Mr. Richard Leach CIA, CFE

Mr. Leach served as Auditor General of the Navy from 1999 until his retirement in 2014. He has nearly 40 years of federal auditing experience rising from an entry level GS-5 auditor trainee to becoming a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) for 25 years. Since becoming an SES, Mr. Leach received three Presidential Rank Awards. Furthermore, Mr. Leach was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal and the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal by the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy twice awarded the Nathaniel Stinson Award to Mr. Leach for exemplary leadership in promoting Equal Employment Opportunity. Mr. Leach has been actively associated with the AGA since 1980 and has been the recipient of the AGA’s “Elmer Staats Award” and the AGA’s “Pentagon Memorial Service Award” for outstanding leadership in Government auditing and accounting.

Mr. Leach is a staunch advocate of the Inspectors General community and the critical role the IGs have in protecting the integrity of the government. Among many of his fraud fighting efforts was coordinating the skills of auditors with those of investigators and inspectors to find and prosecute fraud. An example of his successful efforts was recognized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia with a 2011 Public Service Award to the Naval Audit Service for providing, “outstanding audit support in analyzing thousands of transactions to document the overcharging and…non delivery of purchased medical supplies. The audit was instrumental in obtaining five guilty pleas to bribery and…the court ordering over $700,000 in restitution to the United States.”

Mr. Leach is a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner as well as a member of numerous professional organizations. He served in the U.S. Navy and is a Vietnam Veteran.