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. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Ellen Smith, who has sat in the chair of a Director of Trade Compliance.

In late 2013, Ellen met Jay Martin, CCO at Baker Hughes who convinced her to move to Baker Hughes to help rationalize and rebuild/rebrand the Trade Compliance Department. While at Baker, Ellen had the opportunity to rebuild the trade program 3 or 4 times. The first, when she joined Baker. A second time, when Baker was considering a possible merger with Halliburton. A third time after a merger with GE Oil & Gas as we were a GE company. The fourth and final time came after post separation from GE. The biggest change in this job was that Jay Martin had established a culture of compliance throughout the organization.

Favorite adopted sayings
‘what you see is what you get’
‘Arm-in-arm’
Resources
Ellen Smith LinkedIn Profile
Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting