Immediate Past President

Sharon Kurek, CPA, CFE, MBA

Virginia Tech

Sharon is the Executive Director of Audit, Risk, and Compliance at Virginia Tech, serving as the university’s chief audit executive for the university and reporting to the Compliance, Audit, and Risk Committee of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.  In addition to leading the internal audit function, Sharon has institutional responsibility for facilitating and coordinating the university’s enterprise risk management (ERM) and institutional compliance programs. 

Sharon is an experienced leader with proven ability to promote a culture of accountability and ethical decision-making, facilitate identification and mitigation of risks to an acceptable level, and foster continuous improvement in the areas of risk management, internal control, efficiency, policy, and procedure.  She strives to be a collaborative leader with an expectation of excellence and is dedicated to advancing the risk management, compliance, and auditing professions.

Sharon has actively volunteered with ACUA since 2012, serving at the board and committee level.  She holds an appointment to the ACUA Faculty Program and has presented sessions for several professional organizations including ACUA and College and University Auditors of Virginia (CUAV).  Sharon has participated in a number of QAR peer review teams at several ACUA member institutions, including serving in a leadership capacity.

Prior to Virginia Tech, she worked at University of California, Berkeley, serving in a number of roles including Manager of Controls and Accountability, Senior Auditor, and Principal Auditor.  She began her professional career at the Georgia Department of Audits conducting external audits of state entities, including colleges and universities for the State of Georgia.  

Sharon received her MBA from Virginia Tech, bachelor’s degree in business administration (accounting) from Mercer University, and is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner.  She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the University Risk Management and Insurance Association.  In addition to her formal educational training, she is also a graduate of the Commonwealth Management Institute sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University and the Senior Leadership Seminar program sponsored by the American Council on Education Women’s Network.