Ones to Watch Focused on Excellence

IN THE THREE SHORT YEARS since she graduated from Western University with an honours degree specializing in accounting, Daniela D’Ambrosi ’16 has made a name for herself as a rising young leader at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). “I’ve taken a unique path to my current role,” she says. “I joined in October 2020 as part of the 30-month CPA Pre-Approved Rotational Program, and with support from my executive sponsor, was tapped to be a part of a new project under the Chief Audit Executive Group.”

D’Ambrosi, who also serves as HSC’s Young Alumni Representative, was among a small team tasked with reimagining RBC’s approach to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or SOX— an American law mandating certain practices in financial record-keeping and reporting for corporations listed on U.S. stock exchanges. “I was asked to exit the CPA program a year and a half early to explore pathways for running a new target operating model for SOX testing,” she says. Today, D’Ambrosi is part of a team of roughly 50, working as senior manager, strategic initiatives and innovation lead with the Chief Audit Executive Group.

Along the way, D’Ambrosi has had a seat at the table meeting with key C-suite stakeholders across all lines of RBC’s business. “I’ve been brought into the room for all of the presentations, pitches and approvals. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be the voice and strategy behind one of the largest projects that RBC’s internal audit division has done to date.” Responsible for overseeing the launch of RBC’s SOX Centre of Excellence in Bedford, Nova Scotia, D’Ambrosi spent a week at work in Bedford before setting sail on the RBC 2022 Performance cruise—a reward for winning the prestigious Leo Award.