Vishal Thakkar

Vishal Thakkar is Chief Risk Officer at OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization.

In this role, Mr. Thakkar is responsible for implementing OCC's Risk Management Strategy, which includes Enterprise Risk Management, Third Party Risk Management, Model Risk Management, Strategic Risk, Model Validation and Model Risk Governance areas.

Previously, Mr. Thakkar led the Enterprise Risk Management function for OCC and was responsible for designing a sound risk management framework with processes and systems to conduct risk assessments, support risk management decisions and prepare the company’s risk profile. He previously served as First Vice President of Financial Risk Management (FRM), Risk Advisory Services where under his leadership, FRM defined a transformation roadmap and significantly strengthened the risk and control environment to enhance process effectiveness and meet regulatory requirements. Mr. Thakkar first joined OCC in 2016 as First Vice President, Internal Audit and was responsible for leading Technology and Operations Audits for the company.

From 2004 to 2016, Vishal held internal audit and risk management roles for Southern Company Gas, most recently serving as Director Internal Audit, Corporate/Shared Services and Regulated Operations and prior to that as Senior Manager of Risk Management. Before joining Southern Company Gas, Vishal served in a variety of consulting, operations, and technology roles at Accenture and MCI.

Vishal earned both a bachelor’s degree in information systems and an MBA in entrepreneurship from DePaul University. A member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and ISACA, Vishal has been a regular speaker at industry events. He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner.