Biography

Ruth Parcells is a seasoned professional with experiences spanning both the banking industry and academia. With a career trajectory marked by relentless pursuit of excellence, Ruth's journey unfolds as a testament to her dedication to education, data security, and compliance.

Her career started in the banking industry during the late '90s. Ruth enjoyed the role of a Bank Fraud Investigator at one of the world's largest issuers of Mastercard. Over the course of five years, she honed her skills in identifying fraud patterns and combatting numerous illegal activities, including account takeovers, identity theft, and counterfeit checks. This formative experience not only sharpened Ruth's investigative judgement but also laid the groundwork for shaping Payment Card Industry Regulations (PCI-DSS) in subsequent years.

Building upon her expertise in financial security, Ruth transitioned to a new role as an assistant manager at another major bank. Here, she played a pivotal role in assisting customers in managing and preventing fraud on their accounts, further solidifying her reputation as a trusted financial advisor.

Ruth's career took a turn when she was offered an opportunity to join the University of Virginia as a Treasury Analyst. As a trusted financial advisor, she managed over 3500 university fund accounts and reconciled them monthly. Over the course of eleven years in this capacity, Ruth embarked on a relentless pursuit of academic and professional growth. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, she pursued a multitude of degrees, including an associate in business and an associates in cybersecurity networking, bachelor's degrees in business administration and humanities with a minor in world religion, as well as a graduate degree in Accounting she attained the Certified Fraud Examiner certification.

Her expertise in credit card security and her trusted role as a treasury analyst led her to being the Payment Card Compliance Officer for the University of Virginia. In this pivotal role, Ruth oversaw compliance across 153 departments accepting credit card payments, ensuring the security of every transaction. Her meticulous approach and comprehensive compliance reports caught the attention of Internal Audit, leading to her position as a Senior IT Auditor. While in her role as an IT Auditor, she earned another graduate degree in Cybersecurity Management and also achieved her GIAC GSec certification.

During the global pandemic, the University of Arkansas advertised on Facebook and Ruth decided to embrace a new adventure in Arkansas, where she currently serves as the Senior Specialist Governance, Risk, and Compliance Officer at the University of Arkansas. In this capacity, she spearheads the institution's data security initiatives, crafting robust IT security policies, providing comprehensive training and awareness programs, and conducting meticulous risk assessments and compliance reports.

Ruth's desire for education didn’t stop once she got to Arkansas, and she achieved a master's degree in Applied Business Data Analytics. She constantly shows commitment to ongoing professional and personal development, as well as a strong dedication to data security and compliance.