Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Languages
Timeline
Generic

Katherine Carada

Rancho Santa Margarita,CA

Summary

Forward-thinking Compliance & Risk Executive with 15+ years leading enterprise-wide governance, ethics, and regulatory programs across highly regulated and rapidly evolving industries. Known for transforming complex compliance requirements into strategic business enablers, partnering with boards, C-suites, and operational leaders to protect enterprise value, accelerate growth, and build resilient, audit-ready organizations. Experience spans multi-jurisdictional regulatory oversight, corporate governance, labor and employment law compliance, cross-border entity management, ESG readiness, data privacy frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA), anti-corruption (FCPA), and M&A compliance integration. Proven record of reducing legal exposure, strengthening governance structures, and mentoring high-performing teams to safeguard organizational integrity while enabling business agility.

Overview

10
10
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Director of Risk & Compliance

ACES ABA
02.2024 - 09.2025
  • Reduced Medicaid audit recoupment exposure from $1.7M to $130K by directing cross-functional remediation, realigning documentation with CMS standards, and negotiating with payer.
  • Built internal audit protocols for documentation integrity, cutting payer recoupment exposure by 68% within nine months.
  • Developed enterprise-wide risk scoring system across 3,000 staff to prioritize remediation, reduce recidivism, and track risk trends in real time.
  • Conducted 75+ root cause investigations annually (HIPAA breaches, wage/hour violations, fraud), ensuring corrective action and legally sound reporting.
  • Partnered with executive leadership and legal on privileged investigations involving protected data, internal misconduct, and multi-jurisdictional regulatory reporting.
  • Remote

Quality Compliance/Project Manager

KEPRO
03.2021 - 02.2024
  • Directed compliance and risk oversight for utilization management across 96 hospitals, ensuring alignment with CMS and Medicaid-funded program standards.
  • Reduced CMS audit exposure by conducting gap analyses and implementing corrective documentation protocols.
  • Developed risk dashboards tracking denials, appeals, and timeliness, strengthening compliance oversight across hospital sites.
  • Drove remediation of high-risk audit findings by leading internal audits of authorizations, denials, and documentation integrity.
  • Elevated compliance culture via stakeholder engagement initiative, achieving 92.8% positive ratings across hospital partners.
  • Remote

Quality Assurance Manager

Phoenix House
04.2015 - 03.2022
  • Reduced payer recoupment from $800K to $311K through documentation redesign, staff retraining, and early audit detection methods.
  • Ensured CARF accreditation and DHCS licensure by revising 120+ SOPs to comply with evolving regulatory mandates.
  • Partnered with legal and clinical leadership on complex incident investigations, including privacy violations and behavioral risk.
  • Directed compliance strategy for multi-site behavioral health programs, covering detox, residential, and outpatient services.
  • Earlier Roles
  • Admissions Manager – Phoenix House
  • Director of Operations – Energized Evolution
  • Operations Manager – M.C.I. Limited
  • Park Operations – The Walt Disney Company
  • Firefighter – Crested Butte Fire Protection District

Education

Bachelor of Science - Business Administration

Purdue University
Indianapolis, IN

Skills

  • Governance & Compliance Strategy
  • Board & Executive Advisory
  • Internal Audit & Controls
  • Cross-Jurisdictional Regulatory Compliance
  • Policy Governance
  • Team Leadership & Change Management
  • Risk reporting
  • Enterprise risk management
  • Compliance monitoring
  • ESG & Vendor Risk Management
  • Labor & Employment Law Compliance
  • Data Privacy (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA)
  • Investigations & Remediation

Certification

  • Lean Six Sigma | Six Sigma Green Belt
  • CPHQ Licensing, NAHQ Q Solutions (in progress)
  • Quality Assurance Management Certification – Uni-Prep, San Diego, CA
  • HIPAA, 2021

Languages

English
Native or Bilingual
Italian
Professional Working

Timeline

Director of Risk & Compliance

ACES ABA
02.2024 - 09.2025

Quality Compliance/Project Manager

KEPRO
03.2021 - 02.2024

Quality Assurance Manager

Phoenix House
04.2015 - 03.2022

Bachelor of Science - Business Administration

Purdue University

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