Trish Oelrich, NACD.DC
Director
With unique insights that bring people, technology, and organizational systems together, Patricia “Trish” Oelrich is an experienced corporate board member and invaluable resource for helping companies create strategies to manage the risks that emerge as business reinvents itself in a digital world. With a focus on moving to the emerging global marketplace, she guides the conversation and inspires others to think more broadly about the impact of technology, the importance of building a moral and ethical culture, forming a balanced approach to enterprise and social risk management, and addressing cybersecurity risks. She has served as audit committee chair for public company boards and has expertise in enterprise risk management, information technology (IT) security and cybersecurity, social media, accounting, auditing, financial reporting, IT strategy, and corporate governance.
As vice president of global IT risk management at GlaxoSmithKline plc (now GSK plc) and member of the chief information officer management team, Oelrich was influential in guiding the organization’s technology strategy. In this role, she created a forward-thinking vision for risk management, bringing together IT security, data-information protection, business continuity and disaster-recovery planning, privacy, and regulatory compliance, including with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This resulted in a more transparent global view of risk mitigation and an improved risk profile. Oelrich gained extensive international experience working in other countries throughout her career at this pharmaceutical company.
Previously, at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Oelrich had worldwide responsibility as the vice president of internal audit. She transformed a traditional audit function to a risk-based and value-added audit and consulting function. She built a high-performance team that was recognized as advisors throughout the company on strategic business issues. Oelrich was also instrumental in initiating the first corporate ethics and compliance function at SmithKline Beecham. Earlier, she rose through the ranks of Ernst & Young to partner and practice leader, where she headed the leading-edge information-systems audit and IT security practice in Chicago as well as serviced audit clients across industries with emphasis on large financial institutions and insurance companies. Oelrich has been cleared from any independence concerns with Ernst & Young clients.
Oelrich, a Certified Public Accountant, holds a bachelor of business administration in accounting and information systems and an master of arts and doctorate in human and organizational systems. Her doctorate focused on moral and ethical behavior in the use of social technologies. She currently serves as audit committee chair on the board of directors for the Federal Home Loan Banks Office of Finance. Previously she served as audit committee chair for Pepco Holdings, a Fortune 500 utility company before their sale to Exelon, and for USA Technologies (now Cantaloupe Inc.) just before their takeover by Hudson Executive Capital. She is cochair of the advisory board for Drexel University’s Raj and Kamla Gupta Governance Institute. She is a member of the board of directors for the Association of Audit Committee Members Inc. and chairs the NACD New Jersey Chapter.