Risk as a Leadership Discipline: Lessons from Internal Audit

About this episode

Michelle Wagner discusses the human aspects of risk management and leadership in internal audit.

Guest Bio: Michelle Wagner is Vice President and Head of Internal Audit at DocuSign, where she leads global audit strategy and helps the organization strengthen governance, risk management, and internal controls while supporting a culture of integrity and accountability. With more than 25 years of experience across consulting and industry, Michelle has held leadership roles at Deloitte, Costco, and SAP, where she led large audit portfolios, built high-performing teams, and drove governance and risk transformation initiatives across complex global organizations. Michelle is known for her practical, people-centered approach to risk leadership and for translating complex risk insights into clear, actionable guidance. She is passionate about mentoring emerging leaders and helping organizations move from reactive risk management to proactive, insight-driven decision-making. Show Notes: Risk is often framed as technical work, but at its core, it is deeply human. In this episode of Great Women in Compliance, Dr. Hemma Lomax sits down with Michelle Wagner, Head of Internal Audit at DocuSign, to explore how curiosity, empathy, and partnership help organizations manage risk more…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Hemma Lomax

Guest: Michelle Wagner

Topics covered

• risk management
• leadership
• internal audit
• ethical culture
• mentoring

Keywords

• risk leadership
• internal audit
• governance
• accountability
• ethical culture

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DocuSign, Deloitte, Costco, SAP

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