Philbin, Brian

Brian Philbin has been the Assistant Commissioner of the Audit, Evaluation, and Risk Branch and the Chief Audit Executive for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) since January 2012. Brian first joined the CRA as Chief Risk Officer in June 2010. He is responsible for providing strategic advice and executive oversight with respect to horizontal and integrated enterprise risk management. He also leads a robust independent internal audit and program evaluation function that is supported by a strong Professional Practices and Data Analysis team, and he plays a key role in supporting major strategic and change management initiatives within the CRA.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales de l’Université de Montréal. He is also a Fellow of the Québec order of Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA, FCA) with over 30 years of public and private sector experience in finance, operations, technology, strategic planning, compliance, governance, audit, and risk management.

Brian began his career as an auditor in an international accounting firm. He subsequently spent over 20 years in the private sector in senior financial and operations roles, including Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and General Manager. He has worked in the fields of transportation, financial services, technology, manufacturing, and government. Brian was also a consultant for 6 years, providing risk management, project management, and internal audit related services to a wide range of clients in both the private and public sectors prior to joining the CRA.

Brian is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences, both domestically and internationally and has authored a number of research papers on risk management which were published by organizations such as the Conference Board of Canada, The Society of Actuaries (U.S.A), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Europe). Since February 2019, he is the national champion for the Public Service Employee Survey. Prior to that, he was the CRA National Champion for Youth from 2011 to 2018, during which time CRA was selected as one of Canada’s Top 100 employers for young people for 4 years in a row.