Technology Innovation Alliance Working Group Members

Taka Ariga 

Chief Data Scientist and Director of the Innovation Lab
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Mr. Taka Ariga is the first Chief Data Scientist and Director of the Innovation Lab at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). As an integral part of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team, he will help GAO develop and implement advanced analytical capabilities for its auditing practices. Prior to joining GAO, he held executive positions at Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked with audit, compliance, legal, and regulated entities.

Luciana Barbosa

Chief Accounting Officer
Inter-American Development Bank

Ms. Luciana Barbosa is the Chief Accounting Officer for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and is responsible for overseeing the preparation of all financial statements of IDB's main funds and other funds under its administration. Her department is also responsible for the loans back-office and corporate accounts payable and receivable functions. Prior to joining IDB in 2016, she worked for Deloitte for 15 years and EY Brazil for five years where her last position was an assurance partner. Under her leadership at IDB, her department has been embarking on the digital transformation journey including multiple systems implementations, implementing RPA and AI technologies to improve transparency and efficiency of the financial reporting process.

Dr. Helen Brown-Liburd

Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Continuous Auditing and Reporting Lab
Rutgers Business School

Dr. Helen Brown-Liburd is an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Continuous Auditing and Reporting Lab at Rutgers Business School. Her research focuses on auditors’ and investors’ judgment and decision-making and the impact of Big Data and analytics on the audit profession. She has published in various journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, Current Issues in Auditing, and Journal of Business Ethics. Her teaching experience includes Auditing, Accounting Information Systems, Audit Data Analytics, and Financial Accounting. Helen earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Brown-Liburd is a CPA (inactive) with over 16 years of experience in such diverse areas as auditing, financial reporting and analysis, and project management.

Eric Cohen

Co-Founder of XBRL and Blockchain Auditing Expert

Mr. Eric Cohen is one of the co-founders of XBRL. His primary technical interest is enabling the Seamless Audit Trail and empowering growing businesses with accounting and audit data standardization. He has served as a contributor and leader to relevant efforts from UN/CEFACT, XBRL, OECD, and ISO. He currently focuses on accounting and audit aspects of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies both as a national leader and expert to ISO/TC 307 Blockchain and Electronic Distributed Ledger Technologies, and as ISO/TC 307's liaison to ISO Technical Committees including TC 68/SC 8 Reference data for financial services, ISO/TC 207 Environmental management, and ISO/TC 295 Audit Data Services.

Chris Danusiar

Executive Client Partner
Globant and Preceptor

Mr. Chris Danusiar is currently an Executive Client Partner at Globant and Preceptor and Adjunct Lecturer at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Prior to that, Mr. Danusiar held increasingly senior global executive positions in each Big Four professional services firms for 30 years. He completed his public accounting career with EY as Deputy CTO of Assurance – leading the team of over 800 assurance and technology professionals to build and deliver the first global Digital Audit ecosystem, EY Canvas, fully utilized in 150+ countries worldwide, fewer than three years from commencement of the global transformation initiative.

Evelyn Hayes

Chief Auditor – Technology
Citigroup, Internal Audit

Mrs. Evelyn Hayes is Citigroup’s Chief Auditor responsible for the internal audit coverage of Citigroup’s Institutional Clients Group Technology. Prior to working at Citigroup, Mrs. Hayes was a Senior Audit Manager at Natwest Markets (formerly the Royal Bank of Scotland) where she managed a portfolio of technology application, integration, infrastructure, information security, and change related audits covering the Corporate & Institutional Banking Americas businesses and support functions. She spent several years at KPMG performing assurance audits in financial services. She is a Certified Internal Auditor, a Certified Information Services Auditor, and holds a Certificate in Risk Management Assurance.

Renata Maziarz Miskell 

Deputy Assistant Secretary
U.S. Treasury Department, Accounting Policy and Financial Transparency

As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Accounting Policy and Financial Transparency at the U.S. Treasury Department, Ms. Miskell leads efforts to promote the financial integrity and operational efficiency of the federal government. Her portfolio includes federal accounting policy and reporting, financial transparency, shared services, and payment integrity. Prior to joining Treasury, she served as the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where she led efforts to implement advanced analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to support data-driven oversight. Ms. Miskell also served as the acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Data at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service where she led the enterprise data strategy and oversaw a full range of policy, management, and operational activities related to federal financial data and analytics. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Providence College and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She enjoys spending time outdoors and running after her three young children. 

Dr. Vernon Richardson

Distinguished Professor of Accounting
University of Arkansas

Dr. Vernon Richardson is a Distinguished Professor of Accounting at the University of Arkansas. He teaches Financial Statement Analysis, Introduction to Financial Accounting, and Accounting Analytics. Dr. Richardson is also the author of Data Analytics for Accounting and Introduction to Data Analytics for Accounting, the only data analytics textbooks for accountants; and Accounting Information Systems, all published by McGraw Hill. He has published numerous research papers on data analytics and accounting.

John Turner

Chief Executive Officer
XBRL International

Mr. John Turner is the Chief Executive Officer of XBRL International and is responsible for enhancing the standards and supporting adoption of XII globally. Throughout his career he has been focused on improving business reporting and analytics. Mr. Turner has been a leading member of the XBRL community since 2001 when it was founded. He holds a B.A. (Computer Science and Government) and an LL.B. (Law) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Andres Vinelli

Chief Economist
CFA Institute

Mr. Andres Vinelli is the Chief Economist at CFA Institute. He is an expert in financial markets and in the analysis of highly regulated markets. Previously, Mr. Vinelli was the Vice President of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress. He also held other critical roles including the Chief Economist of PCAOB and FINRA. At PCAOB, he led the cost-benefit analysis for rulemaking and standard-setting and provided advice on risk assessment. He spearheaded the expansion of data analytics, quantitative risk models, and the development of macroeconomic analysis to identify areas of financial reporting risk on exchange-listed companies.