Messerschmidt, Sharon

Sharon Messerschmidt, MPA, CPA, CMA, CIA, is the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada. Sharon has 25 years of audit, risk management and evaluation experience providing advice to senior management and audit committee on governance, risk and performance management, and internal control systems.

Prior to joining Shared Services Canada, Sharon worked for several United Nations organizations. This included serving the Joint Inspection Unit where as an expert advisor to an evaluation of the State of Internal Audit across the United Nations system. Sharon assisted the World Food Programme in institutionalizing a Three Lines of Defense approach in their internal audit function to coordinate efforts and increase the efficiency of the various assurance providers in that complex organization. She also performed an external quality review of the internal audit function of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

From 2006 to 2014 Sharon was the Chief Audit Executive and Director of Risk Management for Canada’s International Development Research Centre, providing assurance and risk services in a complex internationally based environment. Previous to this Sharon worked as an internal audit consultant in the private sector for six years.  At the beginning of her career Sharon held a series of audit, financial and accountancy positions in a Canadian crown corporation environment.

Sharon holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Carleton University and has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Queen’s University. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a Certified Internal Auditor designation.