Cynthia Vitters is a Managing Director at Deloitte & Touche LLP with over 20 years of higher education, Federal government, and enterprise risk management experience. She leads Deloitte’s government and public service ERM practice and oversees ERM engagements for federal, state, and local government and higher education clients. 

Cynthia provides advice and counsel to Higher Education institutions on topics related to ERM, IA, and Compliance. Cynthia and her team have helped institutions stand-up ERM programs, communicate and report to the Board of Trustees, leverage a risk framework to inform strategic decisions, develop and redesign compliance programs, and enhance risk intelligence through the alignment of ERM, IA, and Compliance functions.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Cynthia spent 22 years working for the federal government’s U.S. Department of Education. Cynthia served as the CRO for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA). In the CRO position, she oversaw all aspects of the identification and assessment of enterprise-risk, including the high risk areas determined by the Executive team and Risk Committee. These assessments were shared with the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) to inform new policies or changes to Higher Education Policy. Prior to joining FSA, Cynthia spent eight years with the US-ED Office of Inspector General (Atlanta regional office) managing internal performance audits of multi-billion dollar federally funded education programs and audits of colleges’ and universities’ administration of Title IV programs. Additionally, she served as an advisor on the Department of Education’s agency-wide enterprise risk management implementation effort. In addition to her experience with the Department of Education, she also served as Senior Advisor on Enterprise Risk Management for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In this role, she provided technical expertise and guidance on federal enterprise risk management issues. She was responsible for the finalization of the Enterprise Risk Management section of OMB Circular A-123, “Management’s Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Controls.” Additionally, she led the effort to develop, publish, and socialize the “Enterprise Risk Management Playbook.”

Cynthia is past vice president at-large of AFERM, 2015 ERM Professional of the Year by AFERM, a member of University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA), and a member of RIMS. In addition, Cynthia co-founded the Deloitte/St. John’s University Managing Risk in Higher Education Symposium, which is a series where administrative and academic leaders in higher education risk management convene and share best practices.

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Arts from Franklin & Marshall College, and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University. Additionally, Cynthia is a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

In her free time, Cynthia volunteers in a variety of capacities for The Chautauqua Institution where she and her family have summered for over 25 years and serves as the Finance Officer for the Chautauqua Women’s Club. She also supports various arts organizations in the Washington, DC, area.  She and her family, Liam (17), Anagrace (6) and dog Oreo (cavaton) reside in Arlington, VA.