Richa Shah

About Richa Shah

I am an Enterprise Security Architect with nearly a decade of experience working with Fortune 500 organizations in highly regulated industries to design and secure complex technology ecosystems. I specialize in building scalable security architecture that enables innovation while meeting rigorous compliance and risk requirements.At Fifth Third Bank, I serve as a strategic partner across enterprise-wide initiatives—embedding security early in design phases, leading the enterprise threat modeling program, and building reusable secure reference architectures that accelerate delivery. My current focus is securing emerging AI/ML initiatives, establishing governance frameworks that address model risk, data protection, and secure integration patterns for generative AI systems.Previously, as a Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at EY, I led security transformation programs across financial services, healthcare, and other regulated sectors. During this time, I developed deep expertise in industry regulations and certifications including HIPAA, HITRUST, SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOX, helping organizations design control environments aligned to audit and regulatory expectations. I am also well-versed in cybersecurity and enterprise architecture frameworks such as NIST and TOGAF, using them to translate regulatory obligations into practical engineering standards.Technically, I am proficient in Python, Java, Terraform, and shell scripting (Zsh/Bash), and experienced operating in cloud-native, infrastructure-as-code driven environments. I bring a pragmatic, automation-first mindset to security engineering and governance.I am passionate about combining technical depth with business context to ensure security is not an afterthought, but a strategic enabler of trust, resilience, and responsible innovation.

Experience

1. Principal Security Architect

   Fifth Third Bank

   Jul 2025 — Present · Chicago, IL, US

   Author standardized architectural patterns for mission-critical design objectives, including high availability (HA), multi-region resiliency, and secure integration of AI/ML services like AWS Bedrock and Textract• Standardizes \"Best Practice\" implementations for emerging technologies, ensuring that AI-driven applications are built with robust security and scalability from Day 1• Launched a greenfield Enterprise Threat Modeling program by developing a process, implementing an AI-enhanced open-source tool to perform threat models, and educating users on it\'s value

Education

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  Bachelors of Science and Bachelors of Arts, Business Administration and Computer Science

  2014 — 2018

Skills

• Social Media
• Time Management
• Money Management
• Microsoft Word
• Team Leadership
• Event Planning
• Teamwork
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Public Speaking
• Microsoft Office
• Leadership
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Customer Service
• Fundraising
• Marketing Strategy
• Analysis