Speaker

Ms. Sharon Virag

Sharon Virag is the VP, Controller and Chief Accounting officer of AETNA, a Fortune 50 diversified healthcare benefits company with over $60 billion in revenue, where she is responsible for controllership, tax, treasury, Finance Transformation and Finance Shared Services for the company.She is also a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC), a group that advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on matters related to board projects and agenda prioritization, as well as a member of the Corporate Reporting Committee of the Financial Executives Institute (FEI).

 

Prior to joining Aetna, Virag was the Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer of AES Corp., a global power company operating in 23 countries, generating $17 billion in annual revenues on $42 billion in assets under management.She also held Global Controller positions at several General Electric businesses between 2010 and 2013, as well as multiple posts, both domestic and international, at General Motors Company (“GM”) from 2008 to 2010, including Assistant Corporate Controller; Controller, GM AsiaPacific; and Director of Internal Control and Sox Compliance. 

 

In addition to her private sector experience, she was with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) from 2005 to 2008, where she served as the project leader for Auditing Standard No. 5, the Board’s requirements/regulations for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, and acted as staff liaison to the Securities & Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (CiFER), among other roles.

 

Virag started her financial career in auditing, including working for Deloitte & Touche, LLP from 1998 to 2004 as an Audit Senior Manager and Audit Manager.She has a BS in Accounting from California State University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Arizona.