AWAD ELKARIM MOHAMED AHMED
Chief Audit Executive, Board Chairman, Advisory Board member
Highlights
Global Audit Leadership: Led high-performance audit and risk teams across four continents, driving strategic oversight and assurance in complex regulatory environments.
Enterprise-Wide Risk Mitigation: Built scalable governance and compliance systems for organizations during periods of M&A, regulatory change, and transformation.
One Audit Community Vision: Founded and led a unified global audit team of 150 professionals delivering agile, high-impact audit services.
Fraud Investigation & Recovery: Orchestrated special investigations with over $5M annual savings, turning risk exposure into proactive prevention strategies.
Award-Winning Professional: Recipient of the ASQ-MEA Quality Professionals Award (UAE, 2019) for excellence in senior management.
Areas of Expertise
- Executive Performance Optimization
- Scalable Leadership Development
- Strategic Decision-Making & Execution
- Culture Transformation & Alignment
- Business Growth Acceleration
Endorsements
Badrldin Elhassan MBA,CMA,CIA, CSAA
Internal Audit Director at Gulf Lifting Financial Leasing Company
I reported directly to Mr. Awad Elkarim during my time working at HSA Group. Awad possesses a high degree of interaction with senior management and the Board, and partners with senior management in monitoring the Group’s ethical and operational environment, and is an independent and objective professional in assessing the results of management work on behalf of the Board. He ensured that management views essential issues raised by internal auditors as significant and gives these issues proper attention. I believe Awad is an effective leader in building and sustaining regional internal audit teams.
Arif Zaman FCCA, CIA, CISA, CPA, CFE, CCSA, CRMA, CRBA
Head Internal Audit & Risk | xEY I xEmaar I xTelenor I xSaudia | Consultant | Trainer | Speaker | Author
It’s my privilege to have worked with Mr. Awad for more than five years at HSA Group. I directly report to him. He is responsible for overseeing the audit activities of more than 90 companies. He helped me unlock my potential so that I may become a good leader. His actions inspire me to dream, learn, and do more. I must tell him that great mentors like him are a rare breed.
BIO - Awad Elkarim Mohamed Ahmed
Awad Elkarim Mohamed Ahmed is a Chief Audit Executive, Board Chairman, Advisory Board member, Audit and Risk Committee Chair, Consultant, and Coach with 25+ years of global expertise in Internal Audit, Risk Management, Ethics, Compliance, and Anti-Corruption. He possesses a keen ability to identify, analyze, and recommend corrective action issues, strategize internal audit plans, and lead and manage the execution of those plans while always laser-focused on adding value recommendations. These abilities, coupled with an open and inclusive leadership philosophy, have led him to tackle audit assignments in thirteen countries spanning four continents. Known as an auditing expert, this geographic diversity is equally matched by diversity in size and scope, having led internal audits in businesses of $15B and teams of 150+ people.
Awad has successfully navigated a wide range of highly complex auditing situations: Financial, Operational, Compliance, Quality, Ethics, Fraud, and Anti-Corruption, to name just a few. With a cool head, a steady hand, an eye for analytics, and an even leadership temperament, he converted these audit findings into audit reports with recommendations.
Awad has recently channeled his focus to Boards, Advisory, and Coaching. He has advised and coached several CEOs and C-Suite teams on Internal Audit, compliance, anti-corruption, leadership, and fundraising. The inspiring results fuel Awad’s passion for helping companies reach their full potential in audit and anti-corruption compliance initiatives.
Awad graduated with an International Master’s in Anti-Corruption Compliance and Collective Action (IMACC) from the International Anti-Corruption Academy-Austria, a Master’s in internal audit management and consultancy from Birmingham City University-UK, a Diploma in Airline Studies from Aviation Training and Development Institute-Canada, and bachelor’s in business administration from University of Khartoum-Sudan.
Awad won the prestigious American Society of Quality (ASQ-MEA) Quality Professionals Award in UAE for Senior Management Subcategory for 2019. Awad holing diversified pool of professional certifications like CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), QIAL (Qualification in Internal Audit Leadership), CFSA (Certified Financial Services Auditor), CGAP (Certified Government Auditing Professional), CCSA (Certification in Control Self-Assessment), CRMA (Certificate in Risk Management Assurance), CCEP-I (Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional- International), ASQ-CQA (Certified Quality Auditor), ASQ CMQ/OE (Certified Manager of Quality /Organizational Excellence), CSAA (Certified Sharia Adviser & Auditor), IFQ (Islamic Finance Qualification), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), CACM (Certified Anti-Corruption Manager), CICA (Certified Internal Control Auditor), CRBA (Certified Risk Based Auditor), ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery Management System and ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems, ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems- Lead Auditor, and ISO 31000: Risk Management.
Business Highlights:
- Spearheaded high-performance regional internal audit teams across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and S.E. Asia in driving group internal audit strategy and operations, governance structure, internal controls, and risk management.
- Building “One Audit Community” of approx. One hundred fifty auditors globally with the mission to provide impactful, agile, and collaborative auditing services that matter!
- Conducted audits during mergers and acquisitions and facilitated the finance function with the due diligence exercise of the target company.
- Led special investigations that borne a proactive and preventive added value in addition to cost efficiency and saved approximately 5 million USD annually from discovered fraud cases.