James Yard

Shareholder, Schneider Downs & Co., Inc.

Jim leads Schneider Downs’s Risk Advisory Services Department and serves as market growth leader for the firm’s consulting practice. Jim specializes in providing risk management and internal audit services to many regional, national, and international organizations.

During the past 30 years, Jim has spent a significant amount of his career in the higher education sector. His experience includes transforming several internal audit functions from in-house to fully outsourced solutions. These transitions strategically included a comprehensive risk assessment to realign the functions’ priorities. In leading these functions, Jim helps organizations better manage risk and compliance, improve governance and institutional controls, and reduce cost through efficiencies and best practices.

Jim is a member of the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants, a board member of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors, and the Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania.

Jim earned his BS in Business Administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.