Enterprise Risk  ·  Governance  ·  Compliance  ·  Executive Leadership

Helping Executive Leadership Strengthen, Transform, and Sustain More Resilient Organizations

For more than two decades, Alison Stokes has partnered with executive leadership to help organizations navigate complexity, strengthen governance, manage enterprise risk, modernize compliance, and enable responsible growth.

Her experience spans both the first and second lines of defense, providing a unique perspective that integrates business strategy, enterprise risk, governance, regulatory change management, licensing governance, operational resilience, and consumer protection into executive decision-making.

Executive Leadership Portfolio

Enterprise Decision-Making
Integrating risk, governance, compliance, and strategy
Enterprise Risk
Risk Management
Operational Risk
Third-Party Risk & Compliance
Business Continuity
Issues Management
Governance
Governance Frameworks
Executive Reporting
Board Reporting
Policy Governance
AI Governance
Compliance
CMS Architecture
Regulatory Change
Testing & Monitoring
Examinations
Licensing Governance
Strategic Partnership
Executive Leadership
Product & Sales
Capital Markets
Credit Risk
Technology & Legal
Enterprise Transformation
Modernization
Operational Excellence
AI Governance
Technology Enablement
Program Maturity
Responsible Growth
Organizational Resilience
Regulatory Confidence

Helping executive leadership make better enterprise decisions.

Executive Impact

How I Partner With Leadership Teams

01
Assess
Identify enterprise risks, evaluate strategic initiatives, and anticipate regulatory, operational, and consumer impacts before they become business problems.
02
Strengthen
Improve governance, policies, third-party risk and compliance oversight, enterprise licensing governance, compliance operations, reporting, testing, complaints management, and enterprise risk capabilities.
03
Enable
Partner with executive leadership, Product, Sales, Marketing, Technology, Capital Markets, Credit Risk, Operations, and Legal to support responsible growth and sound decision-making.
04
Transform
Modernize Enterprise Risk, Governance, Compliance, AI Governance, Operational Excellence, and Regulatory programs to support organizational growth and resilience.
05
Sustain
Build long-term organizational resilience through continuous improvement, executive reporting, examinations, audits, remediation, business continuity, and operational risk management.
06
Collaborate
Work directly with Legal, Product, Marketing, Technology, and Operations to translate regulatory expectations into business execution.

Enterprise Leadership Portfolio

Twelve Domains of Executive Capability

Built across highly regulated financial services, data, and technology organizations. Each domain reflects sustained executive-level engagement, not peripheral exposure.

01
Enterprise Risk
02
Governance
03
Compliance
04
Strategic Business Partnership
05
Operational Excellence
06
Regulatory Strategy
07
Consumer Financial Services
08
Financial Crime, Privacy & Data Protection
09
Technology & AI Governance
10
Enterprise Transformation
11
Leadership & Mentorship
12
Executive Advisory

Career

Career in Enterprise Leadership

A career built across highly regulated financial, data, and technology organizations, deepening the capacity to lead, transform, and sustain enterprise risk and compliance at scale.

Director, Compliance Operations: North America
Experian
Recruited following enterprise audit findings to build and transform North America Compliance Operations, with second-line accountability across compliance testing, regulatory examinations, policy and procedure governance, complaints oversight, executive reporting, training governance, annual risk assessment programs, remediation, and compliance technology. Led regulatory change and governance activity across North America while supporting multinational governance initiatives across Europe and Asia, advancing AI-enabled compliance and operational resilience through partnership with Legal, Product, Technology, and business teams to evaluate new and evolving requirements, assess applicability and impact, establish accountable ownership, and track open items to closure. Directed Project Odyssey, a multi-workstream modernization initiative that rebuilt testing discipline, modernized workflow execution, and elevated executive reporting through Power BI and RSA Archer-enabled dashboards. Directed enterprise licensing governance across multiple regulated legal entities, and led 18 compliance professionals, including seven direct reports.
Led third-party compliance governance for vendors using Experian data, overseeing regulatory compliance across policies and procedures, regulatory and state-law change, annual compliance training completion and acceptable passing rates, complaints, disputes, disclosures, and other consumer-facing requirements. Through my team, identified compliance gaps, communicated regulatory expectations, and monitored vendor execution to help ensure ongoing adherence to applicable requirements.
Director / Senior Vice President (SVP)
Compliance Manager, Consumer Lending
MUFG Union Bank / U.S. Bank  ·  13 Years
Created and directed the regulatory change management program for consumer and small-business lending, translating new and evolving regulatory requirements into practical business requirements across mortgage, home equity, credit cards, unsecured lending, and small-business lending. Directed regulatory interpretation, applicability and impact assessments, and cross-functional implementation with Legal, Product, Marketing, Technology, and Operations, including product and technology compliance, policy design, issue management, and marketing review. Partnered with Capital Markets on pricing oversight, testing products and pricing exceptions for fairness and regulatory risk and providing credible challenge where concerns arose, alongside fair lending governance, SAFE Act/NMLS Mortgage Loan Originator governance, and regulator-facing examination readiness. Supported enterprise initiatives involving European and Asian regulatory frameworks, partnering across global business functions on cross-border compliance and governance.
Directed third-party regulatory compliance oversight across a broad lending ecosystem, including wholesale mortgage brokers, loan origination system providers, documentation and disclosure vendors, title and escrow companies, record-retention repositories, and compliance testing software providers. Oversight included regulatory controls, licensing and NMLS requirements where applicable, policies and procedures, compliance testing, complaints, disclosure accuracy and timeliness, regulatory-change communication, and training.
CFO / Treasurer
Hufnagel Bioethics Foundation
Provided executive governance, financial stewardship, and fiduciary oversight as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing bioethics through education, research, and public engagement.
Assistant Vice President (AVP), Senior Compliance Officer
JPMorgan Chase
Served as compliance officer for CRA Emerging Markets lending offices, including a joint-venture program operating across Oakland, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Harlem, Atlanta, and Hialeah, providing regulatory leadership, fair lending and CRA oversight, risk assessment, control guidance, and compliance support for products, marketing, and business initiatives.
Assistant Vice President (AVP), Loan Operations Manager
Washington Mutual Bank
Foundational leadership in mortgage loan operations across origination, underwriting, funding, and servicing, providing the operational grounding for every compliance and risk leadership role that followed.
Residential Lending Manager
TREO Funding
Residential lending operations management supporting the full mortgage lifecycle.
Executive Advisor
A. Stokes Consulting, LLC
Maintains an independent advisory practice providing selective guidance on enterprise risk, governance, compliance, regulatory strategy, and program transformation. Engagements are undertaken periodically and may continue alongside an executive leadership role, subject to applicable employer approval and conflict-of-interest requirements.

Published Work

Executive Insights

Perspectives on Enterprise Risk, Governance & Compliance

Explore executive perspectives on Enterprise Risk, Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Artificial Intelligence, Product Compliance, Licensing, Consumer Financial Services, and other emerging topics shaping the financial services industry.

Explore Executive Insights

Executive Validation

Third-Party Confirmation of What the Record Shows

OCC Fair Lending Examination Outcome

The OCC stated that we did not treat Hispanics differently and met FHA requirements. Our processes are consistent and they did not see variances in our processing. Thank you for all of your efforts and dedication, as well as your amazing partnership.

DC
Diana C.
Regulatory Business Control Group Manager
Regulatory Rigor & Operational Leadership

Your thorough approach, grounded in actual regulatory citations, is a model for how to deal with many such issues. This is the sort of work that elevates the company and allows all parties to focus on real risks rather than creating self-inflicted spirals.

MH
Michael H.
Head of Retail Lending Operations
First-Line Analytical Independence

In my 25+ years of working with Compliance professionals, Alison stands above them all. She does not lean on the second-line compliance team to do her job. Instead, she conducts her own analysis of each regulatory question and provides it to second-line when their concurrence is needed. Anyone who hires her will be extremely grateful they did.

HB
Heather Brieske, CRCM
VP, Sr. Risk & Compliance Manager

Connect

Begin the Conversation

Open to executive leadership opportunities, including Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Compliance roles, board advisory conversations, and select strategic engagements where enterprise risk, governance, and compliance leadership matters.