Best Advice: Lisa Traina

Lisa Traina
President, Traina & Associates 

AGE: 53

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: With more than 30 years of experience as a CPA, certified information technology professional and chartered global management accountant, Traina works to assist financial institutions, hospitals, and CPA firms and their clients in implementing measures to secure data and manage risks. After working as a business consultant, Traina found her niche in IT audits and is now the owner and president of Traina & Associates, an IT security audit firm. Through her business consulting background, Traina also provides consulting services through Traina Advisory Services.

IN THE NEWS: Because security breaches occur daily and businesses continue to outsource functions to cloud providers, the need for vendor due diligence is at an all-time high. Traina & Associates recently responded to customer requests for assistance in this area and launched a new product, the Managed Vendor Program, to help organizations determine if their vendors are sound and have appropriate security measures in place. After receiving positive feedback from the program, Traina expects continued growth of MVP and other IT audit services.

THE BEST ADVICE SHE EVER RECEIVED

“Years ago a co-worker told me ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure.’  I constantly rely upon that statement and often repeat it to my own employees. Whether you are managing people, products, services, or technology, the first step should be identifying appropriate ‘measures.’ All of our employees work remotely so in order to effectively manage them, we quantify expectations for the amount of work that should be done in a set time frame, along with the acceptable quality standards. When these measurements are in place, managing an individual’s performance becomes a much easier task. It is far more effective than looking at the hours a person works. I think more organizations will adopt similar management models as telecommuting continues to grow.”