Natasha Pardasani

• Established and led the Compliance function from the ground up for a listed education company, designing and implementing a comprehensive governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) framework within 18 months.
• Developed and rolled out key compliance policies including Whistleblowing, Conflicts of Interest, and Internal Controls, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and best practices.
• Strengthened regulatory relationships and oversight by engaging with SCA, Big 4 firms, and legal advisors to ensure ongoing compliance with evolving laws and governance standards.
• Implemented robust risk management practices by integrating compliance monitoring, incident reporting, and control mechanisms across central office and schools.
• Drove a compliance-first culture by engaging senior leadership, providing training to key stakeholders, and embedding compliance as a strategic function within the organization.

Seamlessly integrated myself in the organisation during a pandemic and within a short span was successfully managing a portfolio with a combined turnover of USD 2.5 Billion through a collaborative stakeholder engagement approach

• Maintained an impressive (average) 94% audit customer feedback score during my tenure by building positive relationships and establishing a brand presence for myself through my professional demeanor and impeccable work standards
• Consistently achieved exceptional quality assurance scores and feedback on audit work papers and reports demonstrating attention to detail and strive for excellence
• Collaborated with over 200 business units to effectively lead and execute the annual Global Internal Controls Self Certification process for three consecutive years resulting in Executive Management sign off and presentation to the Audit Committee
• Designed, managed and successfully delivered a key departmental initiative called Centres of Excellence to upskill the internal audit team resulting in elevating the department's brand and earning positive recognition from the leadership team
• Demonstrated model behavior and leadership capabilities beyond my defined role resulting in formal assignment of mentoring, developing and coaching junior members of the team
• Proactively volunteered and successfully completed a six month intensive women centric leadership course imbibing key skills to lead, negotiate and influence with impact
• Demonstrated versatility and agility by leading creative projects such as designing of website pages, developing quarterly portfolio related newsletters and being an integral part of the project team delivering the annual departmental conference
• Leading provider of smart logistics solutions enabling the flow of trade across the globe

• Company Overview: World's leading premium international schools organisation - 81 schools, 32 countries, 70,000 students
• Successfully integrated 7 new schools across 3 countries from a finance, compliance and cultural perspective resulting in being the youngest person to be offered the Regional Finance Director role in the history of Nord Anglia Education
• Promoted with an 'Outstanding' rating to manage the overall responsibility of the Finance function of five newly acquired schools in India which were ranked as India's top international schools in 2019 (EBITDA > $15M)
• Led the Finance integration from NAE by coordinating with the local teams and central functions in the NAE UK Head Office to establish and operate a viable support operation for the schools and deliver key post acquisition work streams such as opening balance sheet, purchase price allocation and restructuring
• Ensured local financial accounts of 10 legal entities were accurately translated monthly to IFRS within targeted timeframes reducing reporting delays by over 5 working days
• Led the budgeting and forecasting processes of the region and analysed business performance to identify opportunities for improving the EBITDA and maximising operational cash flow for the Group
• Responsible for the holistic evaluation of major capital expenditure proposals including presenting to the Executive Committee / Board with a robust business case and full commercial assessment
• Played a pivotal role in various multi-disciplinary teams on ad hoc projects such as setting up of legal service agreements, vendor management, systems implementations, contract negotiations etc
• Effectively streamlined and aligned local financial and commercial processes and systems with the Group to ensure robust controls and efficiency of operations
• World's leading premium international schools organisation - 81 schools, 32 countries, 70,000 students

• Led and monitored the SOX compliance efforts for over 18 schools across the ME and Europe regions and effectively reduced the number of gaps by over 60% within 3 months of joining and over 90% within 8 months
• Developed an Internal Controls Guide to support, train and improve the overall internal control environment of schools which led to an improved rating in the independent NAE Internal Audit reports and minimum control recommendations in year-end audits
• Proficiently integrated the Finance functions of all key acquisitions in the region (leading British schools in Kuwait and Moscow) which involved extensively training and closely communicating with the teams to adapt to International Reporting Standards and NAE Policies
• Led the MS Dynamics Navision implementation for the Finance workstream in the region by working closely with the vendor and schools to build automation in the revenue recognition process improving the turnaround for month end reporting by 1 working day
• Played a key role in VAT implementation in the UAE schools including liaising with an external consultant to develop an impact assessment report, coordinating with Group Legal to draft revised contracts, supporting IT vendors to ready systems for VAT as per government requirements etc

• Achieved a performance rating of 'Exceeding Expectations' within 6 months of joining
• Responsible for providing SOX 404 Compliance and Internal Audit services (Process Audits, IT audits, Control Self Assessments and External Quality Assessments) to a wide array of multinational clients in the California and North Texas markets
• Spearheaded audit engagements including monitoring engagement economics; coaching of junior team members; planning and materiality analysis; risk assessments; walkthroughs and process narratives; interim and year end testing; and reporting on gaps and best practices
• Led the preparation and execution of Audit Committee presentations for three key clients working directly with the Engagement Partner

• Consistently recognized and rated as a top contributor and performer by achieving a performance rating of 'Exceeding Expectations' for three consecutive performance cycles (2010 - 2013)
• Key achievements included: developing and maintaining positive client relationships; providing constructive coaching to junior team members; consistently looking for value additions for clients and delivering good quality reports within the client KPIs and PwC budgets resulting in positive engagement economics