Accountability through Audit: 30+ Years Directing at Alaska Housing

At Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, we provide Alaskans access to safe, quality, affordable housing.  From housing vouchers, grant management, mortgage operations, energy efficiency rebates and more, one department stands out as crucial to ensuring we operate at a high standard of accountability and execute responsibly: internal audit.

For more than 30 years Kevin Tune, director of AHFC’s internal audit department, has played a pivotal role in helping to ensure accountability and responsible management.

“We're a third line of defense to ensure that the Corporation is doing things correctly,” Kevin says.

Growing a Team

Kevin Tune left his banking career 32 years ago to accept a role in AHFC’s audit department, where he joined what had been a three-person team. At the time, the primary purpose of the department was to oversee corporate internal audits. 

As Alaska Housing has evolved over the decades, so has Kevin’s audit department. Bryan Butcher, CEO/executive director of Alaska Housing, says, “As the second longest serving director at AHFC, I’ve been amazed to see the growth that Kevin has brought to his team. The arc of improvement by the corporation parallels that of the audit department.”

Kevin grew his three-person team to a close-knit, eight-member department. Together, they handle not only corporate internal audits but also grantee monitoring, Greater Opportunities for Affordable Living (GOAL) compliance monitoring, and requested internal advisory services.

As Kevin explained it, the department’s work involves three main facets:

• Internal Audit – Staff audit AHFC’s operations, processes, and internal controls to identify areas for improvement and ensure compliance with laws and regulations.
• GOAL Compliance – Staff monitor 222 developments across Alaska to ensure they are administratively in compliance with various programs, including for the Internal Revenue Service, and that the properties are safe and sanitary for the residents living there.
• Grant Monitoring – Staff members monitor AHFC grantees to ensure that state or federal funds are being used for their intended purpose and that the grantees are adhering to the terms of their grant agreements. 

 

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“I'm hoping that I built this department the way the industry thinks it should be built. If so, that's rewarding and something I’m very proud of.” – Kevin Tune, director of Internal Audit, AHFC

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In addition to growing AHFC’s audit department, Kevin says he is proud of having built up the Institute of Internal Audit chapter in Anchorage, growing the organization to 80 members and serving as the chapter president.

Staff Who Care

“The audit department are really the unsung heroes of our corporation,” Bryan says. “AHFC would not be the high achieving corporation it is without the insights that departments have received over the years from the work of Kevin’s team.”

As an auditor, Kevin and his audit team have been a shield for the agency.

As the longest-serving active director at AHFC’s, Kevin has proven himself as a leader.

“My philosophy has always been to hire people smarter than me who I have a lot of confidence in and to let them go out and do their job. They'll make you look good,” he said.

Kevin has worked alongside 45 other directors during his career at AHFC and has had 36 different employees reporting to him during his tenure and has observed one motivating goal in common across departments and decades:

“Public Housing tries to find housing for people. The Planning department lifts people up from homelessness. Mortgage helps people get into homes. In their own way, everybody is on the same page trying to find places for people to live and better people's lives by doing so.”