What you’ll learn on this podcast episode

Although governance may not be a flashy topic in the world of upstart entrepreneurs, overlooking it can cause billions of dollars of loss for otherwise savvy investors. In this episode of the Principled Podcast, host Susan Divers discusses why good governance matters with Bruce Karpati, partner and global chief compliance officer at the private investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). Listen in as the two explore how governance plays a crucial role in the way KKR selects its portfolio companies and manages them.

Guest: Bruce Karpati

Bruce Karpati joined KKR in 2014 and serves as the firm’s global chief compliance officer and counsel. Prior to joining KKR, he was the chief compliance officer of Prudential Investments, the mutual fund and distribution business of Prudential Financial. Mr. Karpati was previously the national chief of the SEC’s asset management unit which he co-founded. In this role, he supervised a staff of 75 attorneys, industry experts, and other professionals. Mr. Karpati joined the SEC as a staff attorney in 2000, was promoted to branch chief in 2002, assistant regional director in 2005, and co-chief of the SEC’s Asset Management unit in 2010. In 2007, he founded the SEC’s hedge fund working group, a cross-office initiative to combat securities fraud in the hedge fund industry. Mr. Karpati also serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham University Law School. He began his career in private practice at Dechert LLP. Mr. Karpati earned his JD cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School, and his bachelor’s degree cum laude in International Relations from Tufts University. 

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.