Empowering Today’s Board Leaders

Cynthia Brinkley is an experienced C-suite senior executive and board director recognized at the state and national level for her accomplishments in the corporate, public, educational and nonprofit sectors.

She has over 30 years of executive leadership experience at large, global blue-chip companies. At Centene Corporation, she served in several roles including President and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative and Markets officer, where she oversaw the markets (P&L for the company), international operations, business integration activities, government relations and was responsible for the transformation efforts for Centene. Prior to Centene, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer(CHRO) for General Motors, where she led the GM post-bankruptcy team in transforming the corporation’s human capital model, developing its talent strategy, and in recruiting critical new talent to lead GM into the future. She began her career at AT&T(SBC) where she held various senior roles, including Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Chief Diversity Officer. In that role, she led the creation of AT&T University and as its first CDO, rapidly advanced AT&T’s recognition as a leader in diversity. She also served as President of AT&T/SBC for Missouri and Arkansas, and Area Vice President for the Los Angeles region.

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Cathy Gonzales is the Managing Partner for KPMG’s San Diego office and is responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the local market, developing C-suite and Board relationships, leading and inspiring over 375+ professionals, delivering exceptional client care and driving the core values of the firm. She also serves as a global lead partner on two priority accounts focused on understanding the client’s business, building and expanding relationships and bringing solutions to support long-term value for clients.

Cathy also has over 30 years of experience providing Advisory services to companies across multiple industries with recurring exposure to Boards and Audit Committees. She is a market and thought leader in supporting clients with Internal Audit, Risk Management, IPO/SOX assistance services

Shruti Shah is a seasoned Partner at KPMG with an accomplished 25-year career in consulting, dedicated to serving the Private Equity and Asset Management sectors. Throughout her tenure, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership in guiding corporate transformation initiatives, improving performance, and mitigating risk and compliance exposures for a portfolio of flagship clients. Her strategic vision and deep industry knowledge have been instrumental in driving significant growth and fostering cross-functional collaboration within the firm.

A trusted advisor to corporate leadership, Ms. Shah has extensive experience working directly with Boards of Directors and Audit Committees. She has counseled directors on critical matters of governance, compliance, and internal controls, helping to fortify their organizations. In a testament to the trust her peers have in her, she was elected to the U.S. Nominating Committee of the board. In this capacity, she plays a vital role in aligning the firm’s strategic objectives with the recruitment of high-performing, ethical leaders to serve on the board.

In her client-facing roles, Ms. Shah has led major accounts, including serving as a Lead Partner on several of the largest clients at KPMG, where she engineered an enhanced strategy that drove substantial revenue growth. Her leadership extends to her role as the NY Asset Management Markets Leader, where she has been pivotal in expanding market share. As a founding member of several women’s leadership initiatives and a frequent speaker at industry events, she is a recognized voice on governance, risk, and compliance in the asset management sector.

Melissa Taylor is Vice Chair, Clients & Markets at KPMG LLP. A member of the U.S. Management Committee, she is focused on streamlining the organization to increase pre-pipeline and total firm opportunities. 

An Audit partner with over 30 years of experience serving large, public global companies, Melissa served on KPMG LLP’s Board of Directors and as KPMG Audit Sector Leader (ASL) for Life Sciences, recently completing her term as the Global Lead Partner for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical and biotech corporation. Earlier in her career, Melissa completed a four-year secondment in London and returned to the New York metro area in 2013.   

As an SEC and IFRS reviewing partner, Melissa has extensive experience working closely with global companies providing financial statement and internal control audit services in accordance with SEC and PCAOB regulations. She has also worked on capital markets transactions with her clients, including public and exempt offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures. 

Her recent experience includes serving some of the firm’s most significant pharmaceutical and consumer products clients. She previously served as the global lead Audit partner for several of those clients, in addition to managing the day-to-day delivery and coordination of assurance and other services to her clients. Melissa also has extensive experience in transformation and global projects, including ESG, ERP implementations and shared service/outsourcing.   

Melissa is a member of the IFRS Advisory Council Board (IASB/ISSB) and participates on the KPMG Global Board Audit Quality Committee. She is a licensed CPA in New York, Texas and Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Virginia Tech. 

Mary Beth Vitale is CEO and Principal for Pellera, LLC., a consulting firm that provides board training in cyber security and governance education to public, private and large not-for-profit firms.

Ms. Vitale currently serves on Luna Innovations (NASDAQ: LUNA) and G.E.H.A., a 501C9 VEBA association board. Formerly, she served on the board of Pareteum (TEUM) where she served as Chair of the board, Chair of Nominating and Governance. She was also a member of the Audit, Compensation and Strategy committees. She restructured the company and sold it in 2022.

She also served on the board CoBiz Financial, a $3.8 Billion publicly traded financial that was sold in 2018. She was Chair of Nominating and Governance and Risk and Audit committee.

Anne C. Zavarella is the co-leader of the KPMG Board Leadership Center (BLC), which champions outstanding corporate governance to drive long-term corporate value and stakeholder confidence.  In this role, Anne along with her co-leader leads a team with deep expertise and fluency in corporate governance that provides insights into the most challenging issues facing board members today, delivers distinct programming in the governance space, and publishes timely thought leadership on emerging issues. She is a frequent speaker on board governance and audit committee issues.

During her 25-year career at KPMG, Anne has served as Lead Audit Engagement Partner and as an SEC Reviewing Partner on some of the firm’s largest and most complex global engagements including leading the audit of one of the largest IPOs in the world.    She is the Professional Practice Partner for the Great Lakes business unit and the previous Audit Sector Leader—Industrial Manufacturing.  She sits on the advisory committee for Miami University’s accounting department and on the executive leadership team for Go-Red for Women of the American Heart Association of Central Ohio.

Erin Dwyer is the Chief Executive Officer of Women Corporate Directors (WCD), the largest and most influential global community of women serving on corporate boards. In this capacity, she leads global initiatives and programming aimed at empowering WCD’s 2,600 members to deliver visionary board leadership.

Ms. Dwyer’s distinguished career blends corporate governance, policy, finance, and strategic stakeholder engagement expertise. She previously held senior roles at Tapestry Networks, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and the Center for Audit Quality, where she convened and facilitated discussions about critical issues in governance, risk, strategy, and leadership with key capital markets’ participants. Ms. Dwyer also spent eight years as a sell-side analyst on Prudential Financial’s equity research team and served as a senior vice president of client development at Cooley LLP, an Am Law 100 law firm.

Ms. Dwyer earned her B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She resides in St. Augustine, Florida.

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