In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Mara Senn, founder and CEO of Ethakos, about her path from big law and a decade as a partner at Arnold & Porter to anti-corruption work at the Kleptocracy Initiative, investigations at the World Bank, and in-house leadership roles at Fortune 500 medical device and pharma companies.
Senn explains she built the Ethakos compliance investigations platform using “vibe coding” with Claude, reducing reliance on software engineers and enabling rapid product decisions. She describes Ethakos as AI-native and human-in-the-loop, designed around how compliance teams actually work, with cleaner data creation, configurable workflows, and features that automate painful reporting tasks (e.g., investigation updates) and first drafts of chronologies, interview outlines, and reports. Senn emphasizes audibility via logs and citations, advises starting AI projects with clear risk goals, and predicts AI will remove menial work so teams can cover more risks while becoming more data- and tech-forward. Contact options include ethakos.com, email, and LinkedIn.
Key highlights:
- Why Build Ethakos
- AI Native Platform Design
- Solving Reporting Pain
- Starting AI in Compliance
- Avoiding Common AI Mistakes
- Investigation Workflow Automation
- Auditability and Regulator Proofing
- Future of Compliance Teams
Resources:
Mara Senn on LinkedIn
Tom Fox
To learn about the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the modern compliance professional, check out Tom’s latest book, The Game is Afoot-What Sherlock Holmes Teaches About Risk, Ethics and Investigations on Amazon.com.