Day: May 2, 2022

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The Ethics Experts

Episode 121 – Deborah Penza

In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Deborah Penza. Deborah has over 25 years of experience as both a consultant and a compliance professional implementing and operating compliance programs in the healthcare industry with a focus on life sciences. Since February 2019, Ms. Penza has served as the Group Chief Compliance Officer for Hikma Pharmaceuticals. In this role she is responsible for management of the Company’s global ethics and compliance program, as well as US government pricing.

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Compliance Week Conference Podcast

Holly Kulka on Effectively Managing Risk in a “Move Fast and Break Things” World


In this episode of the Compliance Week 2022 Preview Podcasts series, Holly will discuss some of her presentation at Compliance Week 2022 “Effectively Managing Risk in a “Move Fast and Break Things” World”. Some of the issues she will discuss in this podcast and her presentation are:

  • The dichotomy between compliance and the rest of the business unit – ie. the perception that while the rest of the business speeds up and adapts an agile framework for competitive advantage, risk and compliance are seen as slowing things down 
  • Strategies to bridge this divide with always-on risk management approaches  
  • Learn how CCOs can empower the business to adopt iterative, cyclical planning that simultaneously achieves business speed and strategic risk management 

In this first full compliance conference in over 2 years, I hope you can join me at Compliance Week 2022. This year’s event will be May 16-18 at the JW Marriott in Washington DC. The line-up of this year’s event is simply first rate with some of the top ethics and compliance practitioners around.
Gain insights and make connections at the industry’s premier cross-industry national compliance event offering knowledge-packed, accredited sessions and take-home advice from the most influential leaders in the compliance community. Back for its 17th year, compliance, ethics, legal, and audit professionals will gather safely face-to-face to benchmark best practices and gain the latest tactics and strategies to enhance their compliance programs. and many others to:

  • Network with your peers, including C-suite executives, legal professionals, HR leaders and ethics and compliance visionaries.
  • Hear from 75+ respected cross-industry practitioners who are CEOs, CCOs, regulators, federal officials, and practitioners to help inform and shape the strategic direction of your enterprise risk management program.
  • Hear directly from the two SEC Commissioners and gain insights into the agency’s areas of enforcement and walk away with guidance on how to remain compliant within emerging areas such as ESG disclosure, third-party risk management, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency and more.
  • Bring actionable takeaways back to your program from various session types including ESG, Human Trafficking, Board obligations and many others for you to listen, learn and share.
  • The goal of Compliance Week is to arm you with information, strategy and tactics to transform your organization and your career by connecting ethics to business performance through process augmentation and data visualization.

I hope you can join me at the event. For information on the event, click here. As an extra benefit to listeners of this podcast, Compliance Week is offering a $200 discount off the registration price. Enter discount code discount code TFLAW $200 OFF.
 

Categories
Career Can D0

Enriching Your Career through Toastmasters with Elizabeth Ruiz


 
In this episode of Career Can Do, Mary Ann Faremouth chats with Elizabeth Ruiz, a prolific leadership and communication consultant with four decades of experience in coaching, training, and development. Elizabeth is a board member of several organizations, including the Columbia University Alumni Association. She is also an author and speaker at EAR Enterprises, and a member of the leadership team at District56 Toastmasters – which catapulted her into the lifelong journey of mastering the art of listening. Elizabeth discusses how Toastmasters has impacted her life, and how it continues to impact the lives of others in positive and powerful ways.
 

 
Toastmasters’ conferences are wonderful opportunities to build connections while learning and having fun, even presenting attendees with the chance to win prizes. They not only help you hone and polish your public speaking skills, but also enhance your listening skills, and your ability to conduct meetings and present yourself both virtually and in person. The networking is the icing on the cake – whoever you meet there will undoubtedly enrich your personal and professional lives. The conferences also provide a neutral ground for employers and job-seekers to mingle with each other.
 
The organization’s Pathways program is a gold mine for personal and professional development, equipped with up to 11 interesting paths – from coaching to leadership, to digital public speaking – with five levels in each. You can spend anywhere from 6 months to 2 years on completing a Pathway, and you go at your own pace. 
 
Resources
Faremouth.com
ToastmastersHouston.com
 

Categories
All Things Investigations

All Things Investigations: Episode 3 – Key Developments in Ethics Compliance


 
Welcome to the Hughes Hubbard Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations Practice Group’s Podcast, All Things Investigations. In this podcast, host Tom Fox and members of the Hughes Hubbard Anti-Corruption & Internal Investigations Practice Group will highlight some of the key legal issues involved in white-collar and other investigations, both domestically and internationally. In this episode, I visit with Mike DeBernardis, a partner at Hughes Hubbard, about some of the key developments in ethics compliance and FCPA from Q1 2022.
 

 
Michael A. DeBernardis is a partner in the firm’s Washington office and a member of the firm’s Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations and White Collar & Regulatory Defense practice groups. Michael assists clients with internal investigations relating to high-stakes matters including bribery and corruption under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, procurement fraud, financial and accounting fraud, money laundering, and other ethics issues and violations of company policy. Michael has represented clients in connection with inquiries by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, among others.
Key areas we discuss on this podcast are:

  •  Q1 brought resolutions that were excellent examples for training and increasing understanding about compliance issues.
  •  One of the more difficult aspects of compliance is scoping investigations.
  • View input from your monitor as an opportunity to truly improve your processes, procedures and controls. Having a positive relationship with them is hugely valuable.
  • Developing an investigation plan and protocols is an iterative process.
  • Changes to the SEC Whistleblower program.
  • Anti-corruption implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 
Resources
Hughes Hubbard & Reed website
Mike DeBernardis 
Coburn and the Attorney/Client Privilege
 

Categories
The ESG Report

Karen Woody on SEC Rule-Making Procedures and ESG Rules Criticism


 
Tom Fox is back for a new episode of The ESG Report. He’s joined by Professor Karen Woody, and they go inside the SEC to take a look at the process and procedure, as well as the arguments made against the recently proposed rule around ESG. 
 

 
The Proposal Process 
“These rules aren’t just picked from the sky,” Karen explains. There are a number of people at the SEC who come together to devise these rules, with a lot of time being spent working through the proposal process. After the rule is written, the public has 60 days to comment on it, and once this period ends, the SEC takes these comments under advisement to promulgate a final rule. 

Challenging the Dissent
Karen points out that in the past, there has always been dissent whenever a rule was proposed in the SEC. However, the recent presence of dissent at almost every turn in the commission has created what feels like a very political space that – according to Karen – isn’t doing anyone any favors. 
A major argument that was raised is that promoting rules about climate does not lie within the SEC’s scope of authority. Karen disagrees; she states, “It would be hard to find an industry that won’t be touched by a climate event,” citing the many corporate sectors that would be negatively affected should a climate emergency occur. 
Another big point of issue was that investors don’t care about ESG. To rebut this, Karen brings up the Conflict Minerals Regulation, and how it is the perfect counterpoint to ESG. ESG is an investor-led movement, because people do want to know how green companies are. 
 
Challenging a Final Rule 
The procedure of challenging an SEC rule once it becomes final differs depending on where the challenge comes from. “The SEC is its own mini country,” says Karen, because they write and enforce their own rules, and the commission has its own court with an appointed administrative law judge. She explains the legal process that is involved with filing a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission should one wish to challenge a final rule, which involves answering to their administrative law judge, and eventually to an Article III court. 
 
RESOURCES 
Tom Fox’s email
Karen Woody | LinkedIn | Twitter
 

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

Mike Volkov on DOJ Trial Record


In this episode of the FCPA Compliance Report I visit with Mike Volkov. Mike recently did a three-part blog post series reviewing the DOJ trial strategy, successes and failures and approach of the antitrust division. In this podcast we take a deep dive into FCPA trials, other white collar fraud trials and antitrust trials the DOJ has had over the past few years. We assess the key approaches, discuss some important wins and unfortunate stumbles.
Resources
Mike Volkov on Corruption Crime & Compliance
Part 1 –  A Mixed Bag
Part 2 – Big Victories and Misguided Targets
Part 3 – Antitrust Division Stumbles

Categories
Daily Compliance News

May 2, 2022 the Howard Schultz Listens Edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
·      Howard Schultz goes on a listening tour. (Inc.)
·      Will SEC (and DOJ) gags in agreed Orders end? (NYT)
·      Russian threat to the global energy industry.  (WaPo)
·      Waging war on Putin’s corruption.  (Seattle Times)