In 2019, I recognized 10 men and women who had made extraordinary contributions to the internal audit profession through thought leadership and advocacy over the prior decade. The response was immediate and overwhelming. That single list evolved into an annual tradition.

Each year since, the Internal Audit Beacon Awards have grown in reach, relevance, and global impact. This year was no exception.

More than 100 nominations arrived from 25 countries, many submitted by readers of this blog. As I reviewed the nominations, I was once again struck by how far the profession has come. The depth, diversity, and quality of thought leadership on display would have been difficult to imagine just a decade ago.

There is also an unavoidable reality in compiling a list like this. The hardest part is not deciding who belongs on it. It is deciding who does not. For those deserving voices not named this year, my sincere apologies.

The Internal Audit Beacon Awards recognize individuals who actively advance the profession through speaking, publishing, teaching, and engagement across traditional and digital platforms. Beacon recipients are thought leaders, advocates, and influencers. Some are global in reach. Others focus their impact within regions or countries. All move the profession forward.

This year, I am again recognizing 12 individuals for extraordinary contributions throughout the year.

I am especially proud of the diversity represented. The recipients represent 11 countries from five continents, reflecting the truly global character of internal auditing. Collectively, they reach nearly 250,000 professionals through LinkedIn alone. Three are first time recipients.

What follows is a brief overview of each recipient, listed alphabetically. I encourage you to explore their work directly through their profiles and publications.

2025 Internal Audit Beacon Award Recipients

Gehan Alharbi – Saudi Arabia 

Gehan is a first time Beacon recipient and the first thought leader from Saudi Arabia to receive this recognition. She currently serves as General Auditor of Riyadh Air. With nearly 19,000 LinkedIn followers, she is a visible and credible voice shaping the future of internal audit from Saudi Arabia to the global stage. She leads in practice, teaches in public, and builds capability at scale. Her work reflects not only where the profession is today, but also where it must go in the future. Gehan is also the founder of AuditMentor, a specialized learning initiative “designed to empower current and aspiring internal auditors with practical knowledge, professional guidance, and accessible study resources.”

Rania Bejjani – UK

Rania is another first-time Internal Audit Beacon recipient, but she is no stranger to the profession. Rania blends executive experience, global perspective, strategic thinking and mentorship to elevate internal audit’s voice and value. In 2025, her contributions improved how internal audit functions operate, how they influence decision makers, and how they prepare for the future. Among her notable achievements in the past year, Rania launched her own Podcast series: Impact Legacy with Rania.  

Robert Berry – USA 

This year marks Robert’s 5^th Internal Audit Beacon Award, which simultaneously makes him a Lighthouse Award recipient. With more than 23,000 LinkedIn followers, Robert’s tagline is that he “helps internal auditors ask better questions,” but as I have noted over the years, Robert regularly provides “better answers.” Many of you know Robert best as That Audit Guy  and you can follow him on “X”: @thatauditguy

Salih Ahmed Islam – Turkey 

Salih is a returning Beacon recipient, who is a respected internal audit professional from Turkey. He brings decades of real-world experience, global reach, and consistent influence. He is known for his insightful posts, offering laser-focused insights on internal audit ethics and other critical topics and issues facing the profession. His book, “The Operational Audit Blueprint – Definitions, Internal Audit Programs and Checklists for Success,” remains a popular resource for practitioners. Salih has perhaps the largest LinkedIn following of anyone in the profession (almost 60,000 followers)! In addition to his LinkedIn posts, check out his website.

Tom McLeod – Australia

Tom is a three-time recipient of the Internal Audit Beacon Awards, having first been recognized in 2020. He is globally-recognized internal audit and risk leader whose influence spans decades of practice, global advocacy, and forward-looking insight. Tom’s recognition stems from the fact that he pushes the profession to think bigger – particularly when it comes to leveraging artificial intelligence. His recent post, “25 Things I Learnt About AI in Internal Audit in 2025,” is an excellent example of his insightful coaching on the transformative power of AI for internal audit. Given his relevant and timely focus on AI, that he has amassed almost 35,000 LinkedIn followers who listen when he speaks.

Tracie Marquardt – Canada 

Tracie returns this year for a 2nd appearance on the list, but her stellar reputation as an advocate for women in our profession has been building for years. Referring to herself as The Audit Alchemist, Tracie serves the profession as a communication consultant, keynote speaker and motivational trainer. Her Podcast, “Inspiring Women in Audit,” provides insight and motivation for women (and men) in our profession around the world. Tracie has garnered more than 10,000 LinkedIn followers, and maintains a vibrant presence through her website.

Chidambaram Narayanan – Oman

Chidambaram is a returning Beacon, who brings more than two decades of experience in internal audit, IT audit, risk management and governance. In 2025, he coached his 21,000 LinkedIn followers on practical tools and uses for AI. Chidambaram reminds us that the nation of Oman is a fountain of internal audit wisdom for the rest of the world.

Karem Obeid – UAE

Karem made the list for the first time in 2024, but his encore year has been even more impressive. In 2025, Karem continued to focus on elevating the human side of internal auditing — blending innovation, ethics, and leadership to strengthen trust in our profession. Karem champions transforming the perception of internal audit into that of a strategic, value-adding partner, leveraging AI, ESG principles, and data analytics. Not surprisingly, Karem’s efforts have been recognized by others. In July, he received the CAE of the Year Award from IIA Global.

Tom O’Reilly – USA

Tom was recognized for the first time in 2024 following his establishment of The Internal Audit Collective. Not surprisingly, The Collective, an online “managed” community for top SOX and Internal Audit professionals designed to help members modernize how internal audit operates, communicates, and creates value has proven very popular with CAEs. In a little over one year, The Collective community has grown to over 700 professionals that actively engage in knowledge-sharing across the Internal Audit profession. Like many of this year’s recipients, Tom has been a champion for greater AI adoption by internal auditors. In November, he published The Gen AI Playbook for Internal Audit — Volume I. Sporting almost 35,000 LinkedIn followers, it’s safe to say Tom is a sure bet to continue his journey as a key thought leader.

Ursula Schmidt – Luxembourg 

Ursula is now a three-time recipient of The Internal Audit Beacon Award.  In 2025, Ursula was a prominent speaker, leader, and storyteller who unabashedly cut through the noise and helped internal auditors connect the dots. Ursula brings humor, honesty, and real-life experience into her engagement with the profession, and she makes internal audit feel practical, human, and relevant – not theoretical or over-complicated. And that’s exactly what auditors need. Among her many contributions in the past year was her Internal Auditor Magazine article: Building a Better Auditor: The Difference of Authentic Leadership.

Renato Trisciuzzi – Brazil 

A longtime IIA leader, Renato is back on the list in 2025. He continues to raise his profile in Latin America and around the world. In 2025, Renato added to his publishing catalogue with “Os 4 pilares da liderança imbatível“ (The 4 Pillars of Unbeatable Leadership.” Thanks to his more than 21,000 LinkedIn followers, this past year his 100+ posts generated more than 200K views/reactions. Renato is also active on Instagram and “X.” @Trisciuzzi.

Hiroyuki (Hiro) Tsuchida – Japan

Over the years, The Beacon Awards have introduced several bright and rising stars to the global internal audit profession. This year, that distinction falls to Hiroyuki (Hiro) Tsuchida from Japan. In 2025, he focused tirelessly on advancing the future of internal auditing in Japan and contributing to global discussions on AI-driven internal audit transformation. Hiro published “The AI-Driven Internal Audit”, a book advocating for AI Transformation (AX) in the AGI era. As CEO Weekly noted: “Traditional audit cycles—retrospective, periodic, and slow—are increasingly mismatched with the fast-moving risks of today’s interconnected world. For Hiro Tsuchida, founder of Front-IA Innovations, Inc., this is more than a technological disruption—it’s a pivotal moment that will define the profession’s future.”

Lighthouse Award Recipients

Last year, we announced the Lighthouse Award to recognize an entire body of thought leadership. It is bestowed once on those who have received the Internal Audit Beacon Award at least five times. This year’s recipients of the new Lighthouse Award. We announced three recipients last year:

• Hal Garyn – USA 
• Rainer Lenz – Germany 
• Norman Marks – USA 

As noted above, these three recipients have been joined by Robert Berry – USA, who received his 5th Internal Audit Beacon Award this year.

There you have it: The 2025 Internal Audit Beacons and Lighthouse recipients. I welcome your thoughts on this list and I urge you to follow all of these outstanding men and women.