bank Heist. In her role as public safety and policing auditor with Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice, she helped establish the first public safety audit function in Canada, authored the inaugural Quality Assurance and Improvement Program, and served as lead auditor for Nova Scotia’s first compliance audit of independent municipal police agencies.

Led by City Auditor Nathan Pickford, the City of Tulsa Internal Audit Team introduced a pioneering methodology called Pre-Audit Risk Refinement, which incorporates social science research tools — interviews, focus groups, surveys, and digital engagement — to gather input directly from residents and city staff before audits begin. The approach has increased public awareness of the city auditor’s office and driven measurable gains in website visits and community engagement.

Celebrating groundbreaking innovations in internal auditing, The IIA recognized the BMW Group Corporate Audit team. During a sweeping digital transformation, the team of 120 auditors across six countries built a fully integrated, AI-enabled workflow, incorporating data analytics and a growing library of 32 AI applications.

Led by CAE Eva Peggy Best, the team’s AI Genius initiative has trained 14 dedicated AI champions worldwide, who build and deploy AI tools and share them across the global audit community. Achievements include a 100% auditor training rate in data analytics, AI-assisted report writing, and a significant increase in audit findings related to AI risks.