Welcome to the Great Women in Compliance podcast with Hemma Lomax and Lisa Fine, sponsored by Corporate Compliance Insights.   In today’s episode, Lisa speaks with Karen Bertha, who has built world-class programs throughout her career, most recently at V2X.   She has significant expertise in acquisition and post-acquisition due diligence, including at V2X.  After that acquisition, she found herself at a crossroad and needed time to take stock and take a pause.

Karen reflects on the work she has done with due diligence, including how and when compliance should be involved in due diligence.  They also discuss strategies for post-integration, even if compliance is brought at some point later.  Karen has worked in highly regulated industries, such as government contracting, and those not in highly regulated industries and shares her experiences and lessons learned.

Karen left V2X after the acquisition, which was at a time where she needed time for herself and other parts of her life.  She talks about how the “power of the pause,” has been helpful to her.  She talks about reflecting on her work in the Ethics & Compliance profession, increasing her learning, specifically in compliance-adjacent fields like Human Resources and audit with time to focus.  She also shares some of the things she has enjoyed during this time, which we at #GWIC hope can be inspiring to those of you thinking about your next steps or between roles.

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