Joan (Almazan) Taylor

I've been in accounting and internal audit for over 20 years now, though I have to say it was really by accident. I didn't want to go into accounting because I don't like numbers, but somewhere along the line I ended up doing an internship for California State Fire and Forestry over in Sacramento in their internal audit department, what they called program accountability. That's where I learned a little bit about internal controls, and because of this internship, it kind of led me down the path of internal audit. It took a couple of years after that, though, because I didn't know how to get into it. My first five years of my career was in tax, actually, and I'm terrible at it. Then a friend of mine had gotten an interview with this investment and loan company that was looking for an internal auditor, and he turned it down and told me to apply for it, even though I had just nine months of experience. I went in and met with the VP of Internal Audit, and after an hour of us just talking, he said I wasn't right for the role because it was a senior position, but he liked me and my personality, so he created a role for me. That's how I became an internal auditor. It was really just more about relationship building. My main areas of expertise are internal controls and risk management. One of the big things I've been very involved with throughout my career is inclusion and diversity. I was the leader of our business resource group, our Asian business resource group, for a few years before finally handing off leadership to another group. Building that team in Southern California and launching the consulting Form W for our group has been a big deal, just solidifying all the inclusion and diversity initiatives that are out there and becoming a mentor to women as they move up in public accounting, because it's extremely difficult. That's been one of the areas I've been most proud of, just being that mentor.