Rita Thakkar

Chief Auditor Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb Company

Rita Thakkar is the Chief Audit Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb, reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. She oversees the global audit team, and facilitates the company’s Enterprise Risk Management program. Her recent accomplishments include transforming the audit function and introducing innovation to risk and governance practices.
Born in Toronto, Canada and raised in a South Asian multi-generational family, Rita is proud of her heritage. Rita is a member of the Global Business Operations Diversity Council at BMS, and serves on the Board of Trustees and two board committees for Family and Children’s Association in Long Island, NY. She has co-authored governance and risk management guidance for the internal audit profession and has led numerous roundtables and speaking engagements. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Pharmaceutical Internal Audit Forum.
Rita began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in various roles. She held prior leadership roles at Celgene Corporation, CA Technologies (now Broadcom), McKesson Corporation and Kendle International (now Syneos Health).
She holds a BA, Chartered Accountancy degree from the University of Waterloo and completed University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Leadership Program at the Wharton School of Business. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Professional Accountant (Canada) and Certified Internal Auditor.

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