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Catherine Vaughan is a Partner with EY.  Based in Dublin, her roles as Global Financial Crime and Global Compliance Leader sits as part of EY’s Global Executive layer. Prior to working in a Global role, Catherine was Risk Management Director for EY’s EMEIA Region, a position which followed the same role in Ireland. Catherine’s experience stems from her qualification as a Chartered Accountant in 1999. Her current role covers a wide geography and involves monitoring developments in financial crime laws and regulations, understanding the impact on EY’s business and designing compliance programmes in response to those developments. She is supported by a diverse team spread across the EY network and by a core team based in GDS India and Poland. Catherine is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association and is EY’s representative at the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI). 

Catherine has long been involved in sponsoring and chairing EY’s LGBT+ network, Unity.  Having started the Ireland chapter in 2012, she became one of the leading voices on LGBT+ inclusion in EY and in 2018/19 she was one of the formative members of EY’s Global LGBT+ Partner forum. In 2021 she was appointed LGBT+ Partner sponsor and joined the EMEIA DE&I Steering Committee. She continues to represent EMEIA at the Global Partner forum. Catherine works with the Irish and EMEIA leadership teams on developing and implementing EY’s DE&I strategy. She is a regular public speaker on the importance of a culture of workplace equality and has collaborated with many other companies to progress LGBT+ inclusion in Ireland and beyond. In 2015 Catherine was named Inclusion Champion of the year in GLEN’s inaugural Workplace Equality Index and in 2016 she was named Senior Leader for LGBT Equality. In 2022 Catherine was included on the OUTStanding 100 Global Executives list for the fourth consecutive year. 

Elizna van der Westhuizen is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) with more than fifteen years experience in the roles of private and public sector auditor (PwC and the Auditor-General South Africa), technical specialist in public sector accounting, reporting and auditing (Auditor-General South Africa), and public sector standard-setter (South African Accounting Standards Board).

As the Head of Technical of the South African Accounting Standards Board, Elizna is currently leading the team that develops accrual based public sector accounting standards in South Africa.

Elizna serves on the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ private sector technical accounting committee and public sector committee.

Elizna has consulted South African stakeholders on many of the IPSASB’s distinguished projects in recent years, including revenue, transfer expenses and parts of the measurement project.

Bikash Prasad is President & Group CFO of Olam Agri

Mkombozi Bosco Karake joined the IFAC's PAO Development and Advisory Group in January 2023, nominated by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (iCPAR).

Mr. Karake is currently the Chairman and Partner of KMD Partners Ltd and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Institute of Governance and Sustainability. He was previously a financial management specialist with the World Bank, Chief Internal Auditor at the Development Bank of Rwanda, an associate with KMPG East Africa International Advisory services and the Chief Internal Auditor at Horizon Group Ltd Rwanda. He has over 18 years post qualification experience in audit, financial management, business advisory and lecturing professional accountancy courses and university financial management modules. He is also a regular contributor to local and international seminars and conferences in areas of his expertise.

Mr. Karake is a member of ICPAR (CPA-R); a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Mr. Karake is an active member of the Institute of Internal Auditors-Rwanda having served as President 2019-2020. He is also an active iCPAR member, having served as the chairman of its Disciplinary Commission 2013-2015. He also served as the third president and chairman of the iCPAR Governing Council 2015-2017, re-elected 2017-2019.

Bruce qualified as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa in 2006. He started his career by spending six years with PwC in assurance before taking a three-year hiatus to serve in his local church as a youth pastor. In 2013, he joined the learning & development unit at the Auditor-General South Africa as a manager for technical learning. He graduated with a Master of Commerce (Accounting) in 2016.

Before joining IFAC, Bruce served as Senior Manager of Professionalization at the African Organisation of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E), where he led the establishment of the African Professionalisation Initiative. In this role, he also contributed to various professionalization activities in the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) community. He was a member of the task force that developed INTOSAI’s new auditor competence standard: ISSAI 150. He contributed as a content developer for the INTOSAI Development Initiative’s Professional Education for SAI Auditors (PESA) project.

Bruce joined the IFAC staff in mid-2021 as a Principal. His responsibilities initially included member engagement and being the staff lead to the PAO Development & Advisory Group. In 2023, he was appointed as IFAC’s Head of Accountancy Education.

Themin Suwardy is the Associate Provost (Postgraduate Professional Education) with oversight responsibilities for all Singapore Management University (SMU) Masters programmes, which attract more than 1,500 student each year. Immediately prior to this role, he was Dean, Postgraduate Professional Programme (2016-2021).

Mr. Suwardy joined SMU in 2001 and served as Associate Dean, School of Accountancy (2002-2013) and was the founding programme director of Master of Professional Accounting (2006-2016). Prior to joining academia, he was an auditor with KPMG Peat Marwick after starting his academic career at Monash University, Australia.

Mr. Suwardy has received over 20 SMU and international teaching awards, including SMU Best MBA Core Teacher Award five times, EMBA Most Outstanding Faculty Award four times, and three SMU university-wide teaching awards. He was a recipient of the HP Mobile Technology for Teaching Award (2004), the inaugural CEEMAN's Champion Award for Management Teaching (2010) and the IBM Faculty Award (2017). He was accorded Republic of Singapore's Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2011 for his contribution to education.

Mr. Suwardy is an active member of the accounting profession through his extensive involvement in numerous professional bodies over the years. He was the Singapore Division President for CPA Australia (2013-2014), a Governor of IIA Singapore (2009-2011), Vice-President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (2009-2013), and other committee appointments in various professional bodies. In 2015, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by CPA Australia for his significant and distinguished service and contributions to the accounting profession.

Mr. Suwardy is currently Chairman, GMAC Board of Directors and Vice-Chair, SATA CommHealth. He is a member of Singapore’s GST Board of Review. He has consulted and worked with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA), DFS, Singapore Airlines, KPMG Forensics, HP and IBM, amongst others. He is a frequent commentator and writer for The Business Times.