A global compliance expert with 22 years of experience will lead Cornell’s efforts to navigate risk throughout its operations.

Aditya Misra, MBA ’13, has been appointed university auditor and chief audit executive. He will start his new role Jan. 4.

He will replace Glen C. Mueller, ’72, MBA ’74, a lauded Cornell athlete who died March 4 at age 70.

Misra will be responsible for the internal and information technology audits, with a focus on adding value to and improving operations and bringing a systematic and disciplined approach to audits and risk, control and governance processes. He will direct the University Audit Office, which supports risk management and compliance across the university, including the Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech in New York City, and the Weill Cornell Medicine campus in Qatar.

Internal auditing needs to focus on technology and talent and deliver strategic value, Misra said. Internal audit functions have long been operating in the same fashion, with a strong focus on financial issues; however, they are now going through a transformation to redefine the value internal auditing brings to an organization, he said.

“Risks have not only multiplied but also become more complex,” Misra said. “Accordingly, the internal audit function needs to constantly evolve, be agile and innovate, by using technology and new ways of working with stakeholders.”

He will report to the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and Joanne DeStefano, Cornell’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Before coming to Cornell, Misra worked at Johnson & Johnson as director of audit and investigations. He has also held high-level auditing positions with international organizations including KPMG, General Motors and the Tata Group.

Misra earned a master’s of business administration degree at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2013, and a bachelor of commerce degree from Delhi University, India. He is a certified public accountant and a certified fraud examiner.

He looks forward to returning to Ithaca, he said. “I fell in love with it the first time I was there,” Misra said, “and it will be great to be back.”