Katherine Avery

I have 20 years of experience in consulting and financial services. I graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in finance and began my career at a boutique commercial real estate consulting firm in Houston, which led me into strategic consulting in real estate and real estate operations. I later transitioned into the banking space to focus on operational risk management, leveraging my background in operations. Over time, my work evolved from operational risk into enterprise risk at a global scale, including serving as the global head of operational risk at StoneX, a Fortune 50 company with global operations in all regions of the world, where I led a large team of internal consultants and analysts. In January 2024, I founded Chimayo Consulting. As a practitioner, my typical day involves identifying risks within organizations, identifying existing controls and gaps in control structures, ensuring proper reporting through governance structures and escalation, presenting forward-looking and emerging trends to leadership, and staying abreast of changes in the regulatory environment to ensure compliance. I hold the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential and am a member of Women in Financial Markets and the Association of Women in Crypto. My firm is a member of the Texas Bankers Association and serves as a corporate guild sponsor for Dress for Success Houston. I also mentor startup fintechs through the Mass Challenge program.