Committee on Investment and Audit

Committee Roster

Chair 
Georg Aue, MD, PhD, MBA ('27) 

Vice Chair 
Margaret A. Goodell, PhD ('27) 

Appointed Members 
Biree Andemariam, MD ('29) 
Paul F. Bray, MD ('27) 
Mohamed Kharfan-Dabaja, MD ('26) 
Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD ('27) 
Shannon McKinney-Freeman, PhD ('29) 
Sridhar Rao, MD, PhD ('27) 
David A. Rizzieri, MD ('26) 
Michael R. Savona, MD ('29) 
Andrew I. Schafer, MD ('29) 
Saad Zafar Usmani, MD, MBA ('29) 
Amit K. Verma, MD ('28) 

Ex Officio Members 
Cindy E. Dunbar, MD ('27) - President-Elect 
Alison Loren, MD, MSCE ('28) - Vice President 
Robert Negrin, MD ('26) - President 

Liaisons 
Joseph R. Mikhael, MD ('26) - Treasurer 
Shalini Shenoy, MD ('26) - Chair, Publications Committee 

Staff Liaison 
Tiffany T. Ake, MBA, CPA 

Committee Mandate

The Committee on Investment and Audit has two main responsibilities:

1. to oversee the audit of the ASH financial statements, and

2. to make recommendations to the ASH Executive Committee regarding the operation and administration of the investment portfolio.

Except for the Treasurer, who is a liaison member of the Committee on Investment and Audit, no person directly involved in managing the financial affairs of the Society may be involved in oversight of the annual audit process.

The Committee on Investment and Audit handles the following responsibilities regarding its audit oversight responsibility:

Financial Statements

  • Understand how the management presents financial information.
  • Review significant accounting and financial reporting issues that are identified by ASH’s external auditors and understand the impact of these issues on the financial statements.
  • Review the results of the annual audit with management and the external auditors and discuss any difficulties that were encountered.

Internal Control

  • Consider the effectiveness of the ASH internal financial policies and procedures.
  • Recognize the scope and limits of the external auditors' review of internal control over financial reporting and receive reports from the auditors on significant findings and recommendations, together with management's responses.

External Audit

  • Recommend an independent audit firm to the ASH Executive Committee and review the audit firm’s performance.
  • Review and confirm the independence of the external auditors by obtaining statements from the auditors on relationships between the auditors and ASH. Meet in executive session with the external auditors (i.e., without any staff present) to discuss any matters that the committee or auditors believe should be discussed privately.
  • Resolve any disagreements between management and the independent auditors.

The Committee on Investment and Audit handles the following responsibilities regarding its investment oversight responsibility:

Investment Policy

  • Review the policy on a yearly basis, taking into consideration the impact on ASH’s financial strategy, programs, and financial needs.
  • Prepare an asset allocation strategy and make recommendations to the ASH Executive Committee regarding its execution.

Investment Advisors

  • Recommend hiring/termination of investment advisors.
  • Oversee the management of organization-wide assets, including monitoring the financial results of the ASH investment portfolio.
  • Receive periodic presentations from ASH’s investment advisors.

The Committee on Investment and Audit structure includes the chair of the Publications Committee and the Treasurer, as previously mentioned, as liaison members.

Members of the Committee on Investment and Audit are required to attend at least two meetings per year and participate in conference calls as needed.

The chair and three members of the Committee on Investment and Audit serve as liaison members of the Finance Subcommittee (of the ASH Executive Committee) and are expected to attend the meetings of that committee.