Nancy Freda-Smith
Founder of NFS Insights. Proven public board director. Thirty years building and leading audit, risk, and governance functions across public companies and professional services — now advising the boards and leadership teams that need that experience most.
Former Chief Audit & Risk Officer · Ralph Lauren Corporation NYSE: RL
Founder of NFS Insights. Proven in the boardroom. Built for what's next.
Nancy Freda-Smith founded NFS Insights to bring 30 years of executive leadership across Ralph Lauren Corporation and Deloitte — and proven public board experience — directly to the organizations that need it most. She advises boards, management teams, and leadership navigating financial controls, digital transformation, cyber resilience, and enterprise risk across both public and private companies.
As a former Independent Director and Audit Committee member at Chuy’s Holdings (NASDAQ: CHUY), she has sat in the boardroom — not just advised it. She served through the company’s successful acquisition by Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), bringing firsthand experience of the governance, oversight, and fiduciary judgment that M&A demands of directors.
Her nearly 15 years at Ralph Lauren as Chief Audit & Risk Officer built the depth that now defines NFS Insights: audit integrity, fraud prevention, enterprise risk, digital transformation, and cyber resilience — applied at the highest levels of a global public company. Before Ralph Lauren, she spent 17 years in public accounting at Deloitte, advising public and private companies across audit assurance, risk, and technical accounting.
Where I add value in the boardroom.
Six domains where 30 years of operating experience across public companies and professional services, board-level instinct, and direct exposure to today’s emerging risks deliver disproportionate fiduciary value — for public and private companies alike.
Proven Public Board Director
Independent Director and Audit Committee member at Chuy’s Holdings (NASDAQ: CHUY), serving through the company’s successful acquisition by Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) in 2024 — firsthand experience of the governance and fiduciary judgment M&A demands of directors. Audit Committee Financial Expert credentials.
Guided Audit Committee response to a cybersecurity breach during tenure — overseeing incident management, public disclosure, and digital risk governance. Resolved board-level whistleblower allegations, maintaining transparency and SEC regulatory compliance throughout.
Cybersecurity & Digital Resilience
Strategic oversight of fraud, cyber, and third-party exposure. Board-level fluency on shadow IT, vendor risk, prompt injection, deepfake-enabled fraud, and the controls that stop signal from becoming loss.
AI Governance & Compliance
Frameworks integrating AI adoption with GDPR, whistleblower protocols, and global regulatory standards. Practical experience pressure-testing pilots, model risk, data quality, and ROI.
M&A, Tax & Global Risk
Global experience across transfer pricing, customs, and cross-border audit across 100+ legal entities. Board-level perspective on aligning risk management to strategy — so that risk intelligence actively shapes how organizations compete, invest, and execute.
Crisis & Business Resilience
Crisis management program design and global business continuity protocols. Resilience built for endurance, not just response — with controls and escalation paths that actually work when tested.
SOX, ICFR & Financial Reporting
Founding leadership of internal audit strategy and SOX programs. Material weakness remediation, ASC 740 oversight, and the financial reporting integrity that sits beneath every audit opinion.
Thirty years of measurable impact.
Best-in-class shrink performance within the retail industry
Innovative theft deterrence and fraud detection strategies delivering outcomes recognized as best-in-class for the sector.
Material reductions in policy-driven losses and return-related cost
Enterprise collaboration and controls modernization that translated audit findings into durable P&L impact.
Strengthened digital safeguards and fraud mitigation
Lowered exposure across ecommerce and payment platforms through tighter third-party vetting, payment intelligence, and shadow IT controls.
Global audit transformation through strategic AI implementation
Enhanced fraud detection capabilities and optimized resource allocation across a 160+ person global function spanning Internal Audit, Corporate Security, Asset Protection, and Enterprise Risk Management.
20% efficiency gain in SOX program execution
Significantly reduced audit cycle time and external audit costs while maintaining full regulatory compliance and control integrity — delivering measurable value to the audit committee and CFO.
Domains of boardroom contribution.
Nearly 15 years at Ralph Lauren. 17 years at Deloitte. 30 years built for the boardroom.
Chief Audit Executive & Global Head of Asset Protection
Ralph Lauren Corporation NYSE: RL
Reporting directly to the Audit Committee and the Chief Financial Officer, charged with global responsibility for Internal Audit, Corporate Security, Asset Protection, Retail Facilities, and Enterprise Risk Management. Led 160+ professionals worldwide across assurance and advisory mandates, the Sarbanes-Oxley program, forensic investigations, and the global asset protection strategy. Sponsor lead of the Global Compliance Committee and of the hotline reporting program, including upgrades aligned to GDPR.
Vice President, Tax — Transfer Pricing & Customs Audit Compliance
2015 — 2017 · Ralph Lauren CorporationVice President, Tax — Reporting & Special Projects
2014 — 2015 · Ralph Lauren CorporationVice President of Internal Audit
2011 — 2014 · Ralph Lauren CorporationIndependent Director, Audit Committee
Chuy’s Holdings NASDAQ: CHUY
Independent board service for a value-driven, full-service Tex-Mex restaurant concept with 100+ locations. Provided strategic guidance and governance, served on the Audit Committee, and oversaw the company through its acquisition by Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), closed October 2024.
Managing Director — Audit Assurance & Deputy Technical Accounting Practice
Deloitte
17 years advising public and private companies across audit assurance, complex SEC filings, IPOs, and capital markets activity. Directed initiatives enhancing audit quality and regulatory consistency across multiple international offices, and collaborated with senior management and audit committees on financial disclosure, investor reporting, and technical accounting under US GAAP and IFRS.
Public thinking on the questions boards are asking now.
A sought-after voice on governance, risk, and transformation.
Nancy speaks regularly to C-suite, audit committee, and director audiences on the questions reshaping governance across public and private organizations: how AI changes audit evidence, where cyber risk actually originates, what tariff fraud looks like under heightened enforcement, and how to translate fraud prevention into ROI.
She writes for a community of 17,000+ followers on LinkedIn, with a focus on practical governance over abstract strategy.
Recent Forums
- ACFE Anti-Fraud Leadership Summit, NYC — Cyber and Fraud Risk: Emerging Threats and Board Oversight
- ACFE Global Conference — Practical Issues When Addressing ESG Fraud Risks
- Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) GAM Conference — IA Leaders in Action: How CAEs Are Transforming Through Agility and Technology
- Women in Retail CEO Summit — Insights in Joining, Contributing, and Excelling as a Board Member
- PwC Year-End Audit Committee Webcast — Audit committee priorities, risk oversight, and year-end governance
- Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB) — Annual meeting panelist
- 50/50 Women on Boards — New York Conversation
- NRF Big Show
Speaking Topics
Continuous learning, actively practiced.
Education
Boston College
Bachelor of Science, Accounting
Harvard Business School Executive Education
21st Century Leadership
Kellogg School of Management Executive Education
Women’s Director Development Program
Affiliations & Service
Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB)
Member
Private Directors Association (PDA)
Member
Women in Retail Leadership Circle
Member
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
Certified Fraud Examiner · Conference Speaker · Contributing Author, Fraud Magazine (July/August 2026)
Fraud isn’t a line item. It’s a strategy failure.
Most organizations are fighting fraud with tools designed to detect it after the fact. The boards and leadership teams that win are the ones that build fraud prevention into strategy — not just compliance.
Fraud is not just a financial crime. It is a governance failure, a controls failure, and increasingly, a technology failure. As AI lowers the barrier to sophisticated schemes — deepfake-enabled wire fraud, AI-generated audit evidence, synthetic identity attacks — the cost of reactive fraud management grows faster than the losses themselves.
Nancy Freda-Smith has spent 30 years at the intersection of fraud prevention, audit integrity, and enterprise risk. She has built programs that connect detection to action, and helped organizations understand not just where fraud is happening, but why their controls allowed it — and how to close the gap for good.
Financial controls, digital resilience, and enterprise risk advisory — for boards and leadership teams ready to move.
NFS Insights was founded to give public and private companies access to the kind of senior counsel that used to only exist inside the largest organizations. Engagements are selective, scoped precisely, and focused on outcomes that compound — whether the work is building a controls framework from the ground up, advising a board through a cyber incident, or helping a leadership team get ahead of risk before it becomes a headline.
NFS Insights engagements are run quietly and focused on outcomes that compound. Four structured engagement areas are available below — each can be tailored to the specific inflection point your organization is navigating.
Engagement Areas
Fractional Executive Leadership
Senior interim leadership for organizations navigating growth, transition, or transformation — available as fractional Chief Audit Executive (CAE), Chief Risk Officer (CRO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), or Chief Operating Officer (COO) through NFS Insights.
SOX & ICFR Readiness
Pre-IPO controls build, material weakness remediation, and steady-state SOX program optimization.
Fraud, Cyber & AI Governance
Independent assessment of third-party risk, shadow IT, AI policy, and the controls connecting signal to action.
Internal Audit, Fraud & Asset Protection Programs
Stand-up of new functions, modernization of established teams, fraud program design, and asset protection advisory for retail and consumer organizations.
Enterprise Risk Assessments
End-to-end risk identification, prioritization, and board-ready reporting aligned to organizational strategy.
Process Gap Reviews
Targeted diagnostic of control gaps, operational inefficiencies, and remediation roadmaps that translate findings into action.
Forensic Services
Fraud investigation, forensic readiness assessments, and root-cause remediation for organizations responding to or anticipating loss.
Audit Committee Advisory
Charter design, agenda quality reviews, and senior counsel to chairs on emerging-risk briefings.
Preventing Fraud.
Promoting Integrity.
Purposeful Audits.
To help organizations protect their assets and maximize profitability by proactively identifying and mitigating risk, fraud, and operational inefficiencies — through world-class internal audit, asset protection, and enterprise risk management.
Fraud, waste, and unmanaged risk cost companies millions each year — not just in financial losses, but in reputational damage, regulatory penalties, and missed opportunities. Global fraud losses now exceed $5 trillion annually, with businesses losing an average of 5% of revenues to fraud they never see coming.
My purpose is to help organizations turn risk into resilience — and resilience into measurable, compounding value. By aligning risk management with business strategy, we stop loss before it starts.
Four ways to engage NFS Insights.
Audit Optimization Accelerator
A structured diagnostic and redesign of internal audit functions — moving from compliance-first to risk-intelligent, from reactive to predictive. Built for CAEs inheriting stagnant programs, CFOs who want their audit team to deliver more, and boards that deserve better visibility.
- Risk-based audit plan aligned to business strategy
- AI and data analytics integration roadmap
- Audit committee reporting redesign
- Team capability and capacity assessment
Fraud Risk & Forensic Readiness
Organizations don’t discover they weren’t ready until after the investigation starts. This engagement assesses your fraud risk posture, stress-tests your detection and response capabilities, and builds the forensic infrastructure that lets you move with precision when it matters.
- Fraud risk assessment across financial, digital, and AI-enabled vectors
- Forensic investigation protocol and escalation playbook
- Whistleblower program review and GDPR alignment
- AI-generated fraud detection framework
Shrink Reduction & Asset Protection Program
Retail shrink is not inevitable. This engagement builds or strengthens asset protection programs to achieve best-in-class shrink performance — connecting RFID, behavioral analytics, store operations, and loss prevention into a unified, measurable strategy.
- Shrink diagnostic across internal theft, external theft, and operational loss
- Technology integration roadmap (RFID, EAS, AI surveillance)
- Store operations and AP team alignment protocol
- Executive-level dashboard and P&L impact modeling
ERM Framework & Board Advisory
Enterprise risk management that actually works at board level — translating operational exposure into language that drives governance decisions. For companies building their first ERM framework and for boards that want independent counsel on whether their current framework is fit for purpose.
- Risk appetite statement and enterprise risk taxonomy
- Board and audit committee risk reporting redesign
- Crisis management program and business continuity assessment
- Emerging risk briefings: tariff fraud, AI governance, cyber resilience
Active in the communities shaping tomorrow’s boardrooms.
Member of Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB), Women in Retail Leadership Circle, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners — where Nancy speaks at national conferences on fraud detection, AI governance, and the evolving risk landscape facing public and private company boards.
Let’s have a conversation.
Send a brief note — who you are, what you’re navigating, and what kind of engagement you have in mind. Nancy responds personally to every inquiry.
Seeing AI Clearly: From Insight to Action
AI is an incredible tool — but only when the entire chain is connected, from signal to action to outcome. Where is AI intervening in your processes, and are you still using human interaction during the loop?
The Real Cyber Risk Isn’t Phishing
We treat phishing like a training problem. But training isn’t the control — it’s the reminder. The real exposure comes after the email gets in. What matters is whether the organization has built the right guardrails.
Tariff Fraud: A Risk Boards Can’t Overlook
While origin has dominated headlines, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Boards and management should be equally focused on valuation and classification — potential fraud and tax evasion risks under heightened enforcement.
“Fraud Analytics Is Not a Ferrari, So Stop Pitching It Like One”
Nancy’s forthcoming piece in the ACFE’s Fraud Magazine challenges how fraud analytics is sold to boards and leadership teams — and what effective fraud detection actually looks like in practice. Publishing July/August 2026.