Podcasts about compliance committee

positive contract apa compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2023 45:50

James Lavish is the CFA of the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. The former hedge fund manager has 25 years of institutional investment and risk management experience. The Yale and Cornell alum, and former NHL draft pick, was recently Chief Operating Officer of Alternative Investments at asset management firm LKCM in Dallas, Texas. James was also the co-founder and a managing partner of Ranger Arbitrage, Head Arbitrage Trader and Officer of the Compliance Committee for Carlson Capital. He is the author of The Informationist Newsletter, and a co-founder of the economic and Bitcoin education group, The Looking Glass. Subscribe to James' newsletter: The Informationist https://jameslavish.substack.com Follow James on X/Twitter https://twitter.com/jameslavish -- Promotional Links: Bitcoin Nashville is July 25-27, 2024: Get 10% off your passes using the code HODL at https://b.tc/conference Fold is the best Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app in the world. Get 10,000 satoshis when you sign up and spend $20 on the card: https://www.foldapp.com/natalie Coinkite is your go-to tech company for top-notch Bitcoin custody solutions, including the cold card wallet. Get 5% off using my link: https://store.coinkite.com/promo/COINSTORIES CrowdHealth offers the Bitcoin community alternative to health insurance. I spent $100 a month on my health care. Sign up at https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie The Orange Pill App is building the social layer for Bitcoin: http://signup.theorangepillapp.com/op.... If you're looking for the highest-quality sustainable pork, steak and seafood products, look no further than Campo Grande. For $20 off use code HODL: https://eatcampogrande.com/HODL -- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. -- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

Positive Rate Episode 15: Meet The Contract Compliance Committee

Five by Five

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2023 9:11

In the latest episode of our “Positive Rate” podcast, you'll get to meet Contract Compliance Committee Chair CA Jason Saxer and committee member FO John Herring and learn about the many ways their committee is here to serve APA's members and ensure full compliance with the pilots' contract. Communications Committee Deputy Chair FO Tami McBride's interview with CA Saxer and FO Herring details how Contract Compliance works in concert with APA Contract Administration and includes a few frequently asked Q&As about the contract.

"Head in the Clouds, Feet in the Dirt" - Anthony Cava & Ryan Stevens

The cATalyzing Podcast for Athletic Trainers

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2023 36:11

"Head in the Clouds, Feet in the Dirt" - Anthony Cava and Ryan Stevens. In this episode of The cATalyzing Podcast, former RWJUH Somerset Hospital President and CEO Anthony "Tony" Cava joins Ryan Stevens for a conversation about leaders maintaining big picture thinking while at the same time staying grounded and understanding the challenges their team faces on a regular basis. We discuss: What does "Head in the Clouds, Feet in the Dirt" mean? Challenges leaders face when trying to keep in tune with the needs and challenges of the front line service providers Strategies for front line service providers thinking big picture while staying centered on their duties. Team dynamics to more effectively remain a unified front in terms of company vision, mission, and service delivery. Call to action on this topic to other leaders. Tony's bio: With over 30 years of experience in healthcare administration, Anthony "Tony" Cava, MS, RPH, FACHE, is the former President and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, part of RWJBarnabas Health. Under his leadership from 2015 through the end of 2022, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset underwent significant growth and renovations. In 2017, Tony oversaw the opening of the state's first hospital-based primary care center for the LGBTQIA community. Before joining RWJBarnabas Health, Mr. Cava held various hospital leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer for Bayshore Medical Center and roles at Riverview Medical Center, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, and St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital. He earned his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from St. John's University College of Pharmacy in New York and a master's degree in Clinical Pharmacy and Administration from St. John's University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health. He is a registered pharmacist and a member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the American College of Healthcare Executives. Apart from his healthcare responsibilities, he actively participates in various organizations, including serving on the Raritan Valley Community College Foundation Board and Finance and Investment Committee, NJHA Audit and Compliance Committee, and NJHA Healthcare Business Solutions Board. He is also involved with the Somerset County Business Partnership Executive Committee and SCBP Strategic Plan Committee. __________________________________________________________ Leaders face challenges with team dynamics in a rapidly changing healthcare, wellness, fitness, and sports business landscape, hindering collaboration and impacting the service you provide. As a coach, I guide teams to enhance positive team dynamics, shared leadership, and a fulfilling workplace culture. Imagine improved morale, trust, effective communication, enhanced collaboration, and continuous learning leading to retention, growth, and service excellence. cATalyzing Coaching & Consulting is your guide to creating an Awesome Team! Ignite your potential. Fuel your fire within. Let's talk! ⁠Contact me here⁠ to set up your free discovery session! Subscribe to the cATalyzing Coaching & Consulting YouTube ⁠⁠ / @catalyzingats⁠. Be sure to hit that notification button! Connect with lead cATalyst and Podcast host⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Ryan Stevens on ⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Join the conversation on social with @cATalyzingATs → follow on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter! Discount education to pursue mastery! cATalyzing Coaching & Consulting is a proud partner with MedBridge, an all-in-one online platform that makes it easy for busy Athletic Trainers, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Speech Language Pathologists to access leading-edge education and patient resources with just a few clicks. They offer a library of over 1500 CEU courses. Get $150 off with this limited time promo code: "catalyzingats" when you sign up at ⁠medbridge.com⁠! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/catalyzing-podcast/message

Amy Rose, ClientEarth, Global Director of Strategic Impact Litigation, on How the Courts are Reshaping Climate Action

Man Group: Perspectives Towards a Sustainable Future

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2023 48:45

How are the courts reshaping client action? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Amy Rose, Global Director of Litigation, Governance and Legal Services for ClientEarth, about what strategic impact litigation represents; how constitutional and human rights theories are providing a framework for climate legal action; and why the courts, not policymakers, may well end up reshaping definitions of ESG and greenwashing. Amy Rose is Global Director of Litigation, Governance and Legal Services for ClientEarth. She specialises in strategic impact litigation and oversees the strategy and management of ClientEarth's diverse and growing litigation portfolio. Amy headed the ClientEarth Strategic Litigation Programme which laid the groundwork for bringing litigation at scale across Europe. She focuses on supporting our legal teams to bring a wide range of climate and environmental cases across Europe and around the world. Amy also manages ClientEarth's organisational Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework, and sits on the Risk and Compliance Committee, ensuring compliance with ethical and practice of the law obligations of ClientEarth lawyers licensed in over 15 countries.

learning europe risk strategic esg governance evaluation monitoring courts litigation reshaping climate action global director legal services jason mitchell amy rose clientearth compliance committee

Insolvent Credit System is Unsustainable: 21 Min with James Lavish on Markets, Stock Buybacks, Bitcoin

McDermott Health Podcast Channel

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2023 29:49

James Lavish is the CFA of the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. The former hedge fund manager has 25 years of institutional investment and risk management experience. The Yale and Cornell alum, and former NHL draft pick, was recently Chief Operating Officer of Alternative Investments at asset management firm LKCM in Dallas, Texas. James was also the co-founder and a managing partner of Ranger Arbitrage, Head Arbitrage Trader and Officer of the Compliance Committee for Carlson Capital. He is the author of The Informationist Newsletter, and a co-founder of the economic and Bitcoin education group, The Looking Glass. Subscribe to James' newsletter: The Informationist https://jameslavish.substack.com Follow James on Twitter https://twitter.com/jameslavish Coin Stories is powered by @Swan_Bitcoin the best way to build your Bitcoin stack with automated Bitcoin savings plans and instant purchases. Swan serves clients of any size, from $10 to $10M+. Visit https://www.swanbitcoin.com/nataliebrunell for $10 in Bitcoin when you sign up. If you are planning to buy more than $100,000 of Bitcoin over the next year, the Swan Private team can help. BITCOIN 2023 by @BitcoinMagazine will be the biggest Bitcoin event in history May 18-20 in Miami Beach. Speakers include Michael Saylor, Lyn Alden and Michelle Phan, plus a Day 3 music festival. Nearly 30,000 people attended Bitcoin 2022. Get an early bird pass at a steep discount at https://b.tc/conference code HODL for 10% off your pass. Fold is the best Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app in the world! Earn Bitcoin on everything you purchase with Fold's Bitcoin cash back debit card, and spin the Daily Wheel to earn free Bitcoin. Head to https://www.foldapp.com/natalie for 5,000 in free sats! Health insurance needs an overhaul. The government and insurance companies have jacked the price, increased complexity, and made insurance almost unusable. You send your money to the health insurance black hole and never see it again. Then, when you get hurt you have to send them more money. The great news is now you have an alternative: CrowdHealth. It's totally different from insurance. Instead of sending your hard earned money to an insurance company, you hold your money in an account CrowdHealth helps you set up when you join. You can even convert dollars in that account into Bitcoin. When someone in the community has a health need, you help them out directly and if there is Bitcoin or $ left over in your account when you leave, you take it with you. https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie With iTrustCapital you can invest in crypto without worrying about taxes or fees, through an individual retirement account. IRAs are tax-sheltered accounts, which means all your crypto trading is tax-free and can even grow tax-free over time. The best part is it's totally free to open an account, and there are no hidden fees, monthly subscriptions or membership fees. Your account is FDIC insured up to $250,000. Get a $100 funding bonus if you open and fund an account. Go to https://itrust.capital/nataliebrunell to learn more and open a free account. OTHER RESOURCES Natalie's website https://talkingbitcoin.com/ The Informationist Newsletter https://jameslavish.substack.com The Looking Glass https://lookingglasseducation.com/ VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories BTC wallet bc1ql8dqjp46s4eq9k3lxt0lxzh6f2wcu35cl6944d FOLLOW NATALIE ON SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter https://twitter.com/natbrunell Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nataliebrunell Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebrunell Producer: Aron Bender https://www.linkedin.com/in/aron-bender/ DISCLAIMER This show is for entertainment purposes only and does not give financial advice. Before making any decisions consult a professional. #bitcoin #cryptocurrency #money

Academic Webinar: Climate Compensation and Cooperation

CFR On the Record

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2023

FASKIANOS: Thank you, and welcome to today's session of the Winter/Spring 2023 CFR Academic Webinar series. I'm Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach at CFR. Today's discussion is on the record and the video and transcript will be available on our website CFR.org/Academic if you would like to share it with your colleagues or classmates. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. We're delighted to have Arunabha Ghosh with us to discuss climate compensation and cooperation. Dr. Ghosh is an internationally recognized public policy expert, author, columnist, and institution builder. He's the founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water. He previously worked at Princeton University, the University of Oxford, the UN Development Program, and the World Trade Organization. He's also contributed to the creation of the International Solar Alliance and was a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network, and he currently serves on the government of India's G20 Finance Track Advisory Group, has co-chaired the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Clean Air, and is a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and on the board of directors of the ClimateWorks Foundation. And he is joining us—it is, I think, after 11:00 p.m. where he is, so we appreciate your doing this so late your time. So, Dr. Ghosh, thank you very much for being with us today. We saw in November a historic climate compensation fund approved at the UN climate talks. It would be great if you could give an overview of what it means to compensate developing countries for losses and damages caused by climate change, as well as share your recommendations for how countries can more effectively cooperate on such efforts and maybe the interplay between mitigation, adaptation, and compensation—how are we attacking all of these things. So over to you. GHOSH: Well, good day to everyone out there. It's good evening at my end. It's nearing up on midnight. But thank you, Irina, for having me as part of this conversation and thank you to the Council on Foreign Relations. I think the way you framed it right at the end is really the way to start—how does mitigation, adaptation, and compensation all come together? Before I dive into the specific issue of loss and damage I want to just up front state for those listening in that I see climate change and the responses to climate change as not one market failure but at least three market failures that we are simultaneously trying to solve for. The first market failure is that climate risks are nonlinear in nature and, therefore, we don't have the normal approaches to insuring ourselves against climate risks. You can predict the probability of an earthquake of a certain intensity in a particular region without predicting an exact time of an earthquake but you can actually insure it by looking at the averages. But you can't do that with climate risk because the risks that we face today is less than the risks that you will face in 2030 and then it will exponentially rise in 2050. So your normal approaches towards insurance don't work. That's market failure number one. Market failure number two is, put very simply, money does not flow where the sun shines the most. We have a severe problem of climate-related investment in absolute terms not being sufficient globally and in relative terms significantly insufficient, especially in the regions where you actually have very good natural resources, particularly sunshine, for solar power, and the very same regions where sustainable infrastructure needs to be built between the tropics where countries continue to be developing and need to raise their per capita incomes. The third market failure is that even as we move towards or at least expend efforts towards moving to a more sustainable planet, we haven't really cracked the code on how do we narrow the technology gap rather than widen it. And this matters because, ultimately, the response to climate change, while it's a global collective action problem, because it is nationally situated it does raise concerns about national competitiveness, about industrial development, about access to technology and, of course, the rules that will—that would embed our moves towards a more free and more sustainable marketplace at a global level. And if we cannot crack the code on how technologies are developed and technologies are diffused and disseminated then it will continue to serve as a hindrance towards doubling down on developing the clean-tech technologies of tomorrow. So it's against this backdrop of multiple market failures that we have to understand where this whole loss and damage story comes through. Loss and damage has been discussed for decades, actually, in the climate negotiations. It was put formally on the agenda in 2007. But it was only at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt that there was finally an agreement amongst all the negotiating parties that a loss and damage financing facility would be set up. Now, what is loss and damage itself? Is it the same as adaptation? Clearly, not. It refers to the adverse impacts that vulnerable communities and countries face as a result of a changing climate including the increase in incidence and intensity of natural disasters and extreme weather events, as well as the slow onset of temperature increase, sea level rise, and desertification. So it's not just the hurricane that comes and slams on the coast. It's also repeated rounds of drought which might be impacting smallholder farmers in another part of the world. Now, adapting to a changing climate is different from compensating for the damages that you're facing and that is why there was this call for a separate financing facility for loss and damage. Now, this is the agreement thus far but it's not—it's not a done deal yet. What the decision did was basically said there will be now a transition committee developed dedicated to loss and damage with equal representation for rich and poor countries, and so on and so forth, but that transition committee would then have to figure out the funding arrangements, the institutional arrangements, where would this money sit, figure out how alternative sources of funding would come through only through existing mechanisms and ensure that it all gets delivered by COP28, which will be held in the UAE later this year. Now, my belief is that a political decision, while it's a strong signal, it's only, you know, just—you're just getting off the blocks and several other building blocks will be needed to make this work properly. Number one, we will need a much more granular understanding of hyperlocal climate risk. Today, if you wanted to buy a house in Florida, for instance, there's a high chance that there will be a neighborhood by neighborhood understanding of flooding risk, hurricane risk, et cetera, which is then priced into the insurance premiums that you had to pay for purchasing that property. But in many other parts of the world, when you look at climate models they treat entire countries as single pixels, which is not good enough. My own organization, CEEW, has trying to develop the first high-resolution climate risk atlas for India, a country of a billion and a half people. We now have a district-level vulnerability index looking at exposure to natural disasters sensitivity based on the economic configuration of that district and the adaptive capacity of the local communities and the administration. Based on that then we can say where do you need to double down on your efforts to build resilience. But that kind of effort is needed across the developing world in order to actually understand what it means to climate-proof communities and what it means to actually understand the scale of the problem that loss and damage financing facility will have to address. The second thing that has to happen is more development of attribution science. What is attribution science? Basically, a bad thing happens and then you figure out using the latest science how much of that bad thing happened because of the changed climate. Now, here's the problem. Only about—about less than 4 percent of global climate research spending is dedicated, for instance, to Africa but nearly 80 percent of that spending is actually spent in Europe and North America. So what I'm trying to say is that even as we try to build out attribution science we need a lot more capacity that has to be built in the Global South to understand not just global climate models but be able to downscale them in a way that we're able to understand what the next hurricane, the next flooding event, the next cyclone means in terms of the impacts of climate change. The third thing that has to happen is something called Early Warning Systems Initiative. Basically, the idea—it was unveiled at COP27—is to ensure that every person is protected by early warning systems within the next five years or so. So the next time a tsunami is coming you're not reacting after the fact but you're able to actually send out information well in advance. I'll give you an example. In 1999 a big cyclone—super cyclone—hit an eastern state of India, Odisha, and about ten thousand lives were lost. A huge effort was put in for early warning systems subsequently along with building storm shelters, et cetera. So twenty years later when a similar sized cyclone hit the same state in 2019 less than a hundred lives were lost. Ten thousand versus a hundred. So this is the scale of impact that properly designed early warning systems can do to save lives and save livelihoods. And, finally, of course, we have to build more resilient infrastructure. So the next bridge that is being built, the next airport that is being built, the next bridge that is being built, or a highway that's being built, all of that is going to get impacted by rising climate risks. So how do you bring in more resilient infrastructure? There's something called the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure that India has promoted. It has about thirty-five countries as members already and many multilateral institutions. It itself has started a program on infrastructure for resilient island states—for the small island states. So what I'm trying to tell you here is that the loss and damage—when we talk about compensation it's not just the monetary resources that are needed. There's a lot of technical resources needed to do the hyperlocal climate risk assessment, the infrastructure that is needed to do early warning initiatives, the scientific capability that is needed for attribution science, and the sort of organizational administration capability at a district level but also all the way at an international level. If all of that comes together then maybe we have a better architecture rather than just an announcement around compensation. But that just solves or begins to solve the first market failure. Let me maybe pause there and we can use the rest of the hour to talk about this and the other market failures I highlighted. FASKIANOS: Fantastic. Thank you so much. It really is daunting what needs to happen for sure in all the three market failures. We want to go now to all of you for your questions. You all should know how to do this. You can click the “Raise Hand” icon on your screen to ask a question. On an iPad or a Tablet click the “More” button to access the raise hand feature and when you're called upon accept the unmute prompt and state your name and affiliation and your question. Please keep it brief. And you can also write a written question in the Q&A box and, please, you can vote for questions that you like but if you do write a question it would be great if you could include your affiliation along with your name so that it gives us context. So the first question I'm going to take we'll go to Morton Holbrook. Morton, please identify yourself. Q: Hi. I'm Morton Holbrook at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky. Thanks, Dr. Ghosh, for your presentation. I confess I haven't paid enough attention to COP27. Can you enlighten me as to what the United States committed to and, more importantly, whether the Democratic bill—the bill passed in Congress in December was able to add—actually commit funds to the loss and damage project? GHOSH: Should I answer that, Irina, or are you taking a bunch of questions at a time? FASKIANOS: No, I think it's better to take one at a time— GHOSH: One at a time? OK. FASKIANOS: —so we can have more in-depth— GHOSH: Sure. Sure. Thank you, Morton. Well, the decision on loss and damage was agreed to by all the member states negotiating at COP27. But, as I said earlier, this only suggests the setting up of a financing facility. How it's going to be funded is yet to be determined. Will this be a reallocation of overseas development assistance that is redirected towards loss and damage or is this new money that's put on the table? All of that has to be decided. In fact, the developed countries did take a position that some of the larger developing countries that are big emitters should also contribute towards this loss and damage financing facility. Of course, on the other side the argument is that these are also the countries that are continuing to be vulnerable. So there is a difference now that is coming up in the conversation around loss and damage around vulnerability versus developing in the sense that even emerging economies could be vulnerable to climate change, whereas developing countries might be poorer than emerging economies that are also vulnerable to climate change but in some cases might not be as vulnerable. So the focus is actually on vulnerability in terms of the exposure to climate risks and, as I said earlier, the sensitivity of the communities and the economic systems. Now, with regards to the U.S. legislation, I am not sure of the legislation you're referring to for December. The one I'm aware of is the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed prior to COP27. But if there is something specifically that you're referring to that was passed through Congress in December then I'm not aware of it. FASKIANOS: OK. Let's go to Clemente Abrokwaa. Q: Thank you. Can you hear me? FASKIANOS: We can. Q: Oh, good. Thank you, Dr. Ghosh. Very interesting your explanation or discussion. I'm from Penn State University and I have two short questions for you. One is base compensation. How would you monitor that? If you give a bunch of money or a lot of money to a country, especially those in the third world societies, third world countries, how would you monitor where it goes? Who controls the funding or the money? And I have a reason for—reasons for asking that question. And the second is I was a little surprised about the—what you said about the 80 percent of the money given to Africa is spent in Europe, unless I got you wrong. Yeah, so those—why should that be if that's true? GHOSH: So let me answer the second question first. That is, I was referring to climate—global climate research spending that happens. Of all the global climate research spending that happens less than 4 percent is dedicated to climate research on Africa. But that climate research 80 percent of that less than 4 percent is actually spent in research institutions in Europe and North America. So it wasn't about money going to Africa for climate. It's about the climate modeling research that goes on. So the point I was trying to make there was that we need to build up more climate research capacity in the Global South, not just in Africa and Asia and South America and so forth, in order to become better at that attribution science when it's related to the extreme weather events but also to understand in a more localized way the pathways for more climate-friendly economic development pathways. For instance, my institution CEEW, when we did net zero modeling for India we were looking at multiple different scenarios for economic development, for industrial development, for emissions, for equity, for jobs impact, et cetera, because we were able to contextualize the model for what it meant for a country like India, and now we're doing similar—we've downscaled our model now to a state level because India is a continent-sized country. So that's the point I was trying to make there. With regards to how to monitor the compensation, now, I want to make two points here. Number one is that, of course, if any money is delivered it should be monitored, I mean, in the sense that it's—transparency leads to better policy and better actions as a principle. But we should be careful not to conflate compensation for damages caused with development assistance. Let me give an analogy. Suppose there is—someone inadvertently rams their car into my garage and damages my house. Now, I will get a compensation from that person. Now, whether I go and repair my garage or whether I go on a holiday as such should not matter because what matters is that the damage was caused and I was due compensation. That's different from my neighbor coming and saying, I see that your garage, perhaps, needs some repair. Let me be a good neighbor and give you some money and help you rebuild your garage. In that case, it would be unethical for me to take that money and go on holiday. So there is a difference between compensation for loss and damage and money delivered for development assistance. However, I want to reiterate that once that money reaches any—whether it's a developing country government or a subnational government there should be—there should be mechanisms put in place for transparently monitoring where that money is going. That should be reported whether it's in a—I have often argued for climate risk assessments to be—annually reported at a national level. So the expenditure on all of this should also be reported. That should be tabled in a country's parliament. So I think it's important to use democratic processes to ensure that monies are deployed for where they are meant to be. But it should not be a reason that if I cause you damage, I will not pay you unless I think you are good enough to receive my money. No, I caused you damage. I owe you money. That is the basic principle of loss and damage. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to Lindsey McCormack, raised hand. Q: Hi. I would love to hear your thoughts on lessons from the successful response to Cyclone Fani in 2019. I believe you mentioned it was over a million people were evacuated in India and Bangladesh, saving many lives. You know, I am a student at Baruch College in New York and you probably saw that terrible blizzard upstate. People were stranded and died. And I was just comparing their response capacity and the preparedness in that situation versus in the cyclone where you have over a million people moved out of harm's way. I'm really interested to hear what goes behind making that kind of preparation possible. GHOSH: Well, thanks for the question, Lindsey. This is extremely important. I think what happened—before I talk about Cyclone Fani let me go back again twenty years. There was the super cyclone in 1999 and then just a few years later there was also the tsunami in 2004 and, of course, there have been natural disasters from time to time. In fact, between 1990 and 2005 there were about 200-odd extreme weather events that we faced in India. But since 2005, we've already faced well over three hundred. The frequency of extreme cyclones has gone up 3X between the 1980s and now. So there is this constant need, obviously, to upgrade your systems but that investment that was put in in early warning systems at a sort of regional scale using satellites, using ground sensors in the sea, et cetera, help to monitor and help to predict when—the movement of cyclones' landfall and so forth. Along with that is—has been a lot of local administration capacity building of how do you then get this word out and how do you work with local communities. So there are, for instance, again, Odisha women run self-help groups who have become managers of storm shelters so when the community voices are telling people to get out of harm's way it has, perhaps, more social capital attached to it. In another part of the country in a hilly state in Uttar Pradesh—Uttarakhand, I'm sorry—there is a community-run radio station that sends out information about forest fires and things like that. The third thing has been around the rebuilding. So saving of lives is one thing but saving livelihoods is another critical issue and that's why it's not just getting people out of harm's way but often, for—the early warning helps to get livestock out of harm's way as well because, you know, for a small marginal farmer losing their cattle itself becomes a major loss of livelihood. So these are ways in which there have been attempts to ensure that the scientific or the technical capacity building is married with the social capital and the local administrative capital. But that does not mean that this is consistently done all the time. It's all work in progress and a lot more needs to be done in terms of the coverage of—and that's why this Early Warning Systems Initiative that was talked about in COP27 is important because you've got to—I mean, we, again, are working with some private sector entities that provide early warning systems for hundreds of millions of people. So how do their—how do our ground-level data and their sort of AI-based kind of modeling capacity marry together to offer those services to much larger numbers of people, literally, in the hundreds of millions. So it's very important that this becomes—and since the title of this conversation is about climate compensation and cooperation I would argue that this is a no regrets approach towards bridging the North and the South. 2022 has demonstrated that a long-held assumption that the rich would escape and the poor would somehow adapt is kind of gone. You know, we've all been slammed with extreme events and I think, of course, there will be positions on which the North and the South and the East and the West will be on different sides of the table. But building a resilience against nonlinear climate risk is a no regrets approach on which we could certainly be cooperating. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take a written question from Caden Hicks, who is at Lewis University. Of the 197 nations involved in these annual conferences of the parties when wealthy and powerful nations such as the United States and China do not meet their pledges are there any consequences for them? If they decide to drop their participation in this council how would they—what would the consequences be? GHOSH: This is at the heart of the climate problem. I talked about three market failures and there is one political failure, which is that we don't have an accountability mechanism, so to speak, that can hold everyone to account, the largest polluters but also everybody else. And that's why the climate regime is different from the trade regime, which has a dispute settlement mechanism, or the international financial regime where you have annual surveillance of what you're doing in managing your fiscal deficit, for instance. So when it comes to holding actors to account, I see that we need to make efforts both within the FCCC framework and with outside. Within the FCCC framework, the Article Fifteen of the Paris Agreement is something that can be leveraged more to ensure that the Compliance Committee has greater powers, that those that are not compliant are able to then—for instance, in Article Six, which has yet to be operationalized in terms of internationally trading of carbon credits, if you are not compliant with your domestic nationally determined contributions, then Article Thirteen compliance should demand that you have to buy more carbon credits than otherwise would have been possible. That's one idea. The second is that the—and I've written about this recently—that we need to stop making the COPs just platforms for announcing new initiatives, that every alternate COP should be designed as an accountability COP, which means that we come there and we report not just on what we are emitting and automating in terms of the biannual update reviews, but have a genuine peer review conversation as it happens in many other international regimes. Right now no one asks tough questions and no one answers tough questions. So it's—I mean, I said this quite publicly at—in Sharm el-Sheikh that, unfortunately, the COPs have become mutual admiration societies. Every year we come and make announcements. We form some initiatives. We say something will happen on methane, something will happen on finance, something will happen on agriculture and forests. And the next year we come and make new announcements. We never really ask what happened to the announcement you made twelve months ago. So how do we shift from being mutual admiration societies to mutual accountability societies? But beyond the COP process I think there are two other ways in which parties can be held to account. Number one is domestic legislatures and domestic courts. It's important that the pledges that are being made are legislated upon at a national level so that parliaments can hold executives to account, and if that is not happening then you can go to court and hold your governments to account. But, equally, it's not just about state parties. There are the nonstate actors. And last year I also served on the UN secretary-general's high-level expert group on net-zero commitments of nonstate entities, which means the corporations that are promising to get to net zero, or the cities and the states and the regions that are promising to get to net zero, and we laid out some clear principles on what it would mean to claim that you're headed towards net zero. Where are your plans? Where are your interim targets? Where are your financing strategies? How is this linked to your consumer base so you're not just looking at scope one or scope two but also scope three emissions. So there are ways in which then the shareholders and the consumers of products and services of corporations can hold them to account. It's a much more complicated world. But in the absence of the FCCC haven't been able to deliver genuine compliance. We've got to get creative in other ways. FASKIANOS: I'm going to go next to Stephen Kass, who has raised his hand. Also wrote a question but I think it'd be better if you just shared it yourself. Q: I'm an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School and at NYU Center on Global Affairs. As you know, COP27 included these remarkable but belated obligations to make payments but without any enforceable mechanism or a specific set of commitments. Some years ago the New York City Bar Association proposed an international financial transaction tax on all transfers of money globally with the proceeds dedicated to climate adaptation. This would not be intended to replace the COP27 obligations but I wonder how you feel about that proposal. GHOSH: This is, again, a very interesting question, Stephen, because the need to be creative of—about different sources of money that can capitalize a loss and damage financing facility or an adaptation financing facility is absolutely essential because governments—I mean, we recognize that governments have limited fiscal resources and it has become harder and harder to get any money—real money—put on the table when it comes to the pledges that have been made. So I have recently been appointed to a group of economists that are looking at this issue. There is this approach, of course, of taxing financial transactions. There is another idea around taxing barrels of oil. Even a single dollar on a barrel of oil can capitalize a huge amount of fund. There are other ways, taxing aviation or the heavy kind of—heavy industries that—you know, shipping, aviation, et cetera. Then there are approaches towards leveraging the special drawing rights (SDRs) on the International Monetary Fund, which are basically a basket of currencies that can then be used to capitalize a—what I've called a global resilience reserve fund. So you don't make any payout right now from your treasuries but you do use the SDRs to build up the balance sheet of a resilience fund, which then pays out when disasters above a certain threshold hit. So these are certainly different ways in which we have to be thinking about finding the additional resources. See, when it comes to mitigation—this goes back to Irina's very first point—when it comes to mitigation there is—at least it's claimed there are tens of trillions of dollars of private investment just waiting to be deployed and that brings me to that second market failure that I referred to, that despite those tens of trillions of dollars waiting to be deployed, money does not flow where the sun shines the most. But when you pair it with, say, adaptation, let me give you an example. India has the largest deployment of solar-based irrigation pumps and it plans to deploy millions of solar-based irrigation pumps so you're not using diesel or coal-based electricity to pump water for agriculture. Now, is a solar-based irrigation pump a mitigation tool or is it an adaptation tool or is it a resilience tool? I would say it's all of the above. But if we can define that through the International Solar Alliance, it's actually trying to also fund the deployment of solar-based irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa as well. So the point I'm trying to make here is if we can find ways to aggregate projects, aggregate demand, and reduce that delta between perceived risk and real risk, we can lower the cost of finance and drive private investment into mitigation-cum-adaptation projects. But when it comes to pure compensation, the kind that we are talking about when it comes to loss and damage, disaster relief, et cetera—especially when climate shocks have compounding effects—that you're not just doing an after the event, you know, pitching a tent to house the displaced population, but we're building in real resilience against even the slow onset of the climate crisis, in some aspects. Then we have to get a lot more creative about the resources because private resources are not flowing there and traditional kind of vanilla-style public resources don't seem to be available. So your idea is very much one of those that should be considered. FASKIANOS: So I'm going to take a written question from Allan Victor Cortes, who's an undergrad at Lewis University: To what extent do you believe that small motivated groups can truly make a global impact on the climate scene? What incentivizes larger bodies, be it states or multinational corporations, to listen to these collaborations of small governments or firms and their proposed environmental solutions? GHOSH: This is a very interesting question because it has a normative dimension to it and an instrumental dimension to it. The normative dimension—I was having another public event just yesterday where we were talking about this—is what is the value—when you're faced with a planetary crisis what is the value of individual or small group action? The value, of course, is that there is agency because when we talk about, say, lifestyle changes, and India announced this national mission called Mission LiFE in October in the presence of the UN secretary-general—Lifestyle for Environment—the idea was how do you nudge behavior, to nudge behavior towards sustainable practices, sustainable consumption, sustainable mobility, sustainable food. You can think about creating awareness. You can think about giving more access to those products and services and, of course, it has to be affordable. But there is a fourth A, which is that it only works when individuals and communities take ownership or have agency over trying to solve the problem. But that is one part of the story. But there is an instrumental dimension to it, which is what I call the enabling of markets beyond just the nudging of individual or small group behavior. So, again, let me give an example of—from India but which is applicable in many other parts of the world. It is the use of distributed renewable energy. Now, distributed renewable energy is smaller in scale, smaller in investment size, even less on the radar of large institutional investors, and yet has many other benefits. It makes your energy system more resilient. It actually creates many more jobs. We calculate that you create—you get seven times more jobs per megawatt hour of distributed renewables or rooftop solar compared to large-scale solar, which creates more jobs than natural gas, which creates more jobs than coal, and it is able to drive local livelihoods. So we mapped this out across India of how distributed renewables could drive livelihoods in rural areas whether it's on-farm applications or off-farm applications, small food processing units, textile units, milk chilling and cold chain units, and so on and so forth, and we were baffled when we realized or we calculated that the market potential is more than $50 billion. In sub-Saharan Africa the market potential of solar-based irrigation is more—about $12 billion. So then suddenly what seems like really small individual efforts actually scales up to something much larger. Now, if we can figure out ways to warehouse or aggregate these projects and de-risk them by spreading those risks across a larger portfolio, are able to funnel institutional capital into a—through that warehousing facility into a large—a portfolio of a number of small projects, if we are able to use that money to then enable consumer finance as has been announced in today's national budget in India, then many things that originally seemed small suddenly begin to gain scale. So we, as a think tank, decided to put our own hypothesis to the test. So we evaluated more than one hundred startups, selected six of them, paired up with the largest social enterprise incubator in the country, and are now giving capital and technical assistance to six startups using distributed renewables for livelihoods. Within two and a half years we've had more than thirteen thousand technology deployments, 80 percent of the beneficiaries have been women who have gone on to become micro entrepreneurs, and India is the first country in the world that's come out with a national policy on the use of distributed renewables for livelihood activities. So the normative value is certainly there about agency. But the instrumental value of converting that agency into aggregated action is also something that we should tap into. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to Tombong Jawo, if you could ask your question—it also got an up vote—and identify yourself, please. Let's see. You have to unmute yourself. You're still muted. OK. We're working on that. I'm going to take a quick question from Mark Bucknam, who's the chair of Department of Security Studies at the National War College. What is the best source for statistics on how much money is being spent on climate research? GHOSH: There are multiple sources depending on where you—I mean, the study I was referring to came from a journal paper that was written by Indra Overland, “Funding Flows for Climate Change Research.” This was in the journal Climate and Development. But I would think that the IPCC—the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—would probably have some estimates aggregated in terms of this and you could check there. But let me also check with my modeling teams to see if they have better sources and get back to you on this. FASKIANOS: Fantastic, and we will be sending out a link to this webinar—to the video and transcripts—so we can include sources in that follow-up. So since Tombong could not unmute I will ask the question. Tombong is an undergraduate student at Cavendish University Uganda. Climate compensation and cooperation is undoubtedly a step in the right direction if all stakeholders adhere to the laid down rules and regulations. However, what mechanisms are put in place to ensure that it gets to the people who matter the most and not diverted for political gains by politicians? GHOSH: I mean, this is similar to the question that Clemente asked earlier, and I understand and I think it's important now that we start thinking about what are the national-level efforts that would be needed to build in the monitoring of where the funds go and what kind of infrastructure is built. So you can do this at multiple levels and this, again, goes back to the first thing I said about loss and damage, that we need this hyperlocal assessment. Let's say a hundred thousand dollars have been given to a small country for resilience. Now, how you deploy that needs to be a conversation that first begins with the science. Now, where are you going to be impacted the most? What is the kind of climate risk that you're going to be impacted by? Is it a flooding risk? Is it coastal degradation? Is it crop loss? Is it water stress? Accordingly, the monies should be then apportioned. Once it's apportioned that way it should immediately get down to a much local-level kind of monitoring. That requires itself a combination of state-level reporting but I would argue also nonstate reporting. So, again, we spend a lot of our efforts as a nonprofit institution tracking not just emissions but also tracking how moneys are deployed, the scale of projects, where the projects are coming up. We do a lot of ground surveys ourselves. We do the largest survey in the world on energy access, that data that helps to inform the rollout of energy access interventions. We've now paired up with the largest rural livelihood missions in two of our largest states to ensure that this work around distributed energy and livelihoods and climate resilience is tied up with what the rural livelihood missions are promising at a state legislature level. So I think that it is very important that the science dictates the apportionment of the funds but that there is a combination of government reporting and nongovernment assessment to track the progress of these projects. Of course, with advanced technology—and, I mean, some have proposed blockchain and so forth—can also track individual transactions, whether it's reaching the person who was intended to be reached, and so on and so forth, and those kinds of mechanisms need to be developed regardless of this loss and damage financing facility. If we talk about offsets, all the activity in voluntary carbon markets that are going on, the level of rigor that is needed for when, so you're trying to offset your flight and saying, well, a tree is going to be planted in Indonesia for this long-haul flight that you're taking, how do you know that that tree truly was planted? And also if trust is broken then it's very hard to rebuild and that's why, again, I said earlier in answer to a different question that transparency has its own value in addition to improving the trust of the market. But it has its own value because it guides policy development and policy action and individual action in a far better way. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to Charles Fraser, who has raised his hand. Q: You can hear me? FASKIANOS: We can now. Thank you. But identify yourself. I know you also wrote your question. So— Q: Sure. I'm a graduate student at the Princeton School of International Public Affairs. My question is about access to finance issues. The UNFCCC has produced—has decreed other climate funds in the past, the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund for example, and often beyond issues of how much money is mobilized to those funds issues about how recipients can access the funds is a prominent thing that's discussed. How do you think that the—this new fund on loss and damage can be set up to address those issues and, perhaps, demonstrate ways to get around those problems? GHOSH: Firstly, in the case of the loss and damage financing facility we should make sure that it is not designed as a development assistance fund because, as soon as you do that, then you get into all those other questions about is this—is this going to be spam, should we really send it there, are they really ready to receive the money, and then so on and so forth. It has to be a parameterized one in the sense that if certain shocks are hitting vulnerable communities and countries above a certain threshold it should be able to pay out and that's why that hyperlocal climate science and the attribution science is absolutely critical. On top of that it has to—you know, this is not an investment fund in the sense that this is not a fund manager that has to then see where do I get best returns, and is the project application good enough for me to invest in this, whether it's a mitigation project or adaptation project. No. This is a payout fund. So most of the effort for loss and damage financing facility, in my opinion—I don't sit on the—that technical steering committee that is designing it—but in my opinion most of the effort has to go in figuring out what was the vulnerability, what was the baseline, and how much about that baseline did the—was the damage caused and therefore how much has to be paid out. That is really where a lot of the effort has to go, and the second effort that has to go goes back to what Stephen Kass was suggesting in terms of alternative ways to capitalize this, because with rising climate risks we will quickly run out of money even if we were able to capitalize it with some amount of money today. So these two will have to be the basis and the governing board has to basically decide that is the science that is guiding our understanding of a particular event robust enough for us to make the payout. It should not be contingent and that's—it's the same as one, say, an investigator from an insurance company does before a payout is made for a house that's burned down. But if you keep the victim running around from pillar to post asking for the money that they deserve as compensation, then it will quickly lose legitimacy like many of the other funding schemes that have come out of the climate regime thus far. FASKIANOS: I'm going to take the last question from Connor Butler, who's at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. In the near future do you see wealthy developed countries collaborating with poorer lesser-developed countries in order to build a resilience toward and combat climate change, or do you think that the North will always work together without involving the South? GHOSH: Connor, thank you for this question because this gives me a segue into my third market failure, which is should we build or are we building a sustainable planet which widens rather than narrows the technology divide. I analyzed about three dozen so-called technology-related initiatives emerging in the climate and energy space over the last decade and a half and there were only four that did any kind of real technology transfer and that to—none at scale. Basically, what happens is when you talk about technology, when you talk about cooperation on new technologies, usually these initiatives get stopped at, you know, organizing a conference and you talk about it. Sometimes you put in a—there's a joint research project that begins. Very few times there's a pilot project that actually you can physically see on the ground, and almost never does it get used at scale. So I have been increasingly arguing for technology co-development rather than technology transfer, because it's a fool's errand to hope that the technology will be transferred. Now, why is technology co-development important not just from the point of view of Global South? It's important from the point of view of Global North as well. Let's take something like green hydrogen. It is a major new thrust in many economies. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act provides a $3 subsidy for production of green hydrogen. India has just announced the largest green hydrogen mission in the world aiming to produce 5 million tons of green algae by 2030. But green hydrogen is not just—it's not easy to just take water and split it. You need a lot of energy. To make that—to split the water you need electrolyzers. For that, you need critical minerals. You need membranes that are developed in certain places. You need manufacturing capabilities that can build this out at scale. I mean, India alone will need 40 (gigawatts) to 60 gigawatts of electrolyzers by the end of the decade. So, ultimately, if we have to build a cleaner energy system and a cleaner economic system we will actually have to move away from islands of regulation towards a more interdependent resilient supply chain around clean energy and climate-friendly technologies. So rather than think of this as a handout to the Global South, I think it makes more sense—and I can talk about batteries, critical minerals, solar panels, wind turbines, green hydrogen, electric vehicles—and you will see again and again we are actually mapping economy by economy where strengths, weaknesses lie and how the complementarities come together. We can see that this technology co-development can become a new paradigm for bridging the North and the South rather than technology transfer being a chasm between the North and the South. FASKIANOS: I think that's a good place to conclude, especially since it is so late there. This was a fantastic conversation. We really appreciate your being with us, Dr. Ghosh, and for all the questions. I apologize to all of you. We could not get to them all. We'll just have to have you back. And I want to commend Dr. Ghosh's website. It is CEEW.in. So that is the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water website and you can find, I believe, a lot of the studies that you're talking about and your papers there. So if people want to dig in even further they should go there, also follow you on Twitter at—oh, my goodness. I need—I need—I think it's midnight here. GHOSH: So ghosharunabha. It's my last name and my first name—at @ghosharunabha FASKIANOS: Exactly. Right. So thank you again for doing this. We really appreciate it. The next Academic Webinar will be on Wednesday, February 15, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time with Margaret O'Mara, who is at the University of Washington, and we will be talking about big tech and global order. So, again, thank you, and if you want to learn about CFR paid internships for students and fellowships you don't have to be in New York or Washington. We do have virtual internships as well. You should please reach out to us, and we also have fellowships for professors. You can go to CFR.org/Careers and do follow us at @CFR_Academic and come to CFR.org, ForeignAffairs.com, and ThinkGlobalHealth.org for research and analysis on global issues. So, again, Dr. Ghosh, thank you very much for today's conversation and to all of you for joining us. GHOSH: Thank you, Irina. Thank you, CFR. Thank you very much. (END)

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#23 Klimavölkerrecht: COP 27

Völkerrechtspodcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2022 38:15

Wir werfen einen ausführlichen Blick auf das Klimavölkerrecht anlässlich der Conference of the Parties in Sharm el Sheikh (COP 27). Im Interview mit Philipp Eschenhagen hören wir von Christina Voigt einen „Werkstattbericht“ live von der COP 27 und erfahren mehr über ihre Rolle als Co-Vorsitzende des Paris Agreement Implimentation and Compliance Committee. In inhaltlicher Hinsicht sprechen wir vor allem über die Verpflichtungen von Staaten, Schadensersatz bzw. Entschädigungszahlungen für historische Emissionen an vom Klimawandel besonders stark betroffene Staaten zu leisten. Isabel Lischewski ordnet im Grundlagenteil außerdem die Rechtsnatur der Klimarahmenkonvention an. Wir freuen uns über Lob, Anmerkungen und Kritik an podcast@voelkerrechtsblog.org. Abonniert unseren Podcast via RSS, über Spotify oder überall dort, wo es Podcasts gibt. Es gibt die Möglichkeit, auf diesen Plattformen den Völkerrechtspodcast zu bewerten, wir freuen uns sehr über 5 Sterne! Hintergrundinformationen: Naomi Klein, From Blah, Blah, Blah to Blood, Blood, Blood, The Intercept (7 October 2022) Tagesschau, COP 27 einigt sich auf Abschlusserklärung Moderation: Philipp Eschenhagen & Erik Tuchtfeld Grundlagen: Dr. Isabel Lischewski Interview: Prof. Dr. Christina Voigt & Philipp Eschenhagen Schnitt: Daniela Rau Credits: UN Secretary-General at the first official plenary session of the COP 27 (gekürzt) Greta Thunberg, „Blah Blah Blah“ Speech at Youth4Climate Italy 2021

Insights and Challenges for the Executive Compensation Committee - Part One

Governing Health

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2022 33:12

The board's executive compensation committee is the focus point for many of the extraordinary financial, economic and operating challenges currently facing healthcare organizations. Executive compensation increases are impacted by both an inflationary economy and significant revenue downturn. In addition, the Department of Justice has identified executive compensation as an important conduit through by which corporate compliance incentives and deterrence can be implemented. Furthermore, executive recruitment and retention amidst the “Great Resignation” remains a key compensation concern. These and similar issues have become important agenda items for the board's executive compensation Committee. Michael Peregrine is joined by industry experts Tim Cotter and Ralph DeJong for the first in a two-part conversation about the impact of the developments on the compensation committee, including: Key topics for briefing the board's compensation committee. Increasing communication between the compensation committee and the C-Suite. - Addressing pressures felt by executive committee members. - Insights from the Sullivan Cotter compensation data survey. - Projections for the impact of inflation on next year's salary increases. - Expectations for future CEO salary increases and organization departures. - The segmenting approach to leadership plans. - Coordination with the Audit & Compliance Committee on compensation incentives.

ceo challenges expectations executives addressing increasing committee projections audit c suite great resignation coordination executive compensation compensation committee compliance committee tim cotter

Insights and Challenges for the Executive Compensation Committee - Part One

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2022 33:12

The board's executive compensation committee is the focus point for many of the extraordinary financial, economic and operating challenges currently facing healthcare organizations. Executive compensation increases are impacted by both an inflationary economy and significant revenue downturn. In addition, the Department of Justice has identified executive compensation as an important conduit through by which corporate compliance incentives and deterrence can be implemented. Furthermore, executive recruitment and retention amidst the “Great Resignation” remains a key compensation concern. These and similar issues have become important agenda items for the board's executive compensation Committee. Michael Peregrine is joined by industry experts Tim Cotter and Ralph DeJong for the first in a two-part conversation about the impact of the developments on the compensation committee, including: Key topics for briefing the board's compensation committee. Increasing communication between the compensation committee and the C-Suite. Addressing pressures felt by executive committee members. Insights from the Sullivan Cotter compensation data survey. Projections for the impact of inflation on next year's salary increases. Expectations for future CEO salary increases and organization departures. The segmenting approach to leadership plans. Coordination with the Audit & Compliance Committee on compensation incentives

ceo challenges expectations executives addressing increasing committee projections audit c suite great resignation coordination executive compensation compensation committee compliance committee tim cotter

Treasury Markets 101 and #Bitcoin: What's Breaking and Why with James Lavish

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2022 47:43

James Lavish is a former hedge fund manager and CFA with 25 years of institutional investment and risk management experience. The Yale and Cornell alum, who at one point was drafted by the National Hockey League, was recently Chief Operating Officer of Alternative Investments at asset management firm LKCM in Dallas, Texas. James was also the co-founder and a managing partner of Ranger Arbitrage, Head Arbitrage Trader and Officer of the Compliance Committee for Carlson Capital. He is the author of The Informationist Newsletter, and a co-founder of the economic and Bitcoin education group, The Looking Glass. Follow James on Twitter https://twitter.com/jameslavish IN THIS EPISODE: Coin Stories is powered by @Swan Bitcoin the best way to build your Bitcoin stack with automated Bitcoin savings plans and instant purchases. Swan serves clients of any size, from $10 to $10M+. Visit https://www.swanbitcoin.com/nataliebrunell for $10 in Bitcoin when you sign up. If you are planning to buy more than $100,000 of Bitcoin over the next year, the Swan Private team can help. Swan Bitcoin is hosting this year's inaugural Pacific Bitcoin event designed to deliver two days of Bitcoin-only programming featuring top experts and celebrity Bitcoin fans. This unique event November 10-11 in Los Angeles will give you the ability to meaningfully engage the Bitcoin community & industry insiders. Visit https://www.PacificBitcoin.com/ for tickets. Use code HODL for 20% off your pass. BITCOIN 2023 by @Bitcoin Magazine will be the biggest Bitcoin event in history May 18-20 in Miami Beach. Speakers include Michael Saylor, Lyn Alden and Michelle Phan, plus a Day 3 music festival. Nearly 30,000 people attended Bitcoin 2022; more than 1,100 companies and 250 media outlets were represented. Get an early bird pass at a steep discount at https://b.tc/conference use code HODL for 10% off your pass to BITCOIN 2023. With iTrustCapital you can invest in crypto without worrying about taxes or fees. iTrustCapital allows clients to invest in crypto through an individual retirement account. IRAs are tax-sheltered accounts, which means all your crypto trading is tax-free and can even grow tax-free over time. The best part is it's totally free to open an account, and there are no hidden fees, monthly subscriptions or membership fees. If you open and fund an account you will get a $100 funding bonus. To learn more and open a free account go to https://itrust.capital/nataliebrunell. Fold is the best Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app in the world! Earn Bitcoin on everything you purchase with Fold's Bitcoin cash back debit card, and spin the Daily Wheel to earn free Bitcoin. Head to https://www.foldapp.com/natalie for 5,000 in free sats! OTHER RESOURCES - Natalie's website https://talkingbitcoin.com/ - The Informationist Newsletter https://jameslavish.substack.com - The Looking Glass https://lookingglasseducation.com/ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories BTC wallet bc1ql8dqjp46s4eq9k3lxt0lxzh6f2wcu35cl6944d ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ FOLLOW NATALIE ON SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter https://twitter.com/natbrunell Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nataliebrunell Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebrunell ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ DISCLAIMER This show is for entertainment purposes only and does not give financial advice. Before making any decisions consult a professional. #bitcoin #cryptocurrency #inflation

James Lavish: Debt Spiral and Bitcoin as Our Only Hope

first job coders social hour aapc compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2022 73:19

James Lavish is a former hedge fund manager and CFA with 25 years of institutional investment and risk management experience. The Yale and Cornell alum, who at one point was drafted by the National Hockey League, was recently Chief Operating Officer of Alternative Investments at asset management firm LKCM in Dallas, Texas. James was also the co-founder and a managing partner of Ranger Arbitrage, Head Arbitrage Trader and Officer of the Compliance Committee for Carlson Capital. He is the author of The Informationist Newsletter. https://jameslavish.substack.com ✔️ Coin Stories is powered by Okcoin. Okcoin is on a mission to make crypto investing and trading easily accessible to anyone around the world. We are building the next generation of tools to help onboard the investors and traders who have been on the fence about crypto. Okcoin is a globally licensed exchange with offices in San Francisco, Miami, Malta, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. We are a collective of global citizens with a common passion to help decentralize finance and level the economic playing field for everyone around the world. Visit https://www.okcoin.com/natalie for $50 in Bitcoin when you sign up. ✔️ BITCOIN 2023, which will be the BIGGEST BITCOIN EVENT IN HISTORY held May 18-20 in Miami Beach. If you missed Bitcoin 2022, make sure to head to @Bitcoin Magazine to find videos and highlights of all the biggest events and panels. You can get an early bird pass for Bitcoin 2023 at a steep discount if you head to: https://b.tc/conference/bitcoin2023. Use code HODL for 10% off your pass. ✔️ With iTrustCapital, you can actually invest in crypto without worrying about taxes, or fees. iTrustCapital allows their clients to invest in crypto through an individual retirement account, or an IRA. IRAs are tax sheltered accounts, which means all your crypto trading is tax-free and can even grow tax-free over time. The best part is that it's totally free to open an account, and there are no hidden fees. You don't need to pay any monthly subscription or membership fees either. If you open and fund an account, you will get a $100 funding bonus added to your account. To learn more, click the link below and open a free account to learn more. https://itrust.capital/nataliebrunell ✔️ Fold is the best Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app in the world! Earn Bitcoin on everything you purchase with the Fold's Bitcoin cashback debit card and spin the Daily Wheel to earn free Bitcoin. Head to https://www.foldapp.com/natalie for 5,000 in free sats! OTHER RESOURCES - Natalie's website: https://talkingbitcoin.com/ - The Informationist Newsletter: https://jameslavish.substack.com/. - James Lavish on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jameslavish ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS: Strike ID: https://strike.me/coinstories/ Cash App: $CoinStories BTC wallet: bc1ql8dqjp46s4eq9k3lxt0lxzh6f2wcu35cl6944d ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ FOLLOW NATALIE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/natbrunell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebrunell Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebrunell ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ ⏤ DISCLAIMER: This show is for entertainment purposes only and does not give financial advice. Before making any decisions consult a professional.

Coders Working in Law, Finding Your First Job, and More | AAPC Social Hour

The AAPC Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2022 58:01

Join us as we speak with Lisa Rae Roper and Sandy Brown from AAPC's Compliance Committee and their upcoming presentation about working with general counsel and more.

90. Jan Siegmund - Lead with Authenticity

R.O.G. Return on Generosity

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2022 29:58 Transcription Available

90. Jan Siegmund - Lead with Authenticity “The biggest impact in any organization for your wellbeing is your direct supervisor…a CEO or CFO talking nice words about inclusion are not as meaningful if they don't translate in day-to-day life.” Guest Info: Jan Siegmund is Cognizant's Chief Financial Officer. In this role, he leads the company's worldwide Financial Planning and Analysis, Accounting and Controllership, Tax, Treasury and Internal Audit functions. He also oversees Corporate Development, Investor Relations and Enterprise Risk Management. Prior to joining Cognizant in September 2020, Jan served for seven years as Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a $14-billion global human capital management technology and service provider. Earlier in his two-decade tenure with ADP, he held the roles of President, Added Value Services Division, developing and executing the company's growth strategy, and Chief Strategy Officer, with responsibility for corporate strategy, M&A, government affairs, and product management and marketing. He began his career at McKinsey & Company. Jan is a member of the Board of Directors of The Western Union Company, where he is Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compliance Committee. He holds a master's degree in Industrial Engineering from Technical University Karlsruhe, Germany, a master's degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a doctorate in Economics from Technical University of Dresden, Germany. Favorite Quote: “The important thing in life is not perfection – the important thing is bending the curve towards the better.” R.O.G. Takeaway Tips: Actions we can take as a person:: Clarify answers to these deep questions:What is my authentic voice? What is my V.I.B.E.? Values, Interests, Beliefs and Energy Sources. What makes me unique? As a leader: If you are not a member of the LGBTQIA'+ community, and not aware of the realities and truths of associates who are, do your work. Learn. Understand. Glaad: The Value of LGBT in the Workplace SHRM: Ensuring Workplace Inclusion for LGBTQ Employees Out & Equal: 20 Steps to an Out & Equal Workplace If you are aware and understand, be intentional about signaling your allyship and help others. Perhaps, you don't celebrate Pride month. Be respectful of those who do. Listen to Episode 86 with H Walker for more. Resources: Jan Siegmund | I AM | Diversity in Leadership | Cognizant Cognizant — Diversity and Inclusion This is what Jan mentions at the end of the interview. The details are shared on our YouTube Channel. Cognizant Earns Perfect Score in Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2022 Corporate Equality Index Cognizant on LinkedIn: Driving Forward Diversity, Inclusion, and LGBTQ+ Allyship Coming Next: We are taking our summer break. We will return with episode 91 on August 30. In the meantime, enjoy past episodes and have a healthy and enjoyable summer. Episode 91 will air on August 30th, with a recap of the first half of 2022 and highlights for the second half. Enjoy the summer! Credits: Jan Siegmund, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

IP #99 Former Hedge Fund Manager To Discovering Bitcoin W/James Lavish

Insightful Principles

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2022 73:45

Disclaimer: My content is designed for informational and educational purposes. Please consult with an advisor or a brokerage firm when making an investment decision. Do your own research and become aware of the risks when making an informed financial decision. No suggestion is an offer to buy or sale an investment. These views are based on my own and the guest. You must understand your own risk tolerance and be comfortable with making a specific investment decision.Table of Contents:00:00-01:19 Intro01:19-02:30 James Lavish Background02:30-10:18 Professional Hockey Player To Hedge Fund Manager 10:18-14:47 Differences between wall street & bitcoin community 14:47-25:28 School system doesn't teach financial literacy 25:28-35:30 Discovering Bitcoin35:30-38:21 Inflationary vs. Deflationary Economy 38:21-48:55 Bitcoin & Time Preference 48:55-1:00:58 Bitcoin as a global reserve currency 1:00:58-1:07:17 Market volatility with different asset classes01:07:17-1:10:20 Closing Sponsors:Buzzsprout, the best way to start a podcast!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1305358Safely secure your crypto with Ledger, the largest crypto hardware wallet! https://shop.ledger.com/?r=aa519baed9caJames Lavish shared his perspective on transitioning from the institutional world to focusing on the Bitcoin network. He has over 25 years of institutional investing and risk management experience. James recently was the Chief Operating Officer of Alternative Investments at LKCM, a $26 billion asset management firm in Forth Worth Texas. Prior to joining LKCM, Mr. Lavish was the co-founder and a managing partner of Ranger Arbitrage, Head Arbitrage Trader and Officer of the Compliance Committee for Carlson Capital. Throughout this conversation, James highlighted his journey from being drafted in the NHL to becoming an hedge fund manager. He talked on the differences between Wall Street and interacting with people in the Bitcoin community. As well as how he discovered Bitcoin and became an educator in this space.James Lavish Outlets:Twitter: @jameslavishInformationist Newsletter: https://jameslavish.substack.com/subscribehttps://lookingglasseducation.com/author/jameslavish/IP Outlets:Show email & contact info:Email: insightfulprinciples@gmail.comLinkTree: https://linktr.ee/insightfulprinciplesSocial Media:Instagram & TikTok: @insightfulprinciplesTwitter: @insightprinplesLinkedIn: Kevin Jenkins Clubhouse: @kevnjenkins#hedge #fund #bitcoin #insightful #principlesSupport the show

Win for the little guy as Pretoria FM triumphs in Primedia broadcast battle

BizNews Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2022 29:26

The Complaints and Compliance Committee of ICASA recently dismissed complaints laid against Pretoria FM by Primedia Broadcasting. Retired High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa and a panel of five committee members ruled against claims that Pretoria FM has been contravening its licence conditions and regulations. This is just the latest episode in a long history of litigation against the station explains Pretoria FM Executive Chairperson Willie Spies. Pretoria FM has faced a total of nine court cases over a period of close on two decades ventilated in the country's High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Constitutional Court. The right of Pretoria FM - licensed to serve the interests of the Afrikaner community - to broadcast as a community radio station has been continually contested. In this interview with BizNews, Spies gives the background to Primedia's litigation and how Pretoria FM has slowly built itself up into a sustainable commercial entity within the broadcast space. Interestingly, Pretoria FM - perhaps considered as a bastion of Afrikanerdom - is currently involved in assisting an Nkandla-based isiZulu radio station ,Ngkungumathe in KwaZulu-Natal, to get off the ground.

battle supreme court spies broadcast appeal complaints triumphs high court pretoria little guys kwazulu natal constitutional court afrikaner isizulu icasa nkandla compliance committee biznews

LCIL Friday Lecture: 'Current issues in International Climate Law: The Paris Agreement and Beyond' - Prof Christina Voigt, University of Oslo

LCIL International Law Seminar Series

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2022 43:07

Dr Christina Voigt is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is an internationally renowned expert in international environmental law and teaches, speaks and publishes widely on legal issues of climate change, environmental multilateralism and sustainability. From 2009-2018, she worked as principal legal adviser for the Government of Norway in the UN climate negotiations and negotiated the Paris Agreement and its Rulebook. Professor Voigt is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and Co-chair of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee. She also is a mother of two young boys, Victor and Oscar. A copy of Dr Voigt's presentation is available: The Future of Public International Law Beyond the Paris Agreement (6.19MB) https://www.lcil.cam.ac.uk/press/events/2022/03/lcil-friday-lecture-current-issues-international-climate-law-paris-agreement-and-beyond-prof

university future law professor government international prof climate change climate norway lecture oslo international law paris agreement rule book voigt current issues compliance committee 19mb lcil

Buwa Binitie- Providing Luxury Affordable Housing (#58)

Icons of DC Area Real Estate

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 180:18

John Coe and Buwa Binitie Bio Buwa Binitie, Managing Principal As Managing Principal of Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie directs the acquisition, development, management, and financial activities ofthe firm. Mr. Binitie has an extensive tax credit financing experience (LIHTC, NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital source available including HOME, HPTF, NSP, CDBG and NIF. Mr.Binitie maintains a narrow focus on creatively structuring deals that strive to address the need of his clients,community stakeholders as well as various government agency partners. By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions, Mr. Binitie has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers. Mr. Binitie's career is underscored by a commitment to creating and preserving affordable and workforcehousing. To this end, since founding Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie and his team have closed over $1 Billion of unconventional real estate transactions that utilize low-income tax credits, new market tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and various other forms of alternative financing. These efforts have led to the creation of over 3,000 units of workforce and affordable housing. Mr. Binitie speaks regularly at industry focused events, including sessions with The Minority Resource, African American Real Estate Professionals, Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University, Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development at University of Maryland, and the Howard University Real Estate Club. Mr. Binitie is currently the Chairman of the DC Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors and serves as a Board Member for the DC Building Industry Association. Mr. Binitie previously served onCity First Bank's board where he was a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Business &Community Development Committee, and the Directors Loan Committee. He also Co-Chaired Reopen DC (RealEstate Task Force and Mayor Bowser’s Rental Housing Market Strike Force). Education and Awards B.S. New York UniversityM.S., Real Estate Development, Johns Hopkins UniversityLeadership Greater Washington Class of 2016Alumnus, Urban Land Institute's Real Estate Apprenticeship Program (Project REAP)2010 African American Real Estate Professionals' Economic DevelopmentAwardee2015 Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leaders AwardeeWashington Business Journal Power 100 class of 2021 Show Notes Current Role He leads the companies. Dantes Partners is now a company of companies (5:00)Pandemic has caused them to be more focused and is positive for their

Buwa Binitie- Providing Luxury Affordable Housing (#58)

Icons of DC Area Real Estate

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 180:18

John Coe and Buwa Binitie Bio Buwa Binitie, Managing Principal As Managing Principal of Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie directs the acquisition, development, management, and financial activities ofthe firm. Mr. Binitie has an extensive tax credit financing experience (LIHTC, NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital source available including HOME, HPTF, NSP, CDBG and NIF. Mr.Binitie maintains a narrow focus on creatively structuring deals that strive to address the need of his clients,community stakeholders as well as various government agency partners. By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions, Mr. Binitie has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers. Mr. Binitie's career is underscored by a commitment to creating and preserving affordable and workforcehousing. To this end, since founding Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie and his team have closed over $1 Billion of unconventional real estate transactions that utilize low-income tax credits, new market tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and various other forms of alternative financing. These efforts have led to the creation of over 3,000 units of workforce and affordable housing. Mr. Binitie speaks regularly at industry focused events, including sessions with The Minority Resource, African American Real Estate Professionals, Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University, Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development at University of Maryland, and the Howard University Real Estate Club. Mr. Binitie is currently the Chairman of the DC Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors and serves as a Board Member for the DC Building Industry Association. Mr. Binitie previously served onCity First Bank's board where he was a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Business &Community Development Committee, and the Directors Loan Committee. He also Co-Chaired Reopen DC (RealEstate Task Force and Mayor Bowser’s Rental Housing Market Strike Force). Education and Awards B.S. New York UniversityM.S., Real Estate Development, Johns Hopkins UniversityLeadership Greater Washington Class of 2016Alumnus, Urban Land Institute's Real Estate Apprenticeship Program (Project REAP)2010 African American Real Estate Professionals' Economic DevelopmentAwardee2015 Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leaders AwardeeWashington Business Journal Power 100 class of 2021 Show Notes Current Role He leads the companies. Dantes Partners is now a company of companies (5:00)Pandemic has caused them to be more focused and is positive for their company (6:25)Recession in 2008-9 were best years until 2020-21 which were even better (7:10)Moment in time that they could be propelled (7:50)Tap into social issues (8:00)Focusing on what makes company great (core competencies) (8:30)Deals need to be “quality deals” (8:50) Origins Born and raised in Nigeria (Lagos) (9:30)Parents are successful entrepreneurs (9:45)Dad was a pioneer in dry cleaning (10:00)His Dad and Mom were college educated (10:30)Siblings were more studious (10:45)He wanted to be an entrepreneur and academics didn’t interest him (11:00)Not accepted in any college in Nigeria (11:50)Parents wanted to send him abroad to school (12:15)His siblings’ performance stimulated trips to London and New York as a child (12:30)He wanted to come to the US after visiting here

Day 5 - The Board and Operationalizing Compliance

CEO Podcasts: CEO Chat Podcast + I AM CEO Podcast Powered by Blue 16 Media & CBNation.co

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2022 10:16

The most significant development for Boards and compliance in 2021 came from the Delaware courts, which have been expanding the civil law obligations of Boards through a series of court decisions involving the expansion of the Caremark Doctrine for a couple of years. These developments began with the Marchand decision which required Boards to manage the risks their organizations face. Next was the Clovis Oncology which required ongoing monitoring by the Board. The next case is Hughes which stands for the proposition that having the structures, policies and procedures in place is not enough. The Board must fully engage in oversight of a compliance program. Finally in 2021 came Boeing which stands for the continuing proposition that a Board cannot simply have the trappings of oversight, it must do the serious work required and have evidence of that work (Document, Document, and Document). The decision in Boeing is yet a further expansion of the Caremark Doctrine, once again beginning with Marchand. Boeing also stands for the proposition that a company must assess its risks and then manage those risks right up through the Board level. Finally a Board must be aggressive in their approach and not simply passively taking in what management has presented to them. The DOJ has also made clear its thoughts on the role of the Board of Directors. The role of the Board is different than that of senior management. Both the 2020 Update and DOJ Antitrust Division's 2019 Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust Investigations was even more explicit in announcing their expectation for robust Board oversight of a corporate compliance function. Name any of the most recent corporate scandals; Wells Fargo, Theranos, Volkswagen, Boeing, etc., and there was no compliance expertise on the Board. It is now enshrined as a best practice for companies to have a seasoned compliance professional on the Board. I would also add the DOJ may soon expect there be a Compliance Committee separate and apart from the Audit Committee. The DOJ continually speaks about the need for companies to operationalize their compliance programs. Businesses must work to integrate compliance into the DNA of their organization. Having a Board member with specific compliance expertise or heading a Compliance Committee can provide a level of oversight and commitment to achieving this goal. The DOJ enshrined this requirement in the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. This means that when your company is evaluated by the DOJ, under the factors set out in the 2020 Update and FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, to retrospectively determine if your company had a best practices compliance program in place at the time of any violation, you need to have not only the structure of the Board-level Compliance Committee but also the specific subject matter expertise (SME) on the Board and on that committee. All of this means that every Board of Directors needs a true compliance expert. Almost every Board has a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), former head of Internal Audit or persons with a similar background, and often times these are also the Audit Committee members of the Board. Such a background brings a level of sophistication, training and SME that can help all companies with their financial reporting and other finance-based issues. So why is there not such SME at the Board level from the compliance profession? #Comment Begins Three key takeaways: 1. The 2020 Update required active Board of Director engagement and oversight around compliance. 2. Board communication on compliance is a two-way street; both inbound and outbound. 3. The Delaware courts have been expanding Boards roles through expansion of the Caremark Doctrine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cannabis Entrepreneur, Investor, & Thought Leader, Armen Yemenidjian

Built On Purpose

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2021 56:15

In 2017, Armen was named to Vegas Inc.'s prestigious “40 Under 40” list and in 2018, he was named as one of High Times' “100 Most Influential People in Cannabis.” Armen Yemenidjian began his career at Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in August 2009 in the Marketing Department, subsequently moving to Casino Operations and Player Development. He served as Special Projects Manager, Director and Vice President of Player Development before becoming Vice President of Casino Marketing and Operations. He was approved for a Non-restricted Gaming License from the Nevada Gaming Commission in 2009 and served as a member of the Tropicana Las Vegas Executive Committee as well as the Casino Credit and Compliance Committee. After the sale of Tropicana in August 2015, Yemenidjian founded a number of companies in varying industries, including Armenco Capital, a commercial and residential real estate investment company, Armenco Restaurant Group, a franchisee of Jersey Mike's in Las Vegas, and Integral Associates I & II, medical and recreational cannabis companies that own and operate three Essence Vegas dispensaries and two state-of-the-art cultivation and production facilities (dbas Desert Grown Farms and Cannabiotix NV). In 2018 and 2019, the company was approved for an additional eight licenses in the State of Nevada and was approved to move forward in the commercial cannabis licensing process in West Hollywood, Pasadena, and Culver City, California. Under Yemenidjian's leadership, Essence Vegas has received numerous accolades, including being named Business Insider's number one dispensary in Nevada and top-25 dispensary in the United States; a 15-time Leafly List Winner, the most among dispensaries in Nevada, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal's 2016 “Best of Las Vegas.” In 2019, Green Thumb Industries acquired Integral Associates and Armen joined the GTI team as President. Armen stepped down from GTI as President in April of 2020. Armen was a member of the Nevada Dispensary Association and the Nevada Cannabis Coalition, was appointed by the Clark County Commission to serve on the Cannabis Green Ribbon Panel March 2017 and was selected by the state of Nevada to participate in the Governor's Task Force on Cultivation. Yemenidjian holds a Bachelors' Degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Connect: 40 Under 40 Armen Yemenidjian Armen Yemenidjian on LinkedIn Y Scouts is a leadership search firm that finds purpose-aligned and performance-proven leaders to help organizations achieve their missions faster. Ready to supercharge your leadership search and get the right person in your organization? Contact Y Scouts.

IAM1164- Managing Principal Creates Affordable and Workforce Housing

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2021 16:58

As Managing Principal of Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie directs the acquisition, development, management, and financial activities of the firm. Mr. Binitie has an extensive tax credit financing experience (LIHTC, NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital source available including HOME, HPTF, NSP, CDBG and NIF. Mr. Binitie maintains a narrow focus on creatively structuring deals that strive to address the need of his clients, community stakeholders as well as various government agency partners. By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions, Mr. Binitie has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers. Mr. Binitie's career is underscored by a commitment to creating and preserving affordable and workforce housing. To this end, since founding Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie and his team have closed over $750 million of unconventional real estate transactions that utilize low-income tax credits, new market tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and various other forms of alternative financing. These efforts have led to the creation of over 2400 units of workforce and affordable housing. Mr. Binitie speaks regularly at industry focused events. Recent engagements include sessions with The Minority Resource, African American Real Estate Professionals, Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University, University of Maryland – Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development and the Howard University Real Estate Club. Mr. Binitie is currently the Chairman of the DC Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors. He also serves a Board Member for the DC Building Industry Association, and previously on City First Bank where he is a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Business & Community Development Committee, and the Directors Loan Committee. Website: http://www.dantespartners.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/buwa-binitie-3483b320/

director university home housing creates workforce board members audit georgetown university affordable htc managing principal real estate development nif nsp bisnow lihtc cdbg compliance committee

83. US Marine Guards and Wynn Properties

OldGuyTalksToMe

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2021 24:33

After retiring from the FBI, he served for 12 years as the Senior Vice President, and later Executive Vice President, for all security and investigative matters for Wynn Resorts Limited. Mr. Stern held this position from June 2007 to April 2019. In this role, Mr. Stern was responsible for worldwide security operations for Wynn Resorts. This included assisting on Regulatory Compliance matters and managing all hotel security operations to include tactical Special Operations Officers, General Security Officers, K-9 Security Officers, Surveillance Security Officers, Corporate Investigations, Cyber Investigators, and all Employment and Misconduct investigations. Mr. Stern was also a member of the Compliance Committee for Wynn Resorts and was responsible for overseeing the due diligence of Gaming Promoters at the Macau properties. Mr. Stern founded the Wynn Nightclub Task Force that was initiated in December 2009, which oversaw the operation of the company nightclubs to ensure proper physical security and regulatory compliance as dictated by the Nevada Gaming. Try Dry Farms Wine No additives Grown Organically NO SUGAR KETO Friendly Intermittent Fasting Friendly Get a bottle for A PENNY with your initial order. www.OldGuyTalks.com/DryFarms "Helping Older Guys Create Kick Ass Lives for Themselves and Those They Love" SUBSCRIBE, SHARE and REVIEW

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Growing Culture: Cheryl Curbeam Engineers an E&C Career at Corteva Agriscience

Principled

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2021 16:29

Cheryl Curbeam, chief risk and compliance officer at Corteva Agriscience, talks about her journey from engineer to compliance officer; how the pandemic has prompted changes to how her program operates; and how to find and grow a diverse group of talent for careers in the ethics and compliance profession. “No longer can you just have a conversation with someone that sits next to you, or in the hallway. People have to be more intentional about it, so we have had to step up our messaging about the hotline.” - Cheryl Curbeam Cheryl Curbeam is the chief ethics and compliance officer for Corteva Agriscience, a global agriculture company that launched as a publicly traded company in June 2019. Cheryl leads a global team to implement a new ethics and compliance program that inclkudes the creation of its first Corteva Code of Conduct, an Ethics and Compliance Hotline, employee training and certification, compliance policies, and mobile app. Full disclosure: Corteva is an LRN partner, and we worked with Cheryl and her team in helping them create their code. Prior to her career at Corteva, Cheryl had progressive leadership roles at DuPont including assignments in operations, sales and marketing, and compliance. She holds a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Tennessee. She is also a certified Corporate Compliance and Ethics Professional and Six Sigma Master Black Belt. What You’ll Learn on This Episode: [1:29] How has Curbeam’s career path led her to her current position at Corteva? [3:23] How is Corteva’s E & C program structured and who does Curbeam report to? [4:35] What are Corteva’s core values and how are they implemented in the structure of their E & C program? [6:19] How has Covid changed the way that Corteva trains and communicates with their employees? [9:28] What does Curbeam anticipate the lasting impact of Covid will be in the business world? [10:37] How has Corteva conducted employee onboarding during the pandemic? [11:34] What is Curbeam’s perspective on the call for racial justice during the summer of 2020? [13:46] What can the E & C community do to promote more diversity? Find this episode of Principled on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Sound Cloud, Podyssey, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Transcription: Intro: Welcome to the Principled Podcast brought to you by LRN. The Principled Podcast brings together the collective wisdom on ethics, business and compliance, transformative stories of leadership, and inspiring workplace culture. Listen in to discover valuable strategies from our community of business leaders and workplace changemakers. Ben DiPietro: Hello, everybody and welcome to another episode of season five of LRN's Principled Podcast. My name is Ben DiPietro. I'm the editor of LRN's E&C Pulse Newsletter. You can find that on our website, lrn.com, click the resources tab, and then click on the newsletter tab. And please sign up. We'd love to have you as a subscriber. With me today is Cheryl Curbeam, the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for Corteva Agriscience, a global agriculture company that launched as a publicly traded company in June of 2019. Cheryl leads a global team to implement an ethics and compliance program that includes the creation of the company's first ever code of conduct, an ethics and compliance hotline, employee training and certifications, and a mobile app. Let's welcome, Cheryl. How are you today? And thank you for taking time. Cheryl Curbeam: I am well. Thank you, Ben, for the opportunity to speak with you today. Ben DiPietro: It's good to have you here. So tell us a bit about your journey in the world of ethics and compliance. How did you become interested in this? And tell us a little bit about the career path you've taken to get where you are now at Corteva. Cheryl Curbeam: I would like to say that Corteva sells... People think we're an ad company, so that can mean a lot of different things, but I wanted to let you know that we sell seeds, we sell crop protection and digital solutions for farmers. So how I started my journey is I'm a mechanical engineer by training, have both a bachelor's and master's in mechanical engineering. And so it's not likely that I would have ended up in ethics and compliance, but I spent the first third of my career in operations and aspirations and leadership assignments. The second third of my career was spent in sales and marketing, and I had some really fun jobs in sales and marketing. And one of those fun jobs was to provide and support the fibers and fabrics that go into firefighter clothing. It was one of the best jobs ever, but it required a lot of travel. And I was out of my home three out of the four weekends. I was gone 80% of the time. And around that time I got married and had children and it just became so challenging with the travel and managing my personal life. And so I started to think about other career options for me. And then I looked for roles within the business because I love the sales and marketing side. So I started doing compliance for the business, which led to corporate compliance for the company that I was with. I was with Heritage Legacy Company [Ducon 00:02:56] at the time. And then I was asked to join Corteva in 2018, before we launched our company and I had the privilege of being promoted into the role for Chief ethics and Compliance Officer. And so I've added now data privacy to my responsibilities as well as enterprise risk management. Ben DiPietro: And so tell us a little bit about the program then. You've basically clearly started everything. How is it structured and who do you report to? Cheryl Curbeam: Our Ethics and Compliance Program is structured globally. So we have major commercial regions around the world. So we have an ethics and compliance officer in each of the major regions. So we have one for US and Canada. Another person covers Latin America. One covers Europe, one covers Africa, Middle East, and one covers Asia-Pacific. So, that's also the way that we're structured with data privacy. My role reports into the general counsel, who's also our board secretary. And then we also have a governance structure. So our executives sit on what we call our Ethics and Compliance Committee and we meet quarterly and they provide oversight for our program, for our policies and our initiatives. And then I also have regular updates with our board of directors. So, that's how we're structured. Ben DiPietro: So tell us a bit about the company's core values and how those values are reflected in your culture and your code and the role that E&C plays then in disseminating those values and making sure everybody in the company knows of them and is working to adhere to them as much as they can. Related article: Best Codes Drive and Reinforce Values, Ethics Cheryl Curbeam: I really like that question because the purpose of our company, we think we're here to feed the world. And so the official purpose of our company is to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume and sharing progress for generations to come. And I love the part about our purpose being for not only for me, but for people that come behind me. So everything we do kind of starts with our purpose, our code, which LRN helped us to develop. And our supplier code of conduct start with our purpose. And then we talk about our values. So we have six key values. One of the values is around be upstanding, which we have owned that in the ethics and compliance space, but the other ones are to enrich lives, to stand tall, to be curious, to build together, and to live safely. So our code is titled, We Are Upstanding. So, it's a flip on the value be upstanding. And everything that we do, all the courses that we launch through LRN start with We Are Upstanding. So that's one message that we keep core to us in ethics and compliance. And when we launch our annual training, we have a Be Upstanding month. And that month is, and we started this last year, dedicated to webinars and activities, and also just a fun and creative way to launch our annual training campaign. Ben DiPietro: Obviously COVID is impacting you guys the way it's impacting everybody. How is it changing the way you try to maintain continuity in your messaging and training and support for employees? Cheryl Curbeam: I think COVID has had an impact on everyone. And when you think about 2020, and some of the keywords and phrases, you think about pandemic, you think about Zoom, you think about racial reckoning, you think about the presidential election, all of those things in addition to COVID kind of have merged together and they will probably always be with us. So it was a year for us and it still is a year of resilience. And so everything that we thought about for 2020 and 2021, everything has to be thought of in a virtual content. All of our training is now virtually delivered, but we've been very creative. We get to see the creativity of our employees, of how to not only title things, but make things interesting and interactive. And we've trained outside of our online training. Just in the webinar format, we've trained over 11,000 of our employees that way. Another key shift for us and probably for all companies is how you conduct ethics investigations. Instead of flying to a location and conducting in-person interviews, we really had to shift the way that we interview and collect information so that it's in a virtual format. And we've had to even hire external investigations companies to help us and assist us with some of the more complex investigations. And I think one of the key things that has changed is how we get employees to speak up and seek help and how we're able to detect issues in the workplace because no longer can you just have a conversation with someone that sits next to you or in the hallway, people have to be more intentional about it. And so we have had to step up our messaging around the use of the hotline, how it works, how it's managed by a third-party vendor. It's a great way to report things anonymously. Those are some of the key changes that we've had to really think about. And the last thing I want to mention, I don't know if other companies had to deal with this, but we've had to really address the use of social media. And so with the monumental, I call it presidential election that we had in the US last year, people have felt free to share their opinions and ideas. And we certainly don't look at employee's personal social media accounts, but when issues are brought to us, we have to remind our employees that what they say and what they write, whether it's within the company, but also in social media has a reflection on who we are as a company. And so we've had to really think about sharing that message with our employees, that we are not actively looking at their social media, but what they say and what they write, reflect positively and negatively on our company. Related article: Adapting to change: Training Your Global Virtual Workforce Ben DiPietro: Beyond remote work then, what do you think would be the lasting legacy of this pandemic and the way it changes the role of ethics and compliance and the [inaudible 00:09:29]? Cheryl Curbeam: My perspective is that let's face it, we're never going to be traveling at the same levels we were traveling before the pandemic. And so, we have to adjust. It's not just a temporary adjustment to a virtual and remote workforce. I think it's a permanent one. And we have to adjust and continue to communicate how the employees can speak up and seek help. So I don't think that's going to change either. And I think another lasting legacy which I spoke about is how we do investigations. So, that'll be a permanent change. But I think the thing that I haven't really touched on is the hiring of talent, which I think is a real positive. I've had the pleasure of hiring three people on our team remotely. And I think what that does is you no longer have to restrict people to a geography to get great talent. And I think that's a great positive, that no longer will you have to require that people be in one of our three headquarter locations or be near one of our major global centers in order to be in ethics and compliance. Ben DiPietro: How do you do the onboarding? It's sort of different now. Cheryl Curbeam: That's another great question. So we do all of the talent scouting virtually. We do the interview panels virtually. People meet into a Zoom room. We also onboard them virtually. We have a phenomenal ethics and compliance team, but we also have phenomenal IT support. And so they shift them the computer, they set up a virtual onboarding session for their computer and phone. We set up mentoring appointments virtually. So everything that we do to onboard new employees is virtual. Ben DiPietro: You mentioned a little bit before last year was a bit of a strange one, certainly politically. And also part of that was the cry for racial justice that led to worldwide protests following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which no doubt effected you as a woman of color. Can you talk about since all that's happened, what are you thinking and are you hopeful that it will lead to some meaningful change? Cheryl Curbeam: So for the audience, yes, I am a black woman. I'm the proud mom of two black teenage boys. I'm married to a black husband. So for me, the killing of Mr. Floyd was one of several horrible killings that we've had to witness, unfortunately, through social media or through the news channels. Because I deal with this probably every day, for many black families this is the reality that we have to deal with about personal safety. I am hopeful. I'm very hopeful. My faith gives me a lot of hope. It was deeply painful to actually witness Mr. Floyd being killed. I think one of the fortunate parts, if you can even say that was that other people got to witness it too. And what gave me hope was that the global community responded, they responded by using peaceful protests. And really companies responded as well by making hopefully meaningful change about the way we tend to look at people. And so I've been doing a lot of reading and reflection on my own, but I have a great homework assignment for anyone that is listening and someone who wants to read a good book. So I've been digesting a book called Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, and it really parallels the US culture with Indian culture, with some very horrible things that happened during the Holocaust. And it just, it really provides a picture on structural or systemic racism just to give an understanding of how we got to where we were to see how big the problem is. And I am very hopeful that once you understand the problem, you can fix the problem. Ben DiPietro: Yes, let's hope as we go forward here. Let me ask you one final question and I thank you again for taking time with us today. Really appreciate it. You mentioned businesses sort of have stepped up to a certain degree after this season of racial awareness. What can the E&C community do now to bring more diversity to its ranks? Cheryl Curbeam: Yeah, so we means me. So what can I do? What can others do? Ethics and compliance unfortunately, isn't one of those careers that many people aspire to right out of the university setting. We typically don't hire current college graduates into these roles. I think there's a wonderful opportunity to either bring in new talent from the outside or develop talent from within the company. I'm a great example of someone who was promoted from within my company. I had a great leader who saw that I could potentially do compliance work for a business and then for the company and then for Corteva. So developing talent from within is a great way to bring diversity into the ranks of ethics and compliance. Cheryl Curbeam: And another great way that I have also used is to hire external talent and to be very intentional about having a diverse set of candidates to draw from, to personally interview, to panel interview, and to also make sure that we have a diverse set of people looking at the candidates. I recently became aware of a few organizations that we have used to seek out new talent, the National Association of Black Compliance and Risk Management Professionals is one of them. There's several women in compliance organizations. And just really intentionally finding candidates that meet our criteria, I think is one way to really help, to find and broaden the pool of talent for ethics and compliance. Ben DiPietro: That's great to hear that, they're actually creating those kind of associations and doing that networking to help bring their profiles up so people know they're there and to have people make sure that they're being interviewed and getting those opportunities. With that, I want to thank you so much for being with us. And I look forward to seeing you again when we're all allowed to be outside. Until then, stay safe, Cheryl. Cheryl Curbeam: Thank you, Ben. Thanks for the opportunity. Outro: We hope you enjoyed this episode. The Principled Podcast is brought to you by LRN. At LRN, our mission is to inspire principled performance in global organizations by helping them foster winning ethical cultures rooted in sustainable values. Please visit us at lrn.com to learn more. And if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen. And don't forget to leave us a review. Find this episode of Principled on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Sound Cloud, Podyssey, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Leitrim man's complaint over Claire Byrne TV show is rejected

OceanFM Ireland

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2021 8:32

The Compliance Committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has rejected a complaint made by Co Leitrim man Sean Wynne over an item on the Claire Byrne Live show on RTE TV. The item related to a demonstration on the show of drive-through vaccinations

ireland tv shows rejected complaints leitrim claire byrne broadcasting authority compliance committee

Pick Your Own Song: Tiffany Archer’s Mission to Advance DE&I at Panasonic Avionics

Principled

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2021 22:57

Compliance executive and board and executive advisor Tiffany Archer of Panasonic Avionics shares how her study of psychology underpins her approach to ethics and compliance; what the differences are between diversity, equity, and inclusion, and why those distinctions matter; and how a company needs to look “below the iceberg” to find its true culture. “It’s critical that we take time to get to know and understand our employee base, to uncover their values and beliefs that underlie they behaviors. When you’re armed with that information, you’re able to stand up meaningful, relevant, and actionable plans to advance an organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.” - Tiffany Archer Tiffany Archer is a board and executive advisor, ethics and compliance officer, regulatory attorney, and D&I nonprofit advisory board/faculty member with 18+ years in Fortune 500 companies and AmLaw 100 law firms. Today, she is on the compliance leadership team for Panasonic Avionics Corporation, the global leader for in-flight entertainment and communications, providing solutions to 300+ airlines. At PAC, Tiffany, a strategic and practical business leader, is the lead ethics and compliance attorney for the Americas and Europe. Tiffany has been a compliance lead for teams up to 500+ internal stakeholders (Audit, Finance, Trade Compliance, IT, and HR), outside counsel, and vendors. She has led the design of global compliance programs impacting 10+ countries, as well as cross-border internal investigations. Her focus includes the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), U.K. Bribery Act, and Anti-Kickback Statutes. As part of her regulatory relations and enforcement actions work, she has developed legal strategies and navigated inquiries from DOJ, SEC, FDA, FINRA, OFAC, and others. Tiffany is a co-chair of NYCBA’s General Corporate Ethics and Compliance Sub-Committee, and a member of NYCBA’s Compliance Committee. She was a 2020 Finalist in Compliance Week’s Excellence in Compliance Award for Anti-Corruption and featured in Modern Counsel. She is an active speaker and author, with 7+ events by Ethisphere: The Global Ethics Summit, CenterForce USA, LEC Experience LATAM (Brazil), and others, as well as 5+ articles in International Financial Law Review, New York Law Journal, and more. She has been a guest lecturer at 3 law schools. Before law school, Tiffany served in world-class financial services and consulting institutions, where she worked at the intersection of data, risk management, and operations at the inception of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). She draws passion and excitement from analyzing the ever-evolving legal, ethics and compliance space through a behavioral science lens, in her efforts to combat financial crime and mitigate risk. What You’ll Learn on This Episode: [1:22] How has Archer’s career path led her to her current position at Panasonic Avionics? [3:29] What does Panasonic Avionics do and what kind of work does the E & C program do to promote their culture? [6:01] What is Archer’s perspective on diversity, equity and inclusion? [9:58] What are some things that companies can do to improve their diversity, equity and inclusion programs? [12:56] What role do company boards play in forwarding the discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion [13:56] What are the next steps for advancing racial justice from a business perspective? [17:33] How has Covid impacted Archer’s work and what is her focus moving forward? [20:33] Who are the mentors in Archer’s career path and what advice would she give to someone wanting to get into the E & C field? Find this episode of Principled on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Sound Cloud, Podyssey, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Transcription: Speaker 1: Welcome to the Principled Podcast brought to you by LRN. The Principled Podcast brings together the collective wisdom on ethics, business and compliance, transformative stories of leadership and inspiring workplace culture. Listen in to discover valuable strategies from our community of business leaders and workplace change-makers. Ben DiPietro: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of season five of LRN's Principled Podcast. My name is Ben DiPietro. I'm the editor of LRN E&C Pulse newsletter. You can find that by going to lrn.com, clicking on the resources tab, and then clicking on the newsletters tab, if you can subscribe we'd love to have you. With us today is Tiffany Archer. She's a board and executive advisor and ethics and compliance officer, a regulatory attorney, and a faculty member with more than 18 years experience in Fortune 500 companies, and AmLaw 100 law firms. Today, she's on the compliance leadership team at Panasonic Avionics Corporation, global leader for in-flight entertainment and communications. Welcome, Tiffany, glad to have you with us today. Tiffany Archer: Thank you so much, Ben. I'm really excited to be here. Ben DiPietro: So tell us a little bit about how you became interested in ethics and compliance. Then take us through your journey that's led you to your current role at Panasonic Avionics. Tiffany Archer: First, I've always been a people person and incredibly fascinated by what it is that makes them tick. So while in college, I chose to major in psychology to learn more about human behaviors, motivations, mental states, decision-making processes. Later went on to law school and after graduating, I joined a major international law firm where I specialized in white collar crime and securities enforcement. So of course, my cases focused on corruption, bribery, money laundering, and other heavily regulated conduct. I was always interested in digging into the why, behind the decisions that these individuals or corporations made. And also to look a little more into what it is that really motivated the behaviors that led them down the path of wrongful conduct. So after nearly six years in private practice, I decided to switch gears and I moved in-house and have since held multiple compliance roles. The passion that I've always had for psychology and for connecting with, and understanding people is a key pillar of my personal compliance practice. Interestingly, many people consider compliance officers as police officers of sorts. Frankly, it's not unusual for the compliance function to be referred to as the department of no. With that in mind, I prefer to take a people centric and empathetic approach to compliance. My priority is to connect with people, learn more about their values and their beliefs, and really use that information to guide their behaviors so that they can make ethical decisions, and do the right thing even when no one else is looking. So ultimately on my compliance journey, I landed at Panasonic Avionics, where I'm currently the regional ethics and compliance officer and corporate counsel for our Europe and Americas regions. Ben DiPietro: Tell us a little bit about Panasonic Avionics and what it does? Then how your compliance team works to help create that culture you're talking about. Then how do you measure the success of your team in that particular area? Related Article: 6 Ways Compliance Training Can Measure Employee Performance Tiffany Archer: Sure. So Panasonic Avionics manufacturers in flight entertainment systems. Essentially those are the TV screens that you see on the seat backs of airplanes. We also provide connectivity services and then on the ground engineering support. Our focus is on innovation and most importantly, providing the best possible passenger experience. To bridge the chasm between compliance and culture within Panasonic, we partner very closely with our chief culture officer. One of the tools I would want to highlight here today is to measure the culture, we use anonymous pulse surveys, which are sent out quarterly. Essentially the purpose of those is to check the vitals on our employee population, find out how they feel about the culture of the company. Then we take those actionable data points from the surveys and use them to address concerns that intersect with the company culture. And we formulate ways to make improvements. Our chief culture officer does an incredible job of keeping our employees informed. I think it's quite clever actually. After each survey she sends out what's called a "So what, now what?" message. Essentially, what she's communicating is through this survey you've identified, "So what are the issues or the problems that you'd like addressed?" And "Now what?" is how she plans to put into effect initiatives or procedures to address those concerns. Panasonic's Compliance Department's mantra is compliance is our foundation. So not only do we measure our success by the implementation of the data points from the surveys, but we also measure it through our stakeholder satisfaction with our responsiveness to their needs. Ben DiPietro: That “So what, now what?” is really interesting because it shows the people that you're listening to them. That's so much more important to building that trust. That's going to get you to create the culture you're trying to achieve. Tiffany Archer: It's really about keeping those lines of communication open. I think our chief culture officer's initiative with the “so what, now what?” really makes people not only see that she's listening and that we're listening, but that we're actively responding. So it's really important to keep that dialogue open and to continue to show forward progress. Related Article: Building A Speak-Up Culture Ben DiPietro: So I know you have a big interest in matters of diversity, equity, inclusion. We both last year we're part of an LRN Consero round table on that topic. At the time I asked you about the differences between the D, the E, and the I, in that equation. I thought your answer was really excellent, and I think our audience would love to hear what you have to say about that. Tiffany Archer: Thank you, Ben, for highlighting this. Diversity equity and inclusion is such an important initiative and movement for me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk a little bit more about what those letters mean to me, specifically. So not only are there differences in what the D diversity, E equity, and I inclusion pillars represent, each word also has a distinct impact on an organization's initiatives. Starting first with diversity, right? The focus is on creating an environment that's representative of the intersectionality between gender, race, sex, age, LGBTQIA, and many other identities. In my view, this pillar is particularly important because what many organizations I've seen do is have a one-dimensional perspective as it relates to that. For many of them, historically, everyone in the institution for the most part looks the same. They come from the same backgrounds, they belong potentially to the same country club. They went to the same schools I could go on but I think you get what I'm driving at. The thing is it's not too late to attack this root cause. No doubt it will be challenging to make the shifts since people are so used to the status quo. What the leadership of these organizations should recognize is despite the rocky road ahead, having to pivot towards a more diverse culture should not be considered a penalty. In fact, it's an opportunity for growth and expansion, and new or different ideas and perspectives, which can ultimately lead to a transformative experience for the organization. Now, under the equity pillar, the focus is more on fostering an environment where all employees have fair and equitable opportunities, right? They're looking for fairness when accessing resources, despite being amongst the majority who may not look like them. I thought it would be salient to use myself as an example here. I've spent much of my life competing with those who don't look like me, and for the listeners here today who may not know, I'm a Black woman of Jamaican descent, and I've always had to be the best and focus on not othering myself. There've been occasions where particular outcomes made me sit back and wonder, "Did I miss this opportunity or was I not selected? Or was I not appropriately rewarded because I don't look like the person that I was being compared against? I've definitely... I'll share a personal story here, walked into interviews where the interviewer was questioning whether I was in fact Tiffany Archer, because they didn't expect me to look- Ben DiPietro: This is true. Tiffany Archer: ... [crosstalk 00:08:52] but true. Sad, but true. But ultimately it shouldn't matter. You look like or what you sound like. The comparison should be on more substantive qualities and merit and what you bring to the table. Lastly, with the I. Inclusion, which is the practice of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized. The goal here is to create an environment where employees feel welcomed as a member of the organization. And that should be the priority. They want to be appreciated and recognized for who they are. And organizations, policies, and procedures should be carefully drafted to ensure that employees have that opportunity to feel that sense of belonging. One of my favorite quotes in this DEI realm is by Verna Myers, where she says diversity is being invited to the party and inclusion is being asked to dance. I like to add that equity would be allowing everyone the opportunity to actually pick the songs. Ben DiPietro: So now that you've laid that out as the framework, what are two things companies can do to improve their D, E, and I programs? How does the company get started on this process? Tiffany Archer: So first and foremost, leadership buy-in is paramount. Without a commitment from an involvement by leadership, employees will question how serious the organization is about undertaking this transformational process. Then secondly, companies have to commit to not applying a one-size-fits all approach or an off the shelf solution to address the myriad of D, E, and I issues that may exist. How does one get started? How does an organization tackle this? Frankly, we could probably have an entire podcast on this topic. But seriously Ben, many companies I'm seeing now they're forming task forces D, E, and I committees, retaining consultants all in an effort to kick off their transformational processes. I think these are helpful solutions, but only so long as that they're tailored for the company and its specific culture and values. Related Article: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cannot Be Just An Internal Intitiative On the topic of culture, I want to highlight Edward Hall's culture, iceberg theory. I'm a huge proponent of his work. He was an anthropologist and a cross-cultural researcher who came up with this theory in 1976, on how you can address organizational culture. It's really quite simple, this theory. Basically, an organizational cultures like an iceberg, a very small portion of the culture, roughly 10% is exposed on the surface, right? Making these areas really easy to identify, and you can address in quick time any sorts of issues or problems you might see. But where the real work and the important cultural data points lie are below the surface. That's around 90%. These include things like cultural beliefs, people's ideas, thought patterns, their unconscious biases. So the real onus is on the D, E, and I team to engage their stakeholders in meaningful discussions, right? Gathering qualitative and quantitative data around behaviors, customs, core values, religious beliefs, and other characteristics. An iceberg model shows that you can't judge a book by its cover or that 10% of the iceberg that's exposed. It's critical that we take the time to get to know and understand our employee base, to uncover their values and beliefs that underlie their behaviors. When you're armed with that information, you're able to stand up meaningful, relevant, and actionable plans to advance an organization's diversity equity and inclusion initiatives. So the big takeaway is digging deeper into the layers of the iceberg will allow the team to learn the challenges and pain points in the diversity equity inclusion program, and begin that longer journey of creating an action plan that specifically meets the needs of the employee population. Ben DiPietro: That sounds like where maybe the board needs to get in. So what role does the board play in folding this discussion and getting deeper down into that iceberg? Tiffany Archer: Well, again, as I said earlier board involvement and commitment and buy-in is key. We need board members to echo the same sentiment and messaging. We need the board to acknowledge that this process may be a long, arduous, challenging process, but we're committed to that process. I think also the board needs to echo the sentiment that it's going to take a lot of work, and despite the obstacles we're going to commit to moving forward. So I think, not only should leadership be doing that but the board should also have an active role in making sure that there's continuous forward progress in connection with these initiatives. Ben DiPietro: Pushing forward all this D, E, and I discussion too has been the support for racial justice that poured out into the streets all over the world last year, after the killings of George Floyd and so many others. What are the next steps to advance this issue from a business perspective and how can organizations help do their part here? Related Article: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cannot Be Just An Internal Intitiative Tiffany Archer: This is a sad topic. These tragic events have put a spotlight on the importance of addressing a long-standing crisis affecting people of color. You know, you raise George Floyd. We all know he died because we watched as an officer kneeled on his neck until he could no longer breathe. Breonna Taylor, another person of color was wrongfully shot dead while asleep inside of her home. Rayshard Brooks, another person of color was shot in the back as he was approaching his vehicle where his children were sitting. These are all circumstances where police officers prioritized power over judgment or procedure. These killings amplified the deaths of people of color at the hands of police and elevated the prominence of racial inequality and disparity in policing. Each of these were victims of racial profiling and they each suffered unjust and untimely deaths. With that, I think it's so very important that we don't allow the passing of these events and individuals to become the passing of an opportunity to proactively address and work towards a solution to this historical problem. As far as how businesses can help, they can play a key part in this by keeping these issues alive in front and center, and at top of mind. Again, we don't want the passing of these events to be a passing of an opportunity. I think they can leverage this opportunity by standing up as ambassadors of change. I would say that the reliance on two key guideposts would be really helpful in this realm. So the first one would be acknowledgment, right? And going back to leadership. It's paramount that leaders, the board, et cetera, are vocal about their commitment to the fight for racial equality, and enterprise-wide messaging would be the first step. Then secondly, action. You have to walk the talk if you truly have any interest in moving the needle. Even if the movement are just small steps, that forward cadence is critical. Related Article: Showing Up: LRN Launches New Anti-Racism Course So I advocate that businesses need to reassure employees that by really doing the work, not just through activities, like issue specific training on unconscious bias or diversity or sensitivity, but also focusing on developing equitable opportunities for growth and advancement, and not penalizing marginalized employees when they speak out. Again, as I said earlier, these will be difficult conversations and change will not happen overnight. But I think the most important thing that organizations need to demonstrate is that they're committed to the cause. Not only from the perspective of what is happening in the streets, but also from the perspective of what's happening within the walls of their offices. Ben DiPietro: Also, I believe they have a role to play in helping to reform police as well. We had an excellent podcast at the beginning of season four, with Florence Chung. [Listen to the episode] She's a member of the Hetty Group. Her job is to make a bridge between communities and police departments and try and rebuild some of that trust. She was talking about how business can be such a great mentor for departments that don't understand how to execute change management and all these things that businesses do very well. So there's a definite tie in and a role for them to play. Tiffany Archer: Yeah, absolutely. Ben DiPietro: The other topic dominating our world is COVID-19. It's obviously having a big impact on companies and their ENC programs and cultures. What have you learned about your program as a result of the pandemic, and what should the focus be on as you move forward? Tiffany Archer: A key theme that has come from this pandemic is the level of resilience our program has demonstrated. I know I'm proud of it, and I'm sure my colleagues would say the same thing. The aviation industry sadly suffered a tremendous blow between the travel bands, reduced flight capacity and routes, people's fear of flying because of COVID protocols. It's really been a challenging time, but nevertheless, our program's commitment to compliance has been unwavering. As I said earlier, compliance is our foundation. We've adapted to this new normal, and we've remained connected to our stakeholders. We make connecting virtually and regularly an absolute priority, and continue to reassure them that we are here to help. We've really tried our best to turn a dark and dreary time into something lighter and more personable and relatable. So for example, we've created a number of communication initiatives. One of which includes vignettes, where we have compliance character avatars work through COVID related or other challenging scenarios that our staff may face during this time. And kind of walk them through how best to deal with the circumstances or challenging decisions that they're confronted with. We've also focused on reminding employees that PAC's culture is rooted in honesty and integrity. There really should be no fear of speaking up if there are any questions, or concerns or something just doesn't feel right. For me personally, I found that the most success is in reminding my stakeholders that I'm a confidant and a business partner. I spoke earlier about not just being the department of no. I really do, do my best to be empathetic, and compassionate, and understanding, that everybody is going through a different circumstance, and one person's challenge might be very different from another's. But it's critical to continue to have these discussions and these dialogues to instill trust. When they trust me, I know that if the need arises, they'll come to talk to me to work things through. My role isn't to be a bottleneck it's to assess the facts, determine how to facilitate the outcome that they're looking for, but in a way that comports with our policies and procedures. Finally, I've spent a lot of time encouraging my stakeholders to consider their mental health, and their self-care regime, and to try to keep their spirits and mental fortitude up. We are all in this together. We are embracing the worst of times. But the key to getting to the other side is going to be through persistence and resilience, and that's the message that I try to communicate regularly. Ben DiPietro: That is such an important topic, and it's going to be with us for years to come I believe as the fallout from all this. Now let me ask you one last question. I want to thank you so much for your time today. This has been so much fun. Tell me about one or two of your mentors who have helped you work your way up in this profession? Then offer a piece of advice to young people, looking for a career in ENC. Tiffany Archer: One key mentor in my life is Marcia Narine Weldon. She went to Columbia University and is also a Harvard Law School grad. She's an attorney and a University of Miami Law School professor. She was formerly a chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel. She's played an integral role in really guiding me towards overcoming imposter syndrome, encouraging me to push past my internal boundaries. To continue to learn, to strive, to grow towards things that maybe I didn't think I was capable of, but because of her push and her encouragement I kind of stepped out and tried to do more. The second part of your question you asked me, one tip I could give younger people who are looking for a career in ethics and compliance? I would say that for those who are looking to foster a culture of compliance and have a successful career in compliance, they need to keep in mind that their emotional quotient trumps their intelligence quotient, or their IQ every time. So you may have gone to the best school, or you may be the smartest person in the room, or have the most experience in a particular industry but if your emotional potion is weak, or if you lack the ability to demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence, and develop strong relationships, and diffusing conflict, and building trust with your teams, all of that may prove to be a very challenging feat. So I would say EQ trumps IQ every time. Ben DiPietro: That's a great way to end. Thank you so much, Tiffany. This was wonderful. I had such a good time talking with you. I look forward to working with you again in the future. Best of luck until then stay safe. Hopefully, we'll see you when we can all come outside and play. Tiffany Archer: Thanks so much, Ben, and same to you. Stay safe and I'll see you on the other side. Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this episode. The Principled Podcast is brought to you by LRN. At LRN, our mission is to inspire Principled Performance in global organizations, by helping them foster winning ethical cultures rooted in sustainable values. Please visit us at lrn.com to learn more. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Don't forget to leave us a review.

The Role of Boards and Compliance with Mike Volkov

The Compliance Handbook

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2021 30:42

The Board's overarching intention is to maintain a company's growth and success by overseeing its affairs while fulfilling its owners and critical parties' appropriate needs. On a case-by-case basis, it is for the Board to judge which participants it treats as 'important' and which of its concerns is necessary to comply with, keeping in view the legislation, the relevant laws, and market considerations. A board of directors does a uniquely challenging range of obligations and obstacles in fulfilling this core objective and often faces a set of contradicting set of priorities. These Pandora's boxes motivated Tom Fox to take a leap and do something to educate and provide valuable resources for board members and those in the same field. In todays' episode of The Compliance Podcast, Tom is joined by the legendary Mike Volkov of the Volkov Law Group. Tune in to the episode as Tom and Mike share a meaningful discussion about the "The Role of Boards and Compliance." Key Takeaways Discussed in the Episode: Be reminded of the crucial roles of the Board as accentuated by Mike Volkov. According to Mike, at all times, the Board should; Promote the goodwill of clients and related stakeholders. Bear the accountability for overseeing the company and its operations through a management structure and entrepreneurial leadership. Be mainly accountable for authorizing the organization's strategic goals and working to ensure that the human and financial capital required to achieve such objectives are made available. Continually evaluates the risk assessment and internal control activities of the organization through the Audit Committee. Recognize any weaknesses or shortcomings to accomplish its ultimate aim. Therefore, the Board is advised to reflect on specific duties that it must or intends to conduct itself and determine if the top leadership can execute further in the correct way. Have you heard of the "High-minded Nondisclosure Route"? If not, tune in to the episode, as this might help when things get rough. Recognize the importance of having a Board of Directors' Compliance Committee and why there should be a Compliance expert on the Board. Hear more about what leads to a successful Board investigation and the compliance metrics a Board should look for. Be informed of recent Board failures in compliance and learn from these failures to not walk on the same path. Explore the promising outcomes of incorporating compliance into long-term Board strategy. Does the Board have a role in hiring? How about in the succession planning for a CCO(Chief Commercial Officer)? YES! The Board plays a crucial role in these organizational decisions. Watch the full show or listen to the podcast if you're interested to know more about these roles. About Thomas Fox: Thomas Fox, the Compliance Evangelist®, is one of the leading writers, thinkers and commentators on anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance. In this latest edition of The Compliance Handbook he continues to arm seasoned compliance professionals, and those new to the realm, with the practical, actionable guidance and tools needed to design, create, implement and continually enhance a best practices compliance program. Understanding Compliance Responsibility Across the Organization The Compliance Handbook also takes a close look at the role of all professionals with compliance responsibility, from Compliance Officers and Boards of Directors, to Human Resources, to Internal Audit and Internal Controls and Communications and Training professionals. Order your copy OR copies of the The Compliance Handbook: A Guide to Operationalizing Your Compliance Program. Save 25% off. http://www.lexisnexis.com/fox25

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Christine Spadafor: Crafting a Career of Impact

The Sydcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2021 56:12

Episode SummaryRaised to believe she could be anything, Christine Spadafor has done almost everything, from competitive ice-skater to Harvard Law School to CEO. And a dozen other pretty cool things too. Which makes her an ideal Sydcast guest! While her deep background in healthcare helped her through her own personal health crisis, it has been her indomitable spirit and intellectual restlessness that has really powered Christine's incredible journey, in this episode of The Sydcast. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein's research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. Christine SpadaforChristine J. Spadafor is an experienced public and private company board director with deep expertise in risk management, regulatory compliance, and ESG. She has a demonstrated track record leading successful large-scale transformational initiatives at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and change management in both domestic and global markets across a broad spectrum of industries. Christine is CEO of SpadaforClay Group, a management consulting firm. She serves as an Independent Director on the boards of highly regulated companies: Chair of Governance and Nominating Committee and member of the audit committee of Boyd Gaming, Chair of Quality and Compliance Committee of Kindred at Home, and she serves on the advisory board WBUR, a premier National Public Radio station. She is also a regular commentator on the BBC World Service “Business Matters” global radio broadcast and podcast. For nearly 10 years, Christine dedicated her extensive experience in financial, operational, and organizational management to St. Judes Ranch for Children — a nationally recognized nonprofit that cares for homeless and abused children — and led an innovative turnaround that received national acclaim. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Public Health, Christine was selected by the Business Section of the American Bar Association/Direct Women as one of the top 20 female attorneys with outstanding expertise for corporate board service. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she co-authored a workplace health treatise that was published by Johns Hopkins University. She is a lecturer on Strategic Leadership in the Visiting Executive Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Business, and is a frequent speaker addressing board governance topics and “Women in Leadership” topics. Christine has been awarded two Doctor of Humane Letters degrees — received in recognition of her professional accomplishments and lifelong contributions to vulnerable and at-risk populations. Insights from this episode:Details on Christine's upbringing that had a solid base in feminism and hard work and lead to her expansive education and accomplishments.Reasons why Christine became a nurse but didn't pursue that career to a doctorate and the winding path that led her to graduate from Harvard Law School.Benefits of having a medical degree as a lawyer and how that influenced Christine's law career.How to recognize and develop your own opportunities and control your success. Difficulties women have and still face in attaining education and career goals and the need for mentors and sponsors to act as your champion.Details on Christine's struggle with a brain tumor to a successful end.Quotes from the show:On her thoughts of life after high school: “It felt as though my head was filled with empty bookshelves and I needed to leave town to go and fill them up.” — Christine Spadafor“I worked in the medical ICU (Intensive Care Unit), which is one of the most meaningful and greatest privileges I've had professionally.” — Christine Spadafor“I was just really intellectually restless … and I still feel it.” — Christine Spadafor“Someone mentioned MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to me in high school and I had no idea what it was and now here I am at MIT.” — Christine Spadafor“While you learned the law in law school, it's different practicing law and really understanding how each of those [law] specialties work.” — Christine SpadaforOn how she became in-house counsel: “It's about creating your own opportunities, not just waiting for that job description to come through.” — Christine SpadaforOn being compensated for your work: “I think another way for ‘payment' is to not only give you the big title but to give you the authority.” — Christine Spadafor“It's a stereotype but backed by data, which is that women are not as aggressive a negotiator as a man, on average, in a corporate setting.” — Syd Finkelstein“When thinking about a sponsor, think about those people who are influential and persuasive and who are well regarded.” — Christine Spadafor“Expecting something, then it doesn't happen, that can take a psychological toll.” — Syd FinkelsteinResources:I Am Woman (2019 Film)RBG (2018 Film) Stay Connected:Syd FinkelsteinWebsite: http://thesydcast.comLinkedIn: Sydney FinkelsteinTwitter: @sydfinkelsteinFacebook: The SydcastInstagram: The SydcastChristine SpadaforWebsite: christinespadafor.comTwitter: @cjspadaforFacebook: Christine SpadaforLinkedIn: Christine SpadaforSubscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Day 5 | The Board and Operationalizing Compliance

Prison Professors With Michael Santos

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2021 7:02

In addition to a company’s senior management, there is a Board of Directors at the top. Yet the role of the Board is different than that of senior management. For the Board of Directors, the 2020 Update stated: Oversight – What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors? Have the board of directors and/or external auditors held executive or private sessions with the compliance and control functions? What types of information have the board of directors and senior management examined in their exercise of oversight in the area in which the misconduct occurred? Having a Board member with specific compliance expertise or heading a Compliance Committee can provide a level of oversight and commitment to achieving this goal. The DOJ enshrined this requirement in the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. This means that when your company is evaluated by the DOJ, under the factors set out in the 2020 Update and FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, to retrospectively determine if your company had a best practices compliance program in place at the time of any violation, you need to have not only the structure of the Board-level Compliance Committee but also the specific subject matter expertise (SME) on the Board and on that committee. Another arm of the US government has recognized the need for such expertise at the Board level. In 2015, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), in a publication entitled “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards”, called for greater compliance expertise at the Board level. The OIG said that a Board can raise its level of substantive expertise with respect to regulatory and compliance matters by adding to the Board a compliance member. The presence of a such a compliance professional with SME “on the board sends a strong message about the organization’s commitment to compliance, provides a valuable resource to other board members and helps the board better fulfill its oversight obligations.” All of this means that every Board of Directors needs a true compliance expert. Almost every Board has a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), former head of Internal Audit or persons with a similar background, and often times these are also the Audit Committee members of the Board. Such a background brings a level of sophistication, training and SME that can help all companies with their financial reporting and other finance-based issues. So why is there not such SME at the Board level from the compliance profession? Three key takeaways: The 2020 Update requires active Board of Director engagement and oversight around compliance Board communication on compliance is a two-way street; both inbound and outbound Does the Board of Directors have a compliance expert?

director office board compliance doj sme oversight operationalizing internal audit audit committee oig practical guidance chief financial officer cfo inspector general oig compliance committee fcpa corporate enforcement policy

158: Compliance Training Systems

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2020 27:47

Establishing a compliance and training system begins with a commitment to transparency. The first step would be to document the company’s story and the value proposition it offers to consumers. The next step would be to write a process map and training schedule. The more detail leaders can bring to the process map, the more they will minimize exposure or vulnerability to a government investigation. Ideally, the process map would include details of every function, including: How the business goes about recruiting staff, How the business organizes its hierarchy of positions, How the business compensates staff members, The roles and responsibilities of each staff position, How the company trains staff members, How the company attracts customers, How the company selects vendors, How the company processes customer orders, and How the company retains records. Documenting the company story should show the company’s good-faith effort to operate in compliance with all regulations and laws. Further, the training should help all stakeholders understand consequences that can follow for those who fail to comply with the company’s policies and procedures. Resources from the Department of Justice and various regulatory agencies show that transparency goes a long way toward protecting the business and the people that build careers in the business. Training will lessen a business’s exposure to charges of fraud, but it can also lessen a company’s risk of becoming a victim of fraud. Our team members at Compliance Mitigation have worked with more than 1,000 people that have been charged with white-collar crimes. Those people claim to have begun careers with the best of intentions. Somehow, circumstances changed for them. As a result, some of them became less vigilant about ethics or morality. Other times, they broke laws without knowing how they were putting themselves and their companies at risk. Good training will lower the company’s risk profile. If that training includes lessons on the consequences of white-collar crime, more people may refrain from making the kinds of decisions that lead to criminal prosecution. Overall Objectives: If done well, compliance training will help everyone in the company get a clear understanding of corporate messaging. With better messaging, everyone on the team should work together to build a more efficient and profitable enterprise. The compliance training should help employees grasp internal rules and regulations critical to their job responsibilities and tasks. A good compliance training program helps a company avoid penalties and even potential lawsuits. Simultaneously, it should improve employee efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction on the job. General Requirements: For a compliance training system to work effectively, the leadership team must commit. If the leaders embrace the organization’s goals and culture, the entire team will be more effective. Leaders should understand the relevant laws and know how to manage risk. Further, they should understand how lowering risk levels can lead to a company’s positive reputation, lessening the potential for penalties or lawsuits. Without good leadership, the company may be vulnerable. The regulatory landscape may change, which could bring further problems. Leaders should give clear guidance with regard to all compliance matters. Besides commitment, the leadership team must implement the training effectively. Our team recommends creating logs to measure the following key objectives of compliance training: Do all staff members understand their compliance responsibilities? Does everyone understand how the compliance program reduces risk? In what ways does the compliance program minimize potential legal liability? How does the compliance program protect the company’s reputation? In what ways does the compliance program encourage integrity in the corporate culture? Compliance training should cover internal regulations as well as external laws. Good leaders will understand the importance of identifying areas at high risk for non-compliance. They would then prioritize resources to document a strategy showing sensible controls. A good compliance system is like a good defense, providing leaders with confidence that they could respond to an investigator’s questions. After covering the high-risk areas, leaders should create systems to show their commitment to good corporate citizenship. For example, the company may develop policies to show the business’s position on: Customer service standards, Anti-harassment, Anti-discrimination, Anti-sexual harassment, Conflicts of interest, Code of ethical conduct, Client confidentiality, Health and safety issues, Reporting protocols, and Issues particular to the business’s industry. We encourage leaders to bring the training to life with human stories and interactive exercises. The business may build a stronger case of showing its commitment to compliance by designing quizzes that measure what each participant learned. By making those participant responses a part of each employee’s file, the company can build a stronger case of its commitment to compliance. When employees earn their livelihoods from contacting clients over the phone, for example, leaders may want to include training exercises that profile dangers associated with the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Do Not Call List. The FTC regularly brings cases against small, medium, and large organizations if their investigations reveal a violation of FTC rules. The FTC’s website highlights how those investigations have led to injunctions, fines, asset freezes, and massive judgments against business leaders that profess ignorance of how they were violating rules, regulations, or laws. Consider the FTC case against Sanctuary Belize. In that case, a real estate developer used television commercials to advertise a 14,000-acre community in Belize. The commercials attracted viewers with images of crystal-clear water, palm trees, and white-sandy beaches. Those commercials induced people to visit the company’s website. The website brought attention to what the developer called “a world-class marina” and other amenities at the project. Consumers that wanted to learn more would fill out a lead-capture form on the website, expressing interest in speaking with one of the developer’s sales reps. Telemarketers would contact the prospective buyers to schedule appointments. They would show a computer screenshare of the property and respond to questions from the consumers. If the consumer expressed interest, the telemarketer would coordinate a tour of the property in Belize. When consumers saw the property in Belize, they would make a decision on whether to purchase property in the development. Using that technique, the developer entered into contracts with consumers, selling more than 1,000 homesites in his massive development. Sales surpassed $100 million. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation, conducting an undercover call with the developer. Investigators at the FTC went through the entire telemarketing pitch. Although they never visited the property in Belize, they built a case to accuse the developer of deceiving consumers. The FTC alleged that developer deceived consumers with coordinated misrepresentations. As a result of those charges, investigators from FTC stormed the developer’s offices in Irvine, California. They seized computer records, all scripts, and other evidence to build a case. They began an investigation that turned telemarketers, managers, and leaders into either witnesses, subjects, or targets of their investigation. A lawsuit in federal court resulted in an asset freeze. Litigation expenses soared to several million dollars. In the end, a federal court issued a judgment in excess of $100 million. Further, the court placed enormous sanctions on the defendants, placing an earning cap of $5,000 per month on certain defendants; that earning cap would last a lifetime, or until the FTC fully recovered the full $100+ million judgment. Had the company made a bigger investment in documenting the story, as well as its commitment to compliance training, the company’s leaders may have had a better defense against FTC allegations that they were operating a scam. Regular Training: Regular training represents another key component to an effective compliance program. If the program does not offer regular training, it will not move the needle in arguing for leniency or non-prosecution agreements in a government investigation. The company must show a true commitment to building a culture of truth, honesty, and transparency. A good online system that makes all of the training material easily accessible would show such a commitment to compliance. Some training programs may require interactive exercises, while others may require independent learning. All compliance programs should have a takeaway, showing that participants are learning. When companies build records of compliance training, they protect the enterprise, the leaders, and the entire team. Each component of the compliance training program should include a designated person, or responsible party. That person should have the appropriate training to oversee compliance. For example, the person in charge of training telemarketers should show fluency with the FTC Act and the Do Not Call List.They should be able to show how and why the company trains all team members to comply with such rules. It’s important to ensure that all employees have an opportunity to speak with a responsible party. The company must be able to tell a story demonstrating the investment it made to operate in accordance with all regulations and laws. Regular Analysis: With changes in the regulatory landscape, an enterprise must show a concerted effort to stay on top of changes in laws and regulations and a pattern of continuously analyzing the effectiveness of its compliance or training program. Leaders should record every change, showing the company’s commitment to excellence. By documenting best practices, the company goes a long way toward building credibility with investigators. Some useful tools to demonstrate a willingness to analyze and improve may include: Confidential performance reviews from immediate superiors, Confidential performance reviews from subordinates, Randomized peer reviews, Quarterly reviews by senior management, Periodic company-wide town halls to discuss the general direction of the company and important corporate developments, Management accessibility via internal email, and Documented strategies for internal corporate communications. An effective compliance program will show a company’s commitment to do the right thing all the time, leading to more confidence that the enterprise can withstand an inquiry by investigators. Regulators look favorably upon such programs. By enacting steps to analyze and improve compliance policies, leaders show that they are not running the company by the seat-of-their pants, and that they’re not engaging in willful blindness that can lead to charges of criminal negligence. Case Study: Members of our team at Compliance Mitigation served time alongside thousands of other people who were convicted of white-collar crimes. We knew one person who owned a brokerage firm that specialized in trading bonds. As the company grew, the owner began to delegate responsibilities for day-to-day trading activities. Instead of overseeing trades, the owner focused on bringing in more capital. That strategy would have been fine, provided that the owner created well-documented and vetted compliance systems. Sadly, the owner did not. Changing market conditions resulted in one of the lead traders making a series of unprofitable transactions. The trader then launched a series of events to cover up his decisions. When markets went against him, he lost more money than authorized, resulting in a margin call. The owner said that he was not aware of the losses, and he lacked the capital to meet the margin call. Chaos ensued, leading to a flash crash and obliterating the company’s entire portfolio. The owner of the bond trading firm lost everything. A government investigation followed. Prosecutors brought charges against many people, including the owner for his criminal negligence in failing to supervise employees. After a guilty verdict, a judge sentenced the owner to serve a prison term of longer than 10 years and saddled him with a restitution order measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Our team at Compliance Mitigation cannot vouch for the validity of what the owner told us—after all, we met him inside of a federal prison. On the other hand, we can say that if he had devised a better compliance system, he would have had a stronger defense against the charges that the government brought against him. Elements of an Effective Compliance Program: Like a three-legged stool, in order to stand, an effective compliance program should have three components: The program should be clear with its objectives, communicating a commitment to compliance for all members of the enterprise; It should show a commitment to transparency; and It should include training on well-documented written policies, procedures, and standards of conduct. Having clear written policies and procedures in place that describe compliance expectations fosters uniformity within the company. Without all three components, the compliance program will not serve much purpose in protecting the leaders or members of the enterprise. A clear authority figure should oversee the compliance program, and the person in that role should have appropriate training for oversight. That person must accept responsibility for staff training and demonstrate a good-faith effort to ensure every person in the enterprise understands the purpose behind every policy. Some compliance training will be basic, essential for all new hires. Other training modules may require monthly or even daily accountability logs. A good system will encourage two-way communication throughout the organization. All team members should express confidence that the organization will consider their ideas for improvement. If the organization is willing to listen to concerns, the company can strengthen its defense of its commitment to act as a good corporate citizen. All compliance training should include steps to document how the responsible person within the company monitors and audits compliance. A robust monitoring and auditing system may induce all company representatives to comply and shows corporate commitment to doing the right thing. Such tactics should: Lessen the company’s exposure to risks, Contribute to more efficient operations, Improve corporate messaging, Heighten each team member’s awareness of the dangers of government investigations, and Offer more insight to the risk levels associated with white-collar crime. Corporate leadership must have the courage to be swift and certain when it comes to discipline. Sometimes, such a commitment can lead to an ethical dilemma. If a person serves in a leadership role and has a history of being a rainmaker for the company, owners may be reluctant to discipline the individual for noncompliance. Yet if the rainmaker undermines the enterprise’s commitment to compliance, the level of risk increases, often well in excess of the perceived benefit of the business generated by such rainmaker. Again, leaders protect a company with well-documented commitments to transparency. If a team member fails to comply with program requirements, a clear record should show the appropriate corporate response. When a company identifies vulnerabilities or violations through monitoring and auditing, management must take timely, consistent action to correct the issue. No company can implement a compliance program expecting to have considered all possibilities. We never know what we don’t know. For this reason, leaders within the enterprise should build a record of analyzing corporate compliance and making improvements when necessary. How to Best Articulate a Company’s Compliance Program: Google caught the world’s attention with its simple corporate motto: “Don’t do evil.” Since then, it’s become the target of several government investigations. A company strengthens itself when it clarifies the corporate mission, then builds a compliance program that reflects a commitment to the mission. To that end, a company should establish and maintain a culture that promotes: Quality and efficiency, High standards of ethical and business conduct, The effective operation of the business, High-standard maintenance of customer, client and vendor relationships, and The prevention, detection and resolution of conduct that does not conform to the company’s standards and policies and applicable law. A commitment to compliance should reflect those qualities above. It should apply to all company personnel equally, including but not limited to senior management, administration, personnel, ongoing contractors and all full-time and part-time employees of an organization. All company programs should include elements that reflect best practices, including: Written standards, policies and procedures to promote the company’s commitment to compliance with its own proscribed code of corporate conduct, applicable laws and regulations, Designation of an employee as the Compliance Officer (at least, as a part of the employee’s overall job description) or the hiring of a full-time Compliance Officer charged, with the responsibility of implementing and monitoring the Compliance Program, Designation of a Compliance Committee, if the corporate size warrants, Regular, effective education and training programs for all personnel as appropriate to their functions, A process to receive complaints concerning possible Compliance Program violations, procedures to protect the anonymity of complainants to the extent possible, and policies that protect complainants from retaliation, Granting the Compliance Officer and/or the Compliance Committee, as the case may be, sufficient authority to investigate, report and make recommendations directly to senior management and the Board of Directors regarding any irregularities and all findings, A process to respond to allegations of improper activities and the enforcement of appropriate disciplinary action against personnel who have violated policies, laws, regulations, or program requirements, Periodic audits or other methods to monitor compliance and assist in the reduction of problems in any identified areas, A process for investigating and resolving any identified problems, after investigation, report and recommendation by the Compliance Officer and/or Compliance Committee, as the case may be, and A document stating the foregoing points that all stakeholders sign, including a member of senior management, the Compliance Officer and the employee, either upon initial implementation of the program or upon the hiring of any new employee. The company’s compliance program should grow stronger and more effective over time, becoming an integral part of the corporate culture. When company leaders fail to implement a compliance or training program, they expose themselves and their team members to higher levels of risk. As stated at the start of this module, the company should create an accurate organizational chart, defining excellence within each role of the organization. Such an organizational chart should become a part of the enterprise process map, illustrating the functions and responsibilities of every role. For example, the organizational chart should articulate the role of senior executives, showing responsibility for: Evaluating risks that result from non-compliance with rules and regulations, Approving and supporting the compliance program, and Overseeing the performance of the compliance program to reduce risk. The chart should show who bears responsibility to train on: Compliance with laws and regulations, Regulatory requirements of each functionary within the organization, The company’s internal rules and codes of conduct, and How the company works to remediate weaknesses and prevent violations. The Compliance Officer/Committee should accept responsibility for: Coordinating audits and examinations in connections with laws, regulations and corporate rules and codes of conduct, Acting in an advisory capacity on the company’s policies and procedures, Monitoring corporate transactions, functions, events and internal systems seeking violations and to uphold the integrity of the organization, and Communicating issues to Senior Management and the Board of Directors. Employees should acknowledge responsibility for: Acknowledging that they’ve been trained in the compliance program, Acting in accordance with the company’s compliance program, Partaking and engaging in all of the company’s compliance program activities, Reporting any violations of the company’s compliance program to either a direct manager or the Compliance Officer/Committee, confidentially or otherwise, as the case may be. As a living, breathing entity, the enterprise should maintain the compliance program to protect against disruptions from litigation and government investigations, as well as to show a commitment to professionalizing the business. An effective program would demonstrate how the company pursues excellence, which leads to more success for all team members.

Evaluation and Management Code Changes Coming

Talking Sleep

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2020 25:02

In the year's final episode of Talking Sleep, Dr. Asha Singh of the AASM Coding and Compliance Committee highlights changes to evaluation and management codes coming in 2021. Providers and office staff need to be aware of the updates, which include options to bill based on total time or medical decision-making. AASM members also can view this free E/M coding webinar for more information.

management code evaluation providers changes coming aasm compliance committee

The Florida Registered Paralegal: A Valuable Firm Asset

The Florida Bar's LegalFuel Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2020 48:18

Back in 2006 when the idea of a Florida Registered Paralegal program was being considered, Judge Ross Goodman who was chair of the Special Committee to Study Paralegal Regulation stated “I think lawyers are going to realize the benefits of having this program is that they are going to have better trained paralegals; they are going to be able to identify the better paralegals in the hiring process; and the paralegals that they do have are going to get continuing education that is going to be a benefit to the lawyers and the law firms.” In this episode hosts Christine Bilbrey and Karla Eckardt speak with CEO of Law Office Support Services and Chair of the Florida Registered Paralegal Enrichment Committee, Margo Valenti about what is required for a paralegal to become an FRP and the real value an FRP can bring to your firm. Margo Valenti is the Founder and CEO of Law Office Support Services: a virtual paralegal and legal support service for Solo Practitioners and Small Firms, and proud Member Benefits Provider for the Florida Bar. During a career that spans 30 years, Margo has held numerous positions with well-established law firms; from humble beginnings as a legal assistant trainee, to attaining Florida Bar Registered Paralegal status at the program's inception, to serving in the all-encompassing role of law firm administrator. Margo's last post before starting her own company was as a Senior Member of an IPO team charged with taking companies public on the New York Stock Exchange. Margo holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida. Margo has had the honor of serving as the Vice-chair for The Florida Bar's newly formed FRP Enrichment Committee in 2019, as the Chair of its Communication Subcommittee. Currently, Margo serves as the Chair of the FRP Enrichment Committee. REFERENCED RESOURCES: Florida Registered Paralegal Program A Florida Registered Paralegal (FRP) is a paralegal who has met the education, training, certification and work experience required for voluntary registration as set forth in Chapter 20 of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. The Florida Registered Paralegal Eligibility and Compliance Committee is charged with assisting in the implementation and administration of the Florida Registered Paralegal program. The Florida Registered Paralegal Enrichment Committee is charged with developing education programming, creating networking and social events to foster camaraderie among FRPs, and raising awareness of the FRP program and the benefits of FRP membership. Law Office Support Services is a virtual paralegal and legal assistant subscription service that is designed around the specific needs of your practice. Whether working in your practice management software or on our team site, our time is tracked incrementally, and narratives of the work that we have performed are provided monthly for billing directly to your clients. Law Office Support Services is an approved Florida Bar Member Benefit.This podcast has been approved by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Department for 1 hour of General CLE Credit. Course #4331.

Episode 223 – the FinCen Papers edition

This Week in FCPA

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2020 32:02

As the ICIJ releases some 2100 SARs from FinCen detailing over $2 trillion in illegal banking activity, the fires in California, Oregon and Washington finally abate. Tom and Jay are back to look at top compliance articles and stories which caught their eye this week. The FinCen Papers. Banks and SARs. (NYT) HSBC allowed Ponzi scheme. (BBC) Cache of FinCen docs made public. (BBC) Aaron Nicodemus says it puts compliance in a bad light in Compliance Week (Sub Req’d). Martin Woods on the breach of trust in Compliance Week (Sub Req’d). Jaclyn Jaeger says look at the banks, In Compliance Week (Sub req’d). Matt Kelly weighs in on Radical Compliance. More data analytics tools for compliance. Dylan Tokar in the WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal. What makes a ‘Great Woman in Compliance’. Mary Shirley reports on her journey as co-host of #GWIC in CCI. What does doing more with less mean for compliance? Matthew McFillin and Amanda Rigby in the FCPA Blog. What are the 7 sins of ESG Management? FTI in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. The largest AML case in Hong Kong history. Jon Rausch in Dipping Through Geometries. Oil trader cops to FCPA violation. Harry Cassin breaks the story on the FCPA Blog Why the Board needs a separate Compliance Committee. Mike Volkov in Corruption Crime and Compliance. This month on The Compliance Life, I am joined by DeAnna Nwankwo. In this week’s Part 3, DeAnna talks about building trust as a CCO. On the Compliance Podcast Network, on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, this month focuses on internal controls. This week saw the following offerings: Monday- Objective I; Tuesday- Objective II;Wednesday- Objective III; Thursday- Objective IV; and Friday- Objective 5. Note 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program now has its own iTunes channel. If you want to binge out and listen to only these episodes, click here. Join Jay and Tom at Converge20. Convercent’s top compliance conference is going virtual this year. Check at the agenda and register here. Join K2 Intelligence FIN, on September 30 for a webinar with the AIBACP, "Strategies for Surviving an Offsite Regulatory Examination," featuring Koby Bambilia, K2 FIN Managing Director, and a panel of experts, from banks to regulators. Registration and information here. Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

california strategy washington board oregon surviving hong kong banks oil compliance monitor papers sars ponzi cco aml corporate governance fincen fcpa icij great woman jay rosen compliance podcast network compliance committee convercent compliance evangelist mary shirley mike volkov

COSO Objective I: Control Environment

director board environment commitment principles principle reporting attracting structures objective sox coso compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2020 10:18

The first of the five objectives is control environment and it sets the tone for the implementation and operation of all other components of internal control. It begins with the ethical commitment of senior management, oversight by those in governance, and a commitment to competent employees. The five principles of the control environment object are as follows: Principle 1: Commitment to integrity and ethical values. Principle 2: Board independence and oversight. Principle 3: Structures, reporting lines, authority and responsibility. Principle 4: Attracting, developing and retaining competent individuals. Principle 5: individuals held accountable. Discussion. Both Board of Directors’ independence and Compliance Committee (or other applicable committee) oversight are essential to this objective because the committee needs to be actively engaged to be comfortable that the company has implemented the internal controls under SOX 404(a); as required under Principles 1 and 2. Under Principle 3, structures in reporting lines, authority and responsibility are essential to the recognition of revenue. Under Principle 4, a business must attract and develop, then retaining competent talent. This ties into Principle 5, which mandates individuals being held responsible. This requires someone to document that they have made a judgment based upon the evidence that they have been able to accumulate, that the company has analyzed that evidence and has gone through the process of comparing this to the COSO 2013 Internal Controls Framework and to the spirit of the standard. Three key takeaways: What controls do you have in place to measure conduct at the top? Reporting lines must be clear and functioning. You must provide the right personnel with the right resources.

Twenty questions directors should ask about its Compliance Committee

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2020 9:28

In an area of inquiry entitled Oversight, the 2020 Update asks three basic questions which we have explored throughout this chapter: What compliance expertise has been available on the Board of Directors? Have the Board of Directors held executive or private sessions with the compliance function? What types of information has the Board of Directors examined in their exercise of oversight in the area in which the misconduct occurred? To facilitate the answers to these questions, consider this list of 20 questions to reflect the oversight role of directors. These are questions the Board should ask of both senior management and the Board should ask itself. The questions are not intended to be an exact checklist, but rather a way to provide insight and stimulate discussion on the topic of compliance. The questions provide directors with a basis for critically assessing the answers they get and digging deeper as necessary. Although the questions apply to most medium to large organizations, the answers will vary according to the size, complexity and sophistication of each individual organization. Three key takeaways: The DOJ Evaluation requires active Board of Director engagement around compliance. Board communication on compliance is a two-way street; both inbound and outbound. Has the Board built an effective Compliance Committee for itself?

director board twenty questions compliance committee doj evaluation

Inquiring up and down

ceo director board cco inquiring audit committee fcpa compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2020 7:50

Where does “tone at the top” start? With any public and most private U.S. companies, it is at the Board of Directors. But what is the role of a company’s Board in compliance? First a Board should not engage in management but should engage in oversight of a CEO and senior management. The Board does this through asking hard questions, risk assessment and identification. Initially it must be important that the Board receive direct access to such information on a company’s policies on this issue. The Board must have quarterly or semi-annual reports from a company’s CCO to either the Audit Committee or the Compliance Committee. Every Board should create a Compliance Committee to deal with compliance issues, as an Audit Committee may more appropriately deal with financial audit issues. A Board Compliance Committee can devote itself exclusively to non-financial compliance. The Board’s oversight role should be to receive such regular reports on the structure of the company’s compliance program, its actions and self-evaluations. From this information the Board can give oversight to any modifications to managing FCPA risk that should be implemented. CCO reporting to the Compliance Committee must be structured carefully to promote ethics and compliance. Three key takeaways: A Board Compliance Committee should provide oversight not management. A CCO should use multiple reports to communicate with the Board Compliance Committee. Board Compliance Committee oversight makes companies more efficient and at the end of the day more profitable.

OIG Guidance for Boards Regarding Compliance

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2020 11:38

The OIG white paper “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight” (OIG Guidance), provides an excellent road map for thinking about how to structure a Compliance Committee for your Board and a Board’s obligations. As an introduction, the OIG Guidance states that a Board must act in good faith around its obligations regarding compliance. This means that there must be both a corporation information and reporting system and that such reporting mechanisms provide appropriate information to a Board. It states: The existence of a corporate reporting system is a key compliance program element, which not only keeps the Board informed of the activities of the organization, but also enables an organization to evaluate and respond to issues of potentially illegal or otherwise inappropriate activity. The OIG Guidance sets out four areas of Board oversight and review of a compliance function: Roles of, and relationships between, the organization’s audit, compliance, and legal departments; Mechanism and process for issue-reporting within an organization; Approach to identifying regulatory risk; and Methods of encouraging enterprise-wide accountability for achievement of compliance goals and objectives. The OIG Guidance is an excellent review for not only compliance professionals and others in the healthcare industry but a good primer for Boards around their own duties under a best practices compliance program. The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program, the OIG Guidance, and OIG Corporate Integrity Agreements can be used as baseline assessment tools for Boards and management in determining what specific functions may be necessary to meet the requirements of an effective compliance program. Three key takeaways: Information flow up to the Board is critical. Compliance should be institutionalized in your company as a way of life. A Board needs to consider all risks. This month's sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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Compliance expertise on the Board

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2020 11:30

Every Board of Directors need a true compliance expert sitting at the table. Almost every Board has a former CFO, former head of Internal Audit or persons with a similar background and often times these are also the Audit Committee members of the Board. Such a background brings a level of sophistication, training and SME that can help all companies with their financial reporting and other finance-based issues. So why is there not such compliance SME at the Board level? This requirement was set out in 2017 in the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, where one of the criteria to be evaluated in compliance program is “the availability of compliance expertise to the board;”. Finally, in the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, under the section entitled Oversight, it posed the following questions What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors? The DOJ and Securities and Exchange Commission brought this concept forward into the FCPA Resource Guide, 2ndedition. This means that when your company is evaluated by the DOJ, under the factors set out in the 2020 Update and the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, to retrospectively determine if your company had a best practices compliance program in place at the time of any violation, you need to have not only the structure of the Board-level Compliance Committee but also the specific SME on the Board and on that committee. Three key takeaways: Boards must have compliance expertise. Government regulators and shareholder groups have both called for greater compliance expertise at the Board. Compliance expertise at the Board works up and down as such expertise can be a resource to both the CCO and Compliance Department. This month's sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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BOD Compliance Committee

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2020 11:20

Under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the Board must exercise reasonable oversight on the effectiveness of a company’s compliance program. The DOJ Prosecution Standards posed the following queries: 1) Do the directors exercise independent review of a company’s compliance program? and 2) Are directors provided information sufficient to enable the exercise of independent judgment? Moreover, the FCPA Resource Guide, 2nd edition required a CCO to have direct access to the Board or an appropriate sub-committee and requires a tangible commitment from the top levels of an organization, starting with the Board of Directors, that the company creates an ethical culture. This requirement was brought forward in 2017 in the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. Finally, nn the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, under the section entitled Oversight, it posed the following questions What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors? Have the board of directors and/or external auditors held executive or private sessions with the compliance and control functions? Today’s regulatory climate and hyper-transparency in social media make a Board Compliance Committee’s task seem Herculean. But more than simply the regulatory climate, shareholders are taking a much more active role in asserting their rights against Boards of Directors. It is incumbent that Boards seek out and obtain sufficient information to fulfill their legal obligations and keep their company off the front page of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or Financial Times, just to name a few, to prevent serious reputational damage. A Board Compliance Committee is a good place to start. Three key takeaways: The Board Compliance Committee exists to provide oversight and assist the CCO, not to substitute its judgment for that of the CCO. The Board Compliance Committee should work to hold the CCO accountable to hit appropriate metrics. The Board Compliance Committee is ideal for leading the efforts around strategic planning. This month's sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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Prudent discharge of compliance obligations

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2020 11:27

What are the obligations of a Board member regarding the FCPA? Are the obligations of the Compliance Committee under the FCPA at odds with a director’s “prudent discharge of duties to shareholders”? Do the words prudent discharge even appear anywhere in the FCPA? In the the case of Stone v. Ritter is found the proposition that “a duty to attempt in good faith to assure that a corporate information and reporting system, which the board concludes is adequate exists.” From the case of In re Walt Disney Company Derivative Litigation, she drew the principle that directors should follow the best practices in the area of ethics and compliance. The Board has the role of monitoring the performance of the compliance function, including monitoring the performance of it using customary economic metrics, and by overseeing compliance with applicable laws and regulations. While the Board is not responsible for auditing or ferreting out compliance problems, it is responsible for determining that the company has an appropriate system of internal controls. The Board should also monitor company policies and practices that address compliance and matters affecting the public perception and reputation of the company. Every company should ensure that it conducts appropriate compliance training for employees and conducts regular compliance assessments. Finally, the Board must take appropriate action if and when it becomes aware of a material problem that it believes management is not properly handling. There is no reference to prudent discharge in the FCPA itself. However, a Board member might well think more than twice about the prudent discharge of duties to the shareholders as both the DOJ and SEC now might well wish to look into a Board’s prudent discharge of duties under the FCPA. Three key takeaways: What is prudent discharge? What is your process for doing compliance at the Board level? A Board must have active rather than passive engagement around compliance. This month's sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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The Investigation protocol

director board consistency investigation protocol legal department compliance committee compliance department

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2020 8:04

Under Part 1, Section D. Confidential Reporting Structure and Investigation Process, it stated in part, Properly Scoped Investigation by Qualified Personnel –What steps does the company take to ensure investigations are independent, objective, appropriately conducted, and properly documented? Your company should have a detailed written procedure for handling any complaint or allegation of bribery or corruption, regardless of the means through which it is communicated. The mechanism could include the internal company hotline, anonymous tips, or a report directly from the business unit involved. You can make the decision on whether or not to investigate with consultation with other groups such as the Compliance Committee of the Board of Directors or the Legal Department. The head of the business unit in which the claim arose may also be notified that an allegation has been made and that the Compliance Department will be handling the matter on a go-forward basis. Through the use of such a detailed written procedure, you can work to ensure there is complete transparency on the rights and obligations of all parties once an allegation is made. This allows compliance to have not only the flexibility but also the responsibility to deal with such matters, from which it can best assess and then decide on how to manage the matter. Three key takeaways: A written protocol, created before an investigation, is a key starting point. Create specific steps to follow so there will be full transparency and documentation going forward. Consistency in approach is critical.

Mayors for Tech Justice with Newport News Mayor McKinley Price (Ep. 233)

WashingTECH Tech Policy Podcast with Joe Miller

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2020 24:28

Bio McKinley L. Price is President of the African American Mayors Association and Mayor of Newport News, Virginia. He is a native of Newport News, Virginia. He graduated from Huntington High School in 1967 and then received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia, in 1971. McKinley was honorably discharged from the United States Army in 1972 as 1st Lt. In 1976, he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and performed his general anesthesia residency at Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Price has received numerous honors and awards from various professional associations. In 1989, he was elected by his peers as President of the Peninsula Dental Society; he was the first black president of this organization. He was also named "Dentist of the Year" by the Old Dominion Dental Society. Dr. Price is a Fellow in the Virginia Dental Association, the American College of Dentists, and the International College of Dentists. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Delta Dental of Virginia, serving on the Audit and Compliance Committee and Dental Policy Advisory Committee. Dr. Price’s community service was highlighted by his being appointed chair of the Newport News School Board for two years, during his eight years of service, from 1984-1992. In 1994, Dr. Price received the President’s Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Peninsula Chapter of 100 Black Men and in 1996 he received the Presidential Citizenship Award from Hampton University. The Peninsula Chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice presented him with their Humanitarian Award in 1996. In 1998, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated honored him as Citizen of the Year during the Mid-Atlantic 44th Annual Regional Conference. The Daily Press Newspaper awarded him “Citizen of the Year” for 2005, which highlighted his Co-Chairmanship of the organization People to People whose mission is to improve race relations and the quality of life in Newport News. It also commended him for being a founding member of the Virginia Peninsula Chapter of 100 Black Men. They recognized him as the Role Model of the Year in April 2011. Thomas Nelson Community College awarded him their TNCC Medallion Award during commencement exercises in May 2011. The Price Family was the Honored Family during the 2010 Hampton University’s Black Family Conference and he was the Founder’s Day speaker at Hampton in 2011. In addition to the commitment he makes to his professional activities and meeting the demands a successful dental practice, Dr. Price devotes untiring energy and time to the Hampton and Newport News community. He has served as Chairman of the Board for Riverside Health System Foundation, Vice Chair of the Riverside Health System Board, and Immediate Past Chairman of the Thomas Nelson Community College Board. He was also appointed to the Newport News City Council for a five month period in 2004. In addition, Dr. Price was appointed by Governor Warner to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Board. In May 2010, he was elected Mayor of the City of Newport News. He becomes the first black elected as mayor of Newport News. The term is four years. Dr. Price is a member of the First Church of Newport News (Baptist), a church founded by his great-great-grandfather. He is married to Valerie Scott Price. She is a retired educator having taught for 30 years, most of which were in the Newport News Public School System. They have two adult children and one grandson: McKinley II, DDS, an Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon, he and his wife Amy and their son live in Brooklyn, NY; and Marcia, a Delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 95th District. Resources McKinley Price, The Need for Equitable Health Care Amid COVID-19, Governing, 2020, https://www.governing.com/now/The-Need-for-Equitable-Health-Care-Amid-COVID-19.html(last visited Jun 7, 2020). Home, Ourmayors.org (2020), https://www.ourmayors.org/Home (last visited Jun 7, 2020). COVID-19 Resources, Ourmayors.org (2020), https://www.ourmayors.org/Resources/COVID-19-Resources (last visited Jun 7, 2020). News Roundup Despite threats from White House, social media companies crack down on misinformation Despite president Trump’s continued claims that Silicon Valley, and social media companies in particular, harbor an anti-conservative bias, social media companies have stepped up their efforts to prevent a repeat performance of the 2016 election during which misinformation and state-sponsored propaganda ran rampant, often in favor of Trump’s presidency, according to the Mueller report and several other sources. On Monday night, after a day of employee virtual walkouts at the company in response to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence on leaving up posts that contain misinformation, civil right leaders met with Zuckerberg via videocall and things did not go well. Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights President Vanita Gupta, NAACP Legal Defense Fund head Sherrilyn Ifill, and Color of Change Executive Director Rashad Robinson issued a statement following the meeting stating that Zuckerberg “did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump's call for violence against protesters. Mark is setting a very dangerous precedent for other voices who would say similar harmful things on Facebook.” Zuckerberg followed up with a company memo on Friday saying the social media giant was again in the process of reviewing its policies related to discussions about police brutality and voter suppression. Before Zuckerberg’s announcement, the company had already begun making the public aware of foreign interference on the platform by labeling state-sponsored posts. Following the meeting with civil rights leaders and Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement, Facebook, citing copyright concerns, removed a campaign video in which the president appeared to pay tribute to George Floyd. The company cited copyright concerns for taking down the video, after it had received complaints from the artist who’d created some of the artwork featured in the video. Twitter had also removed the video, which the White House called an illegal escalation – Twitter denied that removing the video was illegal and also cited to the president’s use of copyrighted material. Facebook also removed some 200 accounts associated with white supremacy groups last week. The company also removed fake antifa accounts, according to Reuters. Over at Reddit, some subreddit pages went dark in protest over the company’s hate speech policy, which leans heavily in favor of free speech. The protest culminated in Reddit Co-Founder Alex Ohanian’s resignation from the board and calling for his seat to be filled by an African-American board member. Ohanian also indicated that he would be donating $1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp and investing future gains on his stock in the black community. Also, on Wednesday, Snapchat announced that it would no longer promote President Trump’s account due to the president’s promotion of violence during protests over the weekend before last. Finally, the Center for Democracy and Technology sued the White House in the DC Circuit last week over the president’s executive order directing the independent Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to work together, along with the Department of Commerce, to curtail enforcement of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The president issued the order after Twitter flagged one of the president’s tweets as misleading, and a tweet in which the president criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order to allow mail-in ballots. Elon Musk calls for Amazon break-up Elon Musk took to Twitter calling for a break-up of Amazon, which he labelled a monopoly. The tweet came in response to a tweet by a New York Times reporter who’d written that Amazon had rejected his new book about COVID-19 on the grounds that it didn’t meet Amazon’s guidelines. Amazon has since stated that it removed the book in error. TikTok pledges to amplify black creators TikTok pledged to amplify black creators last week amidst criticism that it censored and suppressed content posted by blacks. The company stated that it would form a creator diversity council and a handful of other initiatives to address these concerns. The company also participated in the music industry-led “Blackout Tuesday” during which the company shut down its Sounds page. It also announced that it would invest $3 million in organizations that work to address black inequality (although the company didn’t mention which organizations it plans to invest in). Senators criticize AT&T on zero-rating In a letter to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Senators Ed Markey and Ron Wyden criticized AT&T for zero-rating its own content on HBO. Zero-rating is the industry jargon used to describe the anticompetitive practice in which carriers count the use of competing platforms against their customers’ data limits but not their own content, in this case HBO, which AT&T acquired in 2018, along with HBO’s parent company WarnerMedia. The Senators set a response deadline of June 25th. Zoom announces end-to-end encryption for paying subscribers only Videoconference platform Zoom announced that it would be introducing end-to-end encryption, but only for paying subscribers. The company says doing so will allow it to work with the FBI to identify child pornographers and sex traffickers. However, Zoom made no reference to any evidence correlating free usership to the distribution of illegal content at a rate that exceeds the that of paid subscribers. California assembly introduces facial recognition bill The California Assembly is now considering a bill that would allow the State of California to conduct surveillance using facial recognition technology, if it gives notice ahead of time. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is opposing the measure on the grounds that it undercuts limitations on the use of facial recognition technology which are already in place in some local areas including San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. Denver cop fired for inciting a riot over Instagram during George Floyd protests Tommy McClay, a former police officer in Denver posed with two other cops for an Instagram photo for which he wrote “let’s start a riot”. That night, Denver police used tear gas and foam bullets against protesters, according to Ars Technica. The Denver Police Department fired McClay for the post. McClay was a brand new recruit—just 9 months out of the police academy—and so still subject to the initial probationary period of his tenure there. But one civil rights leader in Denver told Ars that the Denver Police Department has a high rate of re-hiring officers who were previously fired.

covid-19 director amazon california founders community tiktok president donald trump education technology washington state san francisco new york times doctors zoom tech home ny board elon musk arts price bachelor hbo african americans white house george floyd fbi maryland mayors color baltimore silicon valley reddit citizens commerce fellow democracy snapchat oakland senators mark zuckerberg biology berkeley civil colin kaepernick lt northern california att dentists audit oral delegates policing mueller gavin newsom reuters vice chair american colleges black men hampton howard university united states army role model incorporated news roundup federal trade commission governing ars warnermedia mid atlantic dds national conference leadership conference first church hampton university american civil liberties union federal communications commission blackout tuesday ars technica newport news alpha kappa alpha sorority communications decency act virginia house naacp legal defense fund ron wyden humanitarian award video conference international college california assembly delta dental dc circuit sherrilyn ifill ohanian denver police department know your rights camp aama maxillofacial hampton institute compliance committee huntington high school provident hospital dental surgery degree thomas nelson community college at t ceo randall stephenson

Ellen Hunt on Sitting in the CCO Chair

The Compliance Life

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2020 14:05

The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. This month, I visit with Ellen Hunt, Senior Vice President - Audit, Ethics & Compliance Officer. Ellen is a lawyer, ethics & compliance professional, and chief audit executive. She has extensive management experience in designing, implementing and operating ethics and compliance programs including board governance and reporting, designing ethics education, creating policy management frameworks, managing enterprise and compliance risk processes as well as handling investigations and regulatory inquiries. Utilizing AARP's enterprise risk management profile, she re-designed how AARP conducts its annual audit planning process to identify audits that relate to the organization's must significant risks and incorporated the use of data analytics into audit execution. In this episode, Ellen relates what happens when you get into the CCO chair. She emphasized it is a great opportunity. You must determine your highest risks and move to manage those risks. You need to get to know your team, assess their strengths and weakness and conclude how to use those skills. Learn the budgeting process and push for a realistic budget. Finally, get to know your Board and your Compliance Committee or Audit Committee chair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

board ethics sitting aarp cco chief compliance officers compliance officer audit committee ccos compliance committee ellen hunt

#18 Jess Scully - Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney

Back of House

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2020 38:31

Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Scully is a curator, cultural strategist and creative industries advocate who is passionate about connecting people with creativity and empowering them to participate in the life of their city. From 2009 to 2017 Jess was the founding director of Vivid Ideas, Australia's largest creative industries event, a 23-day event which enlivens the city with talks, workshops, exhibitions and events. Jess has curated creative sector events including Junket, TEDxSydney and Curating Participation. As a cultural strategist Jess was a founding contributor to the Sydney Culture Network, co-ordinated by UNSW Art and Design, launched in late 2017. In 2016 Jess was elected as a Councillor for the City of Sydney, where she is the co-chair of the Nightlife and Creative Sector Advisory Panel and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel, chair of the Curatorial Advisory Panel, and a member of the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee. In 2019, Jess was elected as Deputy Lord Mayor for the City of Sydney. She is also the Deputy Chairperson of Council’s Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee and a member of the Central Sydney Planning Committee. Jess is an advocate for the knowledge economy, creative and cultural sector, and encouraging participation in politics, creativity and enlivening our public realm. As a public art curator, her projects included Green Square Library and Plaza. She has served as an arts policy advisor to the NSW Minister for the Arts, directed the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards and the Creative Cities East Asia project, established 2SER’s so(hot)right(now) weekly arts radio show, and began her career as editor of creative industries publications including Yen, Empty and Hotpress. This is all the info on the City of Sydney grants: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/community/grants-and-sponsorships?SQ_VARIATION_93791=0 Alex Greenwich MP has a good list of links for state and federal relief too: https://www.alexgreenwich.com/covid_19_financial_resources

The Regional Compliance Committee

innovation regional compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2020 8:04

Innovation can come in various forms for an organization. Innovation can appear in a structural form. You can move compliance more deeply into your organization with new or different structures. One I have seen have success is a Compliance Committee more closely tied to the geographic market in the field or the Regional Compliance Committee. All of this works to adds a dimension not often seen or even discussed in the compliance profession. The accountability and oversight down to the regional level and the compliance monitoring, reviewing, assessing and recommending that is deemed to be necessary will provide additional endorsements up through the organization that it is actually doing compliance. In compliance, it is execution where the rubber meets the road. A Regional Compliance Committee can provide your compliance program a unique structure to perform these functions. Three key takeaways: Innovation can occur in structural changes to your compliance function. A Regional Compliance Committee puts compliance closer to the ground in geographic regions outside the U.S. A Regional Compliance Committee facilitates execution of your compliance program.

How to Build a Mutually Beneficial Relationship with Your Compliance Committee

Compliance Conversations by Healthicity

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2019 31:04

Listen to this most recent episode of Compliance Conversations, How to Build a Mutually Beneficial Relationship with Your Compliance Committee, with special guest, Judith Maber-Fox, to learn how to: Build a Mutually Beneficial Relationship with your Compliance Committee Engage Sr. Leadership to Actively Support the Committee Create Opportunities That Give You a Seat at the Table

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Across the Board-Episode 16

director board across the board compliance committee

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2018 24:08

In this episode I consider the role of the Board of Directors in having a Compliance Committee and having a compliance expert on the Board itself. This lack of a key resource to the Board is something which has now drawn the attention of regulators and prosecutors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Across the Board-Episode 16

Across the Board

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2018 24:08

In this episode I consider the role of the Board of Directors in having a Compliance Committee and having a compliance expert on the Board itself. This lack of a key resource to the Board is something which has now drawn the attention of regulators and prosecutors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

director board across the board compliance committee

Day 15 of One Month to More Effective Internal Controls

audit compliance committee alameda health system

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2017 12:09

The updated Framework retained the core definition of internal controls; those being control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities. However, it built up Objectives. The 17 principles represent fundamental concepts associated with the five components of internal control. Together, the Objectives and Principles constitute the criteria will guide companies in assessing whether the components of internal controls are present, functioning and operating together within their organization. I. Objective-Control Environment The first of the five objectives is Control Environment and it sets the tone for the implementation and operation of all other components of internal control. It begins with the ethical commitment of senior management, oversight by those in governance, and a commitment to competent employees. The five principles of the Control Environment object are as follows: Principle 1 - The organization demonstrates a commitment to integrity and ethical values. Principle 2 - The board of directors demonstrates independence from management and exercises oversight of the development and performance of internal control. Principle 3 - Management establishes with board oversight, structures, reporting lines and appropriate authorizes and responsibility in pursuit of the objectives. Principle 4 - The organization demonstrates a commitment to attract, develop and retain competent individuals in alignment with the objectives. Principle 5 - The organization holds individuals accountable for their internal control responsibilities in the pursuit of the objective. A. Principle 1 - Commitment to integrity and ethical values What are the characteristics of this Principle? First, and foremost, is that an entity must have the appropriate tone at the top for a commitment to ethics and doing business in compliance. It also means that an organization establishes standards of conduct through the creation of a Code of Conduct or another baseline document. The next step is to demonstrate adherence to this standard of conduct by individual employees and throughout the organization. Finally, if there are any deviations, they would be addressed by the company in a timely manner. From the auditing perspective, this requires an auditor to be able to assess if a company has the met its requirements to ethics and compliance and whether that commitment can be effectively measured and assessed. B. Principle 2 - Board independence and oversight This Principle requires that a company’s Board of Directors establish oversight of a compliance function, separate and apart from the company’s senior management so that it operates independently in the compliance arena. Next there should be compliance expertise at the Board level which allows it actively to manage its function. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a Board must actively provide oversight on all compliance control activities, risk assessments, compliance control activities, information, compliance communications and compliance monitoring activities. Here, internal auditors must interact with a Board’s Compliance Committee (or other relevant committee such as the Audit Committee) to determine independence. There must also be documented evidence that the Board’s Compliance Committee provides sufficient oversight of the company’s compliance function. C. Principle 3 - Structures, reporting lines, authority and responsibility This may not seem as obvious but it is critical that a compliance reporting line go up through and to the Board. Under this Principle, you will need to consider all the structures of your organization and then move to define the appropriate roles of compliance responsibility. Finally, this Principle requires establishment of the appropriate authority within the compliance function. Here your auditors must be able to assess whether compliance responsibilities are appropriately assigned to establish accountability. D. Principle 4 - Attracting, developing and retaining competent individuals This Principle gets into the nuts and bolts of doing compliance. It requires that a company establish compliance policies and procedures. Next there must be an evaluation of the effectiveness of those compliance policies and procedures and that any demonstrated shortcomings be addressed. This Principle next turns the human component of a compliance program. A company must attract, develop and retain competent employees in the compliance function. Lastly, a company should have a demonstrable compliance succession plan in place. An auditor must be able to demonstrate, through its compliance policies and, equally importantly its actions, that it has a commitment to attracting, developing and retaining competent persons in the compliance function and more generally employees who accept the company’s general principle of doing business ethically and in compliance. E. Principle 5 - Individuals held accountable This is the ‘stick’ Principle. A company must show that it enforces compliance accountability through its compliance structures, authorities and responsibilities. A company must establish appropriate compliance performance metrics, incentives to do business ethically and in compliance and, finally, clearly reward such persons through the promotion process in an organization. Such reward is through an evaluation of appropriate compliance measures and incentives. Interestingly a company must consider pressures that it sends through off-messaging. Finally, each employee must be evaluated in his or her compliance performance; coupled with both rewards and discipline for employee actions around compliance. This Principle requires evidence that can demonstrate to an auditor there are processes in place to hold employees accountable to their compliance objectives. Conversely, if an employee does not fulfill the compliance objectives there must be identifiable consequences. Lastly, if this accountability is not effective, the internal controls should be able to identify and manage the compliance risks that are not effectively mitigated. II. Discussion Both Board of Directors’ independence and Compliance Committee (or other applicable committee) oversight issue are essential to this Objective because the Compliance Committee needs to be actively engaged to be comfortable that the company has implemented the internal controls under Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 404(a); as required under Principles 1 & 2. The external auditors must then be comfortable this requirement is met. Finally, there must be evidence the company has appropriate disclosure controls in place because that is central to the Objective itself. This is all tested against Board independence and Compliance Committee oversight over those activities that management has undertaken and their engagement and conversations with their external auditor. Howell related that under Principle 3, “structures in reporting lines, authority and responsibility are essential to the recognition of revenue. An entity’s internal controls or financial reporting details there are processes, there are policies, there is documentation, the authority and documentation of the judgments are being made, the review of those in responsibility for making those ultimate judgments about the recognition of revenue and the recognition or timing of the revenue and the expenses, that those need to be in place.” Under Principle 4, a business must attract and develop, then retaining competent talent. Of course, this is good business as well. But it is more than simply some appropriate levels of staffing, as Howell stated, “One of the big reasons that companies have said do not have money to invest again the deep dive study and process improvement necessary to implement it [the 2013 Framework], is that it comes down to both to commitment level from the top and the tone at the top that this important and these financial disclosures are critical to the ability of the investors to rely on the company's disclosures.” You must only “put in place the right team, give the team the right tools, but also ensure the team has the ability to access the right level of technical accounting talent and business process and controls talent to make the judgments.” All these leads of course ties into Principle 5, which mandates individuals being held responsible. This requires someone to document that they have made a judgment based upon the evidence that they have been able to accumulate, that the company has analyzed that evidence and has gone through the process of comparing this to the COSO 2013 Framework and to the spirit of the standard. Howell said, “those individuals are being held responsible for having done that properly. I think when you tie all that back together, when you get to the control environment, that the COSO principle number one is it can be completely tied back to what is being required.” Three Key Takeaways What controls do you have in place to measure conduct at the top? Reporting lines must be clear and functioning. You must provide the right personnel with the right resources. For more information on how to improve your internal controls management process, visit this month’s sponsor Workiva at workiva.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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AUDIT & COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE MEETING 6.1.2017

Alameda Health System

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2017 78:19

AUDIT & COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE MEETING 6.1.2017 by Alameda Health System

Day 11 of One Month to Operationalization of Your Compliance Program

audit compliance committee alameda health system

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2017 12:44

Today I want to explore in some detail the first Objective in the COSO 2013 Framework-the Control Environment as a path to operationalize your compliance program. This Objective lays out five steps you can take to put the responsibility on function corporate disciplines to imbue compliance into the fabric of an organization. A. Control Environment Rittenberg said this “sets the tone for the implantation and operation of all other components of internal control. It starts with the ethical commitment of senior management, oversight by those in governance, and a commitment to competent employees.” The five principles of the Control Environment object are as follows: Principle 1 - The organization demonstrates a commitment to integrity and ethical values. Principle 2 - The board of directors demonstrates independence from management and exercises oversight of the development and performance of internal control. Principle 3 - Management establishes with board oversight, structures, reporting lines and appropriate authorizations and responsibility in pursuit of the objectives. Principle 4 - The organization demonstrates a commitment to attract, develop and retain competent individuals in alignment with the objectives. Principle 5 - The organization holds individuals accountable for their internal control responsibilities in the pursuit of the objective. Principle 1 - Commitment to integrity and ethical values What are the characteristics of this Principle? First, and foremost, is that an entity must have the appropriate tone at the top for a commitment to ethics and doing business in compliance. It also means that an organization establishes standards of conduct through the creation of a Code of Conduct or other baseline document. The next step is to demonstrate adherence to this standard of conduct by individual employees and throughout the organization. Finally, if there are any deviations, they would be addressed by the company in a timely manner. This requires an auditor to be able to assess if a company has the met its requirements to ethics and compliance and whether that commitment can be effectively measured and assessed. Principle 2 - Board independence and oversight This Principle requires that a company’s Board of Directors establish oversight of a compliance function, separate and apart from the company’s senior management so that it operates independently in the compliance arena. There should be compliance expertise at the Board level which allows it actively manage its function. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a Board must actively provide oversight on all compliance control activities, risk assessments, information, compliance communications and compliance monitoring activities. Here, the Board’s Compliance Committee must demonstrate independence. There must also be documented evidence that the Board’s Compliance Committee provides sufficient oversight of the company’s compliance function. Principle 3 - Structures, reporting lines, authority and responsibility This may not seem as obvious but it is critical that a compliance reporting line go up through and to the Board. Under this Principle, you should consider all of the structures of your organization and then move to define the appropriate roles of compliance responsibility. Finally, this Principle requires establishment of the appropriate authority within the compliance function. You must be able to assess whether compliance responsibilities are appropriately assigned to establish accountability. Principle 4 - Attracting, developing and retaining competent individuals This Principle gets into the nuts and bolts of operationalizing compliance. It requires that a company establish compliance policies and procedures. Next there must be an evaluation of the effectiveness of those compliance policies and procedures and that any demonstrated shortcomings be addressed. This Principle next turns the human component of a compliance program. A company must attract, develop and retain competent employees in the compliance function. Lastly, a company should have a demonstrable compliance succession plan in place. You must be able to demonstrate, through compliance policies and their implementation and operationalization a commitment to attracting, developing and retaining competent persons in the compliance function and more generally employees who accept the company’s general principle of doing business ethically and in compliance. Principle 5 - Individuals held accountable This is the ‘stick’ Principle. A company must show that it enforces compliance accountability through its compliance structures, authorizations and responsibilities. A company must establish appropriate compliance performance metrics, incentives to do business ethically and in compliance and, finally, clearly reward such persons through the promotion process in an organization. Such reward is through an evaluation of appropriate compliance measures and incentives. Interestingly a company must consider pressures that it sends through off-messaging. Finally, each employee must be evaluated in his or her compliance performance; coupled with both rewards and discipline for employee actions around compliance. This Principle requires evidence that can demonstrate to an auditor there are processes in place to hold employees accountable to their compliance objectives. Conversely, if an employee does not fulfill the compliance objectives there must be identifiable consequences. Lastly, if this accountability is not effective, the internal controls should be able to identify and manage the compliance risks that are not effectively mitigated. The COSO formulation for internal controls is a key component for any best practices compliance program; whether based upon a FCPA formulation or another anti-corruption law, such as the UK Bribery Act. Moreover, as it probably the most utilized internal controls formulation under Sarbanes-Oxley 404(b) reporting, it should be well-known to your corporate internal controls function and therefore assessable to you as a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) or compliance professional. In addition to the Principles articulated herein the specific Points of Focus listed in the COSO 2013 Framework can provide a roadmap for testing and evidencing your compliance program in this area. You should not fail to take advantage of it. Three Key Takeaways The COSO 2013 Framework sets out a structure which the compliance practitioner can use to put compliance into the fabric of an organization. For any public company, using the COSO Framework will allow a full response to any SOX 404(b) inquiry by regulators or auditors. The Control Environment Objective allows for not only implementation of controls but also requires individual accountability, as is set out in the Justice Department Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. This month’s podcast series is sponsored by Oversight Systems, Inc. Oversight’s automated transaction monitoring solution, Insights On Demand for FCPA, operationalizes your compliance program. For more information, go to OversightSystems.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

director management board focus code commitment principles points framework principle individuals attracting conduct structures objective conversely oversight one month sox fcpa coso sarbanes oxley compliance programs rittenberg compliance committee corporate compliance programs uk bribery act chief compliance officer cco this principle

AUDIT & COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE MEETING 2.9.2017

Alameda Health System

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2017 84:04

AUDIT & COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE MEETING 2.9.2017 by Alameda Health System

Day 20 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2017 12:25

I end my One Month to a Better Board series with a discussion from the recently released Justice Department Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs as it relates to a Board of Directors. In an area of inquiry entitled, “Oversight” the DOJ asked three basic questions which we have explored throughout this series. The questions presented by the DOJ were: What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors? Have the board of directors held executive or private sessions with the compliance function? What types of information has the board of directors examined in their exercise of oversight in the area in which the misconduct occurred? In addition to specifically stating that a Board of Directors must have a compliance subject matter expert going forward, it opines there should be a Board level committee dedicated to compliance as well. I have previously explored questions a Board should ask a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). Today I want to focus some attention on questions by a Board of Directors around the Compliance Committee itself. To facilitate the answers to these DOJ questions, I have ended this series with a list of 20 questions below which reflect the oversight role of directors. These are questions which the Board should ask of both senior management and the Board itself. The questions are not intended to be an exact checklist, but rather a way to provide insight and stimulate discussion on the topic of compliance. The questions provide directors with a basis for critically assessing the answers they get and digging deeper as necessary. The comments summarize the most current thinking on the issues and the practices of leading organizations. Although the questions apply to most medium to large organizations, the answers will vary according to the size, complexity and sophistication of each individual organization. Part I: Understanding the Role and Value of the Compliance Committee What are the Compliance Committee’s responsibilities and what value does it bring to the board? How can the Compliance Committee help the board enhance its relationship with management? What is the role of the Compliance Committee? Part II: Building an Effective Compliance Committee What skill sets does the Compliance Committee require? Who should sit on the Compliance Committee? Who should chair the Compliance Committee? Part III: Directed to the Board What is the Compliance Committee’s role in building an effective compliance program within the company? How can the Compliance Committee assess potential members and senior leaders of the company’s compliance program? How long should directors serve on the Compliance Committee? How can the Compliance Committee assist directors in retiring from the board? Part IV: Enhancing the Board’s Performance Effectiveness How can the Compliance Committee assist in director development? How can the Compliance Committee help the board chair sharpen the board’s overall performance focus? What is the Compliance Committee’s role in board evaluation and feedback? What should the Compliance Committee do if a director is not performing or not interacting effectively with other directors? Should the Compliance Committee have a role in chair succession? How can the Compliance Committee help the board keep its mandates, policies and practices up-to-date? Part V: Merging Roles of the Compliance Committees How can the Compliance Committee enhance the board’s relationship with institutional shareholders and other stakeholders? What is the Compliance Committee’s role in CCO succession? What role can the Compliance Committee play in preparing for a crisis, such as the discovery of a sign of a significant compliance violation? How can the Compliance Committee help the board in deciding CCO pay, bonus and resources made available to the corporate compliance function? Three Key Takeaways The DOJ Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Program requires active Board of Director engagement around compliance. Board communication on compliance is a two-way street; both in bound and out bound. Has the Board built an effective Board Compliance Committee? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

director board doj oversight one month cco compliance committee corporate compliance programs chief compliance officer cco

Day 18 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2017 13:58

Where does “Tone at the Top” start. With any public and most private US companies, it is at the Board of Directors. But what is the role of a company’s Board in FCPA compliance? We start with several general statements about the role of a Board in US companies. First a Board should not engage in management but should engage in oversight of a CEO and senior management. The Board does this through asking hard questions, risk assessment and identification. In a recent White Paper, entitled “Risk Intelligence Governance-A Practical Guide for Boards” the firm of Deloitte & Touche laid out six general principles to help guide Boards in the area of compliance risk governance. I have adapted them for the Board role around compliance. Define the Board’s Role-there must be a mutual understanding between the Board, CEO and senior management of the Board’s responsibilities. Foster a culture of compliance risk management-all stakeholders should understand the compliance risks involved and manage such risks accordingly. Incorporate compliance risk management directly into a strategy-oversee the design and implementation of compliance risk evaluation and analysis. Help define the company’s appetite for compliance risk-all stakeholders need to understand the company’s appetite or lack thereof for compliance risk. Execute the compliance risk management process-the compliance risk management process should maintain an approach that is continually monitored and had continuing accountability. Benchmark and evaluate the compliance process-compliance systems need to be installed which allow for evaluation and modifying the compliance risk management process for compliance as more information becomes available or facts or assumptions change. All of these factors can be easily adapted to FCPA compliance and ethics risk management oversight. Initially it must be important that the Board receive direct access to such information on a company’s policies on this issue. The Board must have quarterly or semi-annual reports from a company’s Chief Compliance Officer to either the Audit Committee or the Compliance Committee. This commentator recommends that a Board create a Compliance Committee as the Audit Committee may more appropriately deal with financial audit issues. A Compliance Committee can devote itself exclusively to non-financial compliance, such as FCPA compliance. The Board’s oversight role should be to receive such regular reports on the structure of the company’s compliance program, its actions and self-evaluations. From this information the Board can give oversight to any modifications to managing FCPA risk that should be implemented. There is one other issue regarding the Board and risk management, including FCPA risk management, which should be noted. It appears that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) desires Boards to take a more active role in overseeing the management of risk within a company. The SEC has promulgated Reg SK 407 under which each company must make a disclosure regarding the Board’s role in risk oversight which “may enable investors to better evaluate whether the board is exercising appropriate oversight of risk.” If this disclosure is not made, it could be a securities law violation and subject the company which fails to make it to fines, penalties or profit disgorgement. Three Key Takeaways The Board’s role is to keep really bad things from happening to a Company. There are six general areas the point can inquire into and lead from. SEC Reg SK 407 may put greater scrutiny on Boards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 12 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2017 13:02

What are metrics for a Board around compliance? Former Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell laid out some that the Justice Department would consider in a review of compliance programs. These metrics are: Does the institution ensure that its directors and senior managers provide strong, explicit and visible support for its corporate compliance policies? Does the Board maintain a material role in overseeing a company’s overall compliance framework? These requirements move beyond simply having the correct ‘Tone at the Top’ which every Board should articulate. They charge the Board with a substantive role in the actual doing of compliance going forward. One of my concerns is this metric sets up Board members and senior management for prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the new era of the Yates Memo where companies are required to investigate and turn over individuals to the DOJ for prosecution if they want to receive any credit for cooperation. Of course, the Yates Memo also articulated the DOJ’s stated intention to more aggressively prosecute individuals as well. Board Role You begin with two questions. First, does the Board of Directors exercise independent review of a company’s compliance program? Second, is the Board of Directors provided information sufficient to enable the exercise of independent judgment? Boards of Directors should take a more active role in overseeing the management of risk within a company. Now this includes having a FCPA compliance program in place and actively oversee that function. This means if a company’s business plan includes a high-risk proposition, there should be additional oversight. In other words, there is an affirmative duty to ask the tough questions. But it is more than simply having a compliance program in place. The Board must exercise appropriate oversight of the compliance program and indeed the compliance function. The Board needs to ask the hard questions and be fully informed of the company’s overall compliance strategy going forward. Some of the areas for hard questions include Corporate Compliance Policy and Code of Conduct – Is there an overall governance document which will inform the company, its employees, stakeholders and third parties of the conduct the company expects from an employee, translated into appropriate local langauges. Is there documents of delivery and training on this or these documents? Risk Assessment – Has the Board assessed the compliance risks associated with its business? Implementing Procedures – The Board should determine if the company has a written set of procedures in place that instructs employees on the details of how to comply with the company’s compliance policy. Once again, have these implementing procedures been translated as appropriate and do employees understand these procedures? Are all of the above documented? Training – Has the Board been trained to understand its role in an effective compliance program? Monitor Compliance – Has the Board independently tested, assessed and audited to determine if its compliance policies and procedures are a living and breathing program and not just a paper tiger. There are several paths a Board of Directors can take to fulfill this duty. Obviously the full Board can be apprised of compliance issues and handle them appropriately. However this may be unwieldy or not workable if there is a large Board and the compliance function only has limited time to present a quarterly and annual report. The Audit Committee is usually considered a natural venue for the compliance function to report to as it handles issues somewhat related to compliance already. Through the convergence of the Yates Memo and these metrics, it is time for companies to create a Compliance Committee separate and a part from the Audit Committee. This Board-level Compliance Committee would be charged with oversight of FCPA compliance and ethics but could also be the reporting venue for anti-money laundering compliance (AML), export control compliance and all other such disciplines within an organization. Further after the Volkswagen emissions-testing scandal, not only have a robust compliance program but direct and transparent Board oversight may be the only thing stopping injury to your reputation from a competitor’s illegal or unethical conduct. Three Key Takeaways The Justice Department expects active engagement by a Board around compliance. Does the Board exercise independent review of the compliance program? The convergence of the Yates Memo, Hui Chen and the FCPA Pilot Program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

director board code tone boards volkswagen doj justice department one month aml audit committee fcpa foreign corrupt practices act fcpa compliance committee hui chen yates memo

Day 6 of One Month to a Better Compliance Program

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2017 13:12

Where does “Tone at the Top” start. With any public and most private US companies, it is at the Board of Directors. But what is the role of a company’s Board in FCPA compliance? We start with several general statements about the role of a Board in US companies. First a Board should not engage in management but should engage in oversight of a CEO and senior management. The Board does this through asking hard questions, risk assessment and identification. In a White Paper, entitled “Risk Intelligence Governance-A Practical Guide for Boards” Deloitte & Touche laid out six general principles to help guide Boards in the area of risk governance. These six areas can be summarized as follows: Define the Board’s Role-there must be a mutual understanding between the Board, CEO and senior management of the Board’s responsibilities. Foster a culture of risk management-all stakeholders should understand the risks involved and manage such risks accordingly. Incorporate risk management directly into a strategy-oversee the design and implementation of risk evaluation and analysis. Help define the company’s appetite for risk-all stakeholders need to understand the company’s appetite or lack thereof for risk. How to execute the risk management process-the risk management process maintaining an approach that is continually monitored and had continuing accountability. How to benchmark and evaluate the process-systems need to be installed which allow for evaluation and modifying the risk management process as more information becomes available or facts or assumptions change. All of these factors can be easily adapted to FCPA compliance and ethics risk management oversight. Initially it must be important that the Board receive direct access to such information on a company’s policies on this issue. The Board must have quarterly or semi-annual reports from a company’s Chief Compliance Officer to either the Audit Committee or the Compliance Committee. This commentator recommends that a Board create a Compliance Committee as an Audit Committee may more appropriately deal with financial audit issues. A Compliance Committee can devote itself exclusively to non-financial compliance, such as FCPA compliance. The Board’s oversight role should be to receive such regular reports on the structure of the company’s compliance program, its actions and self-evaluations. From this information the Board can give oversight to any modifications to managing FCPA risk that should be implemented. There is one other issue regarding the Board and risk management, including FCPA risk management, which should be noted. It appears that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) desires Boards to take a more active role in overseeing the management of risk within a company. The SEC has promulgated Reg SK 407 under which each company must make a disclosure regarding the Board’s role in risk oversight which “may enable investors to better evaluate whether the board is exercising appropriate oversight of risk.” If this disclosure is not made, it could be a securities law violation and subject the company which fails to make it to fines, penalties or profit disgorgement. CCO reporting to the Audit/Compliance Committee has to be structured carefully to promote ethics and compliance. Here are my five best practices that should guide the reporting: Quarterly Reports — The CCO should report in person to the Audit/Compliance Committee every quarter. If the CCO submits a written report and does not appear before the Committee, the failure to appear before the Committee reflects a defective relationship. The quarterly report is critical for both the CCO and the Committee to hear about compliance performance and challenges. Executive Session – Every quarterly report should be concluded with an executive session where the CCO and the Committee can have a frank discussion on any potential issues. It is a valuable opportunity to raise important issues. An executive session demonstrates that the CCO is independent and empowered within the organization, and reinforces the CCO’s direct access to the Board, if necessary. Sitting In on Other Reports – The CCO should sit in the Committee meeting when other important officers report to the Committee. For example, the CCO should attend the presentations by the Internal Auditor, the General Counsel, and the CFO. The CCO has a macro-view of the company and needs to be informed as to issues in other areas that may be significant and have compliance implications. Informal Relationship – A CCO should actively maintain an ongoing informal relationship with the Chair of the Audit/Compliance Committee. A CCO has to have the ability to pick up the phone and call to Chair to discuss issues that may arise. A weekly meeting for coffee or a meal is important to develop and maintain the relationship. Annual Report to Full Board – A CCO should report to the full Board once a year. The Audit/Compliance Committee quarterly reports are important but the full Board needs to hear about the challenges and risks facing the company, as well as improvements needed for the ethics and compliance program. Three Key Takeaways A Board Compliance Committee should provide oversight not management. A CCO should use multiple reports to communicate with the Board Compliance Committee. Board Compliance Committee oversight makes companies more efficient and at the end of the day more profitable. For more information, check out my book Doing Compliance: Design, Create and Implement an Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, which is available by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 5 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2017 13:36

The Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Health and Human Resources, issued a paper entitled “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight” (the OIG Guidance). It provides an excellent road map for thinking about how to structure a Compliance Committee for your Board and a Board’s obligations. As an introduction, the OIG Guidance states that a Board must act in good faith around its obligations regarding compliance. This means that there must be both a corporation information and reporting system and that such reporting mechanisms provide appropriate information to a Board. It stated, “The existence of a corporate reporting system is a key compliance program element, which not only keeps the Board informed of the activities of the organization, but also enables an organization to evaluate and respond to issues of potentially illegal or otherwise inappropriate activity.” The OIG Guidance sets out four areas of Board oversight and review of a compliance function; “(1) roles of, and relationships between, the organization’s audit, compliance, and legal departments; (2) mechanism and process for issue-reporting within an organization; (3) approach to identifying regulatory risk; and (4) methods of encouraging enterprise-wide accountability for achievement of compliance goals and objectives.” While noting that a corporate compliance function should promote the prevention, detection and remediation of compliance violations, the OIG Guidance goes on to state that an organization’s Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) “should neither be counsel for the provider, nor be subordinate in function or position to counsel or the legal department, in any manner.” Rather the Board must ensure the CCO and compliance function have resources to fulfill their assigned role within an organization and access to the Board. The Board should evaluate and discuss how management works together to address risk, including the role of each in: identifying compliance risks, investigating compliance risks and avoiding duplication of effort, identifying and implementing appropriate corrective actions and decision-making, and communicating between the various functions throughout the process. A key component of Board oversight is through the flow of information. The OIG Guidance says, “The Board should set and enforce expectations for receiving particular types of compliance-related information from various members of management. The Board should receive regular reports regarding the organization’s risk mitigation and compliance efforts—separately and independently”. These reports can come to the Board via a variety of reporting mechanisms; regular Board meetings, special Executive Sessions where the Board meets with the CCO or compliance leadership outside of the presence of senior management and ad hoc communications from the CCO. All of these help create a “continuous expectation of open dialogue” which is paramount for proper Board oversight. Of course, if a serious compliance issue arises, it needs to be communicated directly, and in a timely manner, to the Board. But in addition to setting the expectations for the flows of information, a Board must also set expectations for holding senior management accountable for areas such as compliance. This can be through the assessment of “individual, department, or facility-level performance or consistency in executing the compliance program” and using this information to payout or withhold discretionary based bonuses “based upon compliance and quality outcomes.” The OIG Guidance also notes, “Some companies have made participation in annual incentive programs contingent on satisfactorily meeting annual compliance goals. Others have instituted employee and executive compensation claw-back/recoupment provisions if compliance metrics are not met.” However the key component is that “Through a system of defined compliance goals and objectives against which performance may be measured and incentivized, organizations can effectively communicate the message that everyone is ultimately responsible for compliance.” A Board also needs to have regular reports on the risks that any organization may face. This means keeping abreast of “relevant and emerging regulatory risks, the role and functioning of an organization’s compliance program in the face of those risks and the flow and elevation of reporting of potential issues and problems to senior management.” The OIG Guidance speaks to technological solutions when it says, “Some Boards use tools such as dashboards—containing key financial, operational and compliance indicators to assess risk, performance against budgets, strategic plans, policies and procedures, or other goals and objectives—in order to strike a balance between too much and too little information. For instance, Board quality committees can work with management to create the content of the dashboards with a goal of identifying and responding to risks and improving quality of care.” Moreover, a Board should also mandate that the company’s compliance function have the proper tools in place to facilitate compliance reporting internally. It states, “Boards should also consider establishing a risk-based reporting system, in which those responsible for the compliance function provide reports to the Board when certain risk-based criteria are met. The Board should be assured that there are mechanisms in place to ensure timely reporting of suspected violations and to evaluate and implement remedial measures. These tools may also be used to track and identify trends in organizational performance against corrective action plans developed in response to compliance concerns.” Ultimately a Board should drive home of the message of compliance as “a way of life” so that it permeates into the DNA of a health care organization. For if a Board can help drive compliance into the fabric of an organization, it will have done more than simply fulfill its legal obligations starting in the Caremark decision and going forward. The Board will have helped to make the entire organization more compliance-centric and when a Board can help to facilitate such a change in attitudes, it will have moved the organization several steps down the road of doing business in compliance with relevant laws and issues. The OIG Guidance is an excellent review for not only compliance professionals and others in the health care industry but a good primer for Boards around their own duties under a best practices compliance program. The US Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Ten Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program, the “OIG voluntary compliance program guidance documents, and OIG Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs) can be used as baseline assessment tools for Boards and management in determining what specific functions may be necessary to meet the requirements of an effective compliance program. The Guidelines “offer incentives to organizations to reduce and ultimately eliminate criminal conduct by providing a structural foundation from which an organization may self-police its own conduct through an effective compliance and ethics program.” The compliance program guidance documents were developed by OIG to encourage the development and use of internal controls to monitor adherence to applicable statutes, regulations, and program requirements.” Three Key Takeaways Information flow up to the Board is critical. Compliance should be institutionalized in your company as a way of life. A Board needs to consider all risks. For more information, check out my book Doing Compliance: Design, Create and Implement an Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, which is available by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Day 4 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2017 13:38

Every Board of Directors need a true compliance expert sitting on their Board. Almost every Board has a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), former head of Internal Audit or persons with a similar background and often times these are also the Audit Committee members of the Board. Such a background brings a level of sophistication, training and subject matter expertise that can help all companies with their financial reporting and other finance based issues. So why is there not such compliance subject matter expertise at the Board level? An arm of the US government has recognized the need for such expertise at the Board level. In 2015 the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has called for greater compliance expertise at the Board level. The OIG said that a Board can raise its level of substantive expertise with respect to regulatory and compliance matters by adding to the Board, a compliance member. The presence of a such a compliance professional with subject matter expertise on the Board sends a strong message about the organization’s commitment to compliance, provides a valuable resource to other Board members, and helps the Board better fulfill its oversight obligations. Mike Volkov looked at it from both a practical and business perspective and has stated, “I have witnessed firsthand that companies that have a board member with compliance expertise usually have a more aggressive and effective compliance program. In this situation, a Chief Compliance Officer has to answer to the board for the company’s compliance program, while receiving the resources and support to accomplish compliance tasks.” Roy Snell sees it through the prism of the compliance profession and has said, “If you ask most companies if they have compliance expertise on their Board… most would say yes. When asked who the compliance expert is they typically point to a lawyer, auditor, risk manager, or an ethicists. None of these professions are automatically compliance experts. All lawyers have different specialties.” He goes on to state that what regulators want to see is specific compliance expertise at the Board level. He noted, “the government is looking for is not generic compliance expertise. They are looking for compliance program management expertise. Hui Chen, the DOJ Compliance Counsel, has continually talked about the need for companies to operationalize their compliance programs. She intones businesses must work to literally burn compliance into the fabric and DNA of their organization. Having a Board member with specific compliance expertise, heading a Board level Compliance Committee can provide a level of oversight and commitment to achieving this goal. It will not be long before the DOJ and SEC begin to require this step in any FCPA enforcement action resolution. This means that when your company is evaluated by Chen, under the factors set out in Prong Three of the FCPA Pilot Program, to retrospectively determine if your company had a best practices compliance program in place at the time of any violation, you need to have not only the structure of the Board level Compliance Committee but also the specific subject matter expertise on the Board and on that committee. Key Takeaways Boards must have compliance expertise. Government regulators and shareholder groups have both called for greater compliance expertise at the Board. Compliance expertise at the Board works up and down as such expertise can be a resource to both the CCO and compliance department. For more information, check out my book Doing Compliance: Design, Create and Implement an Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, which is available by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 3 of One Month to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2017 13:23

Under the US Sentencing Guidelines, the Board must exercise reasonable oversight on the effectiveness of a company’s compliance program. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Prosecution Standards posed the following queries: (1) Do the Directors exercise independent review of a company’s compliance program? and (2) Are Directors provided information sufficient to enable the exercise of independent judgment? Moreover, the FCPA Guidance requires a CCO to have direct access to the Board or an appropriate sub-committee. The Guidance also requires a tangible commitment from the top levels of an organization, starting with the Board of Directors that the company create an ethical culture. At the Board of Directors level, a Board Compliance Committee can devote itself exclusively to non-financial compliance, such as FCPA compliance. While many companies have fulfilled these obligations through an Audit Committee, clearly the better practice is to have a separate Compliance Committee. The reason is clear, that compliance has become not only central to any well-run business but it is critical to overseeing a wider variety of risks than the typical Audit Committee has experience with, which is usually only aimed towards financial risks. The Board Compliance Committee should begin its inquiry with a basic: ‘How do we know it is working?’ In other words, is a company’s compliance program living up to the hallmarks of an effective compliance program in the eyes of the government. Here I lay out four areas of more specific inquiry. The Board Compliance Committee should obtain information on the processes to carry out the compliance function, rather than details on specific compliance issues. They need to understand that there is a single individual or internal corporate discipline keeping track of the compliance function and making sure that it is being handled properly. They need to understand that there is a system in place that keeps track of compliance requirements. Another area the Board Compliance Committee interest should be in is the area of hotlines or other internal reporting mechanisms. Here, the Board Compliance Committee needs to know details about both inbound issues and the responses thereto. In the inbound side this means details about who answers the reports, that come in either via email or phone, how this information is triaged and in what time frame. It also requires an understand of whether the reporting system is truly anonymous, with no use of caller-ID or GPS tracking. The next series of questions deals with the responses to any information which comes to the attention of the company, including such basic inquiries as how are the reports classified and routed? Who gets notified for what types of calls? How the investigative process is divided among various functions or is it outsourced? Finally, what is the response rate and response time? The Board Compliance Committee must know who is accountable and responsible for each segment of a compliance program. They should obtain assurance that the compliance function has developed a charter that makes it clear to them where obligations fall across management so it can assess accountability. While it is true an effective Board Compliance Committee will allow management do their job running the business on a day-to-day basis, and they understand that their job is to set long-term strategy. Strategic planning is another area well suited for oversight by a Board Compliance Committee. For such a committee to be both effective and informed it must have an appreciation of where the corporate compliance function stands not only at the present moment, but also has a strategic plan for how the compliance and ethics program can continue to grow. Similarly, Stephen Martin, a partner at Arnold and Porter, has long advocated a 1-3-5-year compliance game plan. However, a Board Compliance Committee should demand the compliance function be nimble enough to respond to new information or actions, such as mergers or acquisitions, divestitures or other external events. If a dynamic changes, you want to get your board’s attention on the changes which may need to happen with the [compliance] program. Today’s regulatory climate band hyper-transparency in social media make a Board Compliance Committee’s task seem Herculean. But more than simply the regulatory climate, shareholders are taking a much more active role in asserting their rights against Boards of Directors. It is incumbent that Boards seek out and obtain sufficient information to fulfill their legal obligations and keep their company off the front page of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or Financial Times, just to name a few, to prevent serious reputational damage. A Board Compliance Committee is a good place to start. Key Takeaways This committee exists to provide oversight and assist the CCO, not to substitute its judgment for that of the CCO. This committee should work to hold the CCO accountable to hit appropriate metrics. This committee is ideal for leading the efforts around strategic planning. For more information, check out my book Doing Compliance: Design, Create and Implement an Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, which is available by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Day 2 of 30 Days to a Better Board

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2017 13:32

What are the obligations of a Board member regarding the FCPA? Are the obligations of the Compliance Committee under the FCPA at odds with a director’s “prudent discharge of duties to shareholders”? Do the words prudent discharge even appear anywhere in the FCPA? In webinar, entitled “Reporting to the Board on Your Compliance Program: New Guidance and Good Practices”, Rebecca Walker and Jeffery Kaplan, explored these and other issues. As to the specific role of ‘Best Practices’ in the area of general compliance and ethics, Walker looked to Delaware corporate law for guidance. She cited to the case of Stone v. Ritter for the proposition that “a duty to attempt in good faith to assure that a corporate information and reporting system, which the board concludes is adequate exists.” From the case of In re Walt Disney Company Derivative Litigation, she drew the principle that directors should follow the best practices in the area of ethics and compliance. In a recent Compliance Week article, Melissa Aguilar examined the duties of Board members regarding FCPA compliance. The conclusions of several of the FCPA experts that Ms. Aguilar interviewed for the article were that companies which have not yet had any FCPA issues rise up to the Board level are usually the ones which are the most at risk. Albert Vondra, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that such companies “don’t have the incentive to spend the resources or take the rigorous approach to their anti-compliance programs. Their attitude is, ‘We’ve got it covered,’ but they don’t”. Richard Cassin, managing partner of Cassin Law, stated that there must be written records demonstrating that the audit committee and that the board members asked questions and received answers regarding FCPA compliance issues. Such documentation demonstrates the Board members have “fulfilled their fiduciary obligations,” Cassin says. Board failure to head this warning can lead to serious consequences. David Stuart, a senior attorney with Cravath Swaine & Moore, noted that FCPA compliance issues can lead to personal liability for directors, as both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and DOJ have been “very vocal about their interest in identifying the highest-level individuals within the organization who are responsible for the tone, culture, or weak internal controls that may contribute to, or at least fail to prevent, bribery and corruption”. He added that based upon the SEC’s enforcement action against two senior executives at Nature’s Sunshine, “Under certain circumstances, I could see the SEC invoking the same provisions against audit committee members—for instance, for failing to oversee implementation of a compliance program to mitigate risk of bribery”. According to Haynes and Boone in its publication, “Corporate Governance and the Role of the Board” a board’s role is not to actually manage the company, but instead to oversee and monitor the management of the company. In the realm of compliance, this means the Chief Compliance Officer. The board has the responsibility to fulfill the role of strategic and business advisor to management of the company. In addition, the board has the role of monitoring the performance of the compliance function, including monitoring the performance of it using customary economic metrics, and by overseeing compliance with applicable laws and regulations. While the board is not responsible for auditing or ferreting out compliance problems, it is responsible for determining that the company has an appropriate system of internal controls. The board should also monitor company policies and practices that address compliance and matters affecting the public perception and reputation of the company. Every company should ensure that it conducts appropriate compliance training for employees and conducts regular compliance assessments. Finally, the board must take appropriate action if and when it becomes aware of a material problem that it believes management is not properly handling. Alas, there is no reference to prudent discharge in the FCPA itself. However, if I were a remaining member of the Board of China Northeast Petroleum, I might well think more than twice about my prudent discharge of duties to the shareholders as both the DOJ and SEC now might well wish to look into this matter under a Board’s prudent discharge of duties under the FCPA. Three Key Takeaways What is ‘prudent discharge’? What is your process for doing compliance at the Board level? A Board must have active rather than passive engagement around compliance. For more information, check out my book Doing Compliance: Design, Create and Implement an Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, which is available by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 19 of 30 Days to a Better Compliance Program