What you’ll learn on this podcast episode

A lot of press coverage tends to conflate environmental, social, and governance initiatives exclusively with environmental stewardship and climate change. While the “E” of ESG is certainly important, organizations that overlook the “S” and “G” could open themselves up to other crises, such as human rights violations and data breaches. In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Susan Divers discusses best practices for integrating governance and social impact considerations into ESG strategy with Sony Group’s Global Ethics & Compliance Strategy Leader, Kathleen Franklin.

Guest: Kathleen Franklin

Kathleen Franklin is the Global Ethics & Compliance Strategy Leader for the Sony Group Companies, where she is responsible for promoting a culture of ethics and devising enterprise-wide solutions for critical risk areas. She also acts as the chief compliance officer for Sony Corporation of America and its operating subsidiaries. Prior to joining Sony, Kathleen was a partner and co-chair of the Corporate Governance Group for Boies, Schiller and Flexner, LLP.

Kathleen is also a member of the board of directors of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) where she serves on the Risk Committee. Bank OZK is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, conducts banking operations through 240 offices in Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, New York and California, and has approximately 27 billion in assets.

Kathleen graduated magna cum laude from Siena College, Loudonville, New York, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She graduated magna cum laude from Albany Law School of Union University and earned an LL.M in Taxation from New York University School of Law.

Susan Divers is a senior advisor with LRN Corporation. In that capacity, Ms. Divers brings her 30+ years’ accomplishments and experience in the ethics and compliance area to LRN partners and colleagues. This expertise includes building state-of-the-art compliance programs infused with values, designing user-friendly means of engaging and informing employees, fostering an embedded culture of compliance and substantial subject matter expertise in anti-corruption, export controls, sanctions, and other key areas of compliance.

Prior to joining LRN, Mrs. Divers served as AECOM’s Assistant General for Global Ethics & Compliance and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer. Under her leadership, AECOM’s ethics and compliance program garnered six external awards in recognition of its effectiveness and Mrs. Divers’ thought leadership in the ethics field. In 2011, Mrs. Divers received the AECOM CEO Award of Excellence, which recognized her work in advancing the company’s ethics and compliance program.

Mrs. Divers’ background includes more than thirty years’ experience practicing law in these areas. Before joining AECOM, she worked at SAIC and Lockheed Martin in the international compliance area. Prior to that, she was a partner with the DC office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. She also spent four years in London and is qualified as a Solicitor to the High Court of England and Wales, practicing in the international arena with the law firms of Theodore Goddard & Co. and Herbert Smith & Co. She also served as an attorney in the Office of the Legal Advisor at the Department of State and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN working on the first anti-corruption multilateral treaty initiative.

Mrs. Divers is a member of the DC Bar and a graduate of Trinity College, Washington D.C. and of the National Law Center of George Washington University. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Ethisphere Magazine listed her as one the “Attorneys Who Matter” in the ethics & compliance area. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Rutgers University Center for Ethical Behavior and served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Practical Training from 2005-2008.

She resides in Northern Virginia and is a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on ethics and compliance topics. Mrs. Divers’ most recent publication is “Balancing Best Practices and Reality in Compliance,” published by Compliance Week in February 2015. In her spare time, she mentors veteran and university students and enjoys outdoor activities.