Associate Director, University Audits
Ken Stern manages the university audit team, which provides an independent viewpoint on governance, risk management and internal controls for Duke University, including the Provost area, School of Medicine, central administration and the Duke University Management Company (DUMAC) which collectively have nearly $2 billion dollars in annual revenue. The team collaborates with operational and administrative leaders to identify areas of potential financial, operational and institutional risk, recommend improvements, and verify processes to promote responsible financial stewardship and protect the university’s reputation. He promotes utilization of data analytics and information visualization across the internal audit life cycle to assess risk, enhance engagement fieldwork, and identify root causes.
Ken joined Duke in 2011. Prior to that he had a 10-year career in the financial industry and then worked in public accounting with the Raleigh office of Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP where he performed financial statement audits, retirement plan reviews and other advisory projects for a portfolio of North Carolina state and local government agencies, Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), private colleges and other non-profit entities.
Ken holds a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Master of Accounting from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a North Carolina Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an active member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and the Association of College and University Auditors (ACUA).