The Audit Podcast — Ep 263: Building Early Career Goals on the Road to Chief Audit Executive with Jamie Meziere

Host: Trent Russell
Guest: Jamie Meziere, Chief Audit Executive (CAE) at FedEx
Date: November 11, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features an engaging conversation with Jamie Meziere, CAE at FedEx, exploring her deliberate journey to executive leadership, practical strategies for integrating analytics and AI into audit, and advice for building early career goals in the audit profession. Jamie shares her visionary approach for elevating internal audit, offers mentoring wisdom, and discusses what she’s learned from her first year as CAE, making this episode a must-listen for both aspiring and seasoned audit professionals.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Personal and Professional Context: Getting to Know Jamie

• Professional curiosity: Jamie talks about leveraging internal Gen AI tools to validate her vision and strategy as CAE. She highlights how the results confirmed her approach:

  “I was really happy with the outcomes. [The tool] thought that it was business savvy and also focused on driving change as well as business partnership.” (03:58)

• Personal tidbit: Jamie shares about starting a miniature goat farm LLC as a creative solution to leaf control at her home, illustrating her willingness to think outside the box in all areas of life.

  “We purchased...the oldest house on the street...With that being said, we have a lot of trees...but I thought why not have a mini goat farm.” (04:10)

2. Building and Scaling Analytics & AI in Audit

• Team structure: FedEx has embedded data analytics champions in each director’s area and maintains a dedicated internal audit & data analytics/data scientist team for advanced modeling and “auditing AI with AI.”

  “We assign what we call data analytics champions to every director...then we also have what we call an internal audit and data analytics team...more of the modeling, future state, strategic activities.” (06:13)

• Scalable Model: Jamie and Trent discuss how any audit department, regardless of size, can adapt a distributed analytics model with roles scaled up or down.

  “Almost every audit department can have some version of a distributed...excellence and a distributed [model].” (07:38, Trent)
  “You’re close to the business, you work on the project execution, and then also you have the broader based activities of the COE model...” (08:36, Jamie)

3. Jamie’s Career Path: Setting and Executing the Goal to Become CAE

• Early Ambition and Relentless Planning: Jamie set the goal of becoming CAE very early and took concrete, iterative steps—rather than waiting for promotion by tenure.

  “The plan was really just to have a goal for myself...also to relentlessly work that plan...set goals along the way...to help me get to where I wanted to be longer term.” (12:36)

• Leaving Audit to Accelerate Progress: Faced with a crossroads after 10 years, Jamie left audit temporarily to broaden her experience, eventually moving into engineering before returning to audit.

  “I came to a very critical point...I either needed to leave Internal Audit...or move back to Memphis...So I moved into Engineering...there are a lot of synergies between internal audit and engineering from just a process and efficiency standpoint.” (13:28)

4. The Importance of Understanding the Business

• Jamie’s “One Thing” for Every Auditor:

  “It’s so important to understand the business, not only the literacy...understanding the strategy and really how can you insert yourself to drive value for the business and our business partners.” (09:41)

• Advice for Different Career Levels:

  • Staff/Senior: “Stay close to your business partners...when you’re going in to plan your audits, maybe it’s something that you need to pivot a little bit to change your scope.” (11:16)
  • Manager/Director: Continue to evaluate the business environment and be ready to adjust audit plans as business context evolves.

• Broader Message:

  “Great auditors don’t just check boxes...they truly do understand the business...build strong partnerships, drive meaningful change...focus on adding value, real value.” (26:06)

5. Mentoring, Goal Setting, and Continued Development

• Jamie’s Approach:

  • Maintained both internal and external mentors: “It’s really good to have a balance...people that you really can lean on for opportunities for advancement...also people that are outside of the company for a different perspective.” (16:39)
  • Leveraged honest, sometimes tough, career advice to make bold moves, including an international assignment in Belgium.

• Vision University: Jamie is a graduate of Vision U, the IIA’s immersive program for aspiring and current CAEs.

  “I thought it was a really fantastic approach...to have a broad-based network...a self-built network from the get-go...really powerful to anyone who’s aspiring or a new CAE.” (18:56)

• Mentoring Programs: Jamie and Trent stress the value of mentoring—formally (such as through IIA’s programs) and informally.

  “The amount of...heartache, stress, anxiety, years of experience that you can save...just by asking a mentor...is very, very important.” (20:32, Trent)

6. Jamie’s Vision as CAE: Elevating Audit for Everyone

• Jamie shares her vision statement video, summarizing her mission to integrate digital innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement in audit.

  “Elevate audit for everyone...elevating internal audit as a fundamental pillar of operational excellence...fostering a culture of digital innovation and serving as a catalyst for positive change.” (21:31)

• 3 Pillars of Her Approach:

  • Excellence: Audit quality and effectiveness
  • Innovation: Technology and AI adoption
  • Collaboration: Building strong business relationships

7. Metrics for Evaluating CAEs & Industry Leadership

• Key Metrics Jamie Would Use:
  • Audit quality and efficiency: “Not so much about the number of projects...but making sure the plan was focused on risk and auditing the right project at the right time.” (23:13)
  • Stakeholder satisfaction: “We send out surveys...just to gauge how well the project went...and if we have areas of opportunity, we continue to focus on those.” (23:36)
  • Industry contribution: Participation in forums, publications, and adoption of new audit technologies.

8. AI and the Future of Audit

• Adoption & Comfort:

  “Get used to Gen AI, get used to using it, be very, very familiar with it and don’t be afraid of it...things are moving very quickly, but it’s important for us to leverage that technology.” (15:01)

• Jamie’s Message to Auditors Hesitant About AI:

  “Fear...is the biggest reason that people haven’t really adopted it yet...go grab the AI governance policies, procedures, make sure you understand those and then go...Everything else is game.” (15:41, Trent)

• AI in Audit:

  “Leaning heavier into AI, Gen AI, and now Agentic AI...the reality is they’re here with us, it’s not going away...how do we audit AI with AI?” (24:22)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Career Progression:

  “I never wanted to leave Internal Audit. But I came to a very critical point in my career...I’m so glad that I did [move into Engineering]...that helped me get to my chief audit executive role.” (13:28, Jamie)

• On What Makes a Great Auditor:

  “Great auditors don’t just check boxes...the important thing...is they truly do understand the business.” (26:06, Jamie)

• On Mentoring:

  “It’s really good to have a good balance of [mentors] within your own industry, within your own company...but then also having people outside...that helped me navigate some of the more difficult decisions...” (16:39, Jamie)

• On Bringing Value Through AI:

  “Be very, very familiar with [Gen AI] and don’t be afraid of it...utilize it to our advantage...lean into that.” (15:01, Jamie)

• Jamie’s Final Encouragement:

  “If I can be a chief audit executive...really, anyone can do it.” (26:56, Jamie)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:28-05:09 | Jamie’s professional/personal curiosities, including generative AI and her goat farm LLC | | 06:00-08:36 | FedEx’s analytics and AI program, distributed model | | 09:33-10:32 | Jamie’s “shoulder-shake” advice: understand the business | | 12:33-14:16 | Jamie’s structured career plan and decision to leave audit for growth | | 16:34-17:59 | Mentoring and goal setting, balancing internal/external mentors | | 18:38-20:32 | Vision University and building a network of current/future CAEs | | 21:31-22:58 | Jamie’s “Elevating audit for everyone” vision statement | | 23:10-24:20 | Evaluating CAEs: metrics like audit quality, stakeholder satisfaction, industry contribution | | 24:22-25:02 | New audit tools: AI, Gen AI, agentic AI, and industry leadership | | 26:04-27:22 | Jamie’s closing thoughts: adding value and encouragement |

Conclusion: Key Takeaways

• Intentional career progression—setting clear goals and seeking broad experience—can accelerate your journey to executive roles.
• Understanding the business and building relationships is more vital than technical audit skills alone.
• Adoption of analytics, AI, and innovation is both essential and within reach for all audit functions.
• Mentorship and peer networks are crucial for both personal and professional growth.
• Don’t fear technology change—lean in, understand governance, and become comfortable with new tools.
• The most impactful auditors drive value by partnering with the business and focusing on continuous learning and improvement.

Final Words from Jamie Meziere (26:56):

“If I can be a chief audit executive...really, anyone can do it.”