The Compliance Life

The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Susan Divers, currently Director of Thought Leadership at LRN. 

In 1994,  Susan moved in-house becoming the first Deputy GC for international at SAIC.  In this role she set up compliance programs for ABC, trade controls and investigations as SAIC did not have a dedicated CECO at that time. She traveled extensively internationally and had experience with the Overseas Private Investment Company after the SAIC joint venture was nationalized by Chavez in Venezuela. After a brief stop at Lockheed Martin, Susan moved to the Chief Ethics and Compliance (CECO) role at AECOM. 

Resources

 Susan Divers LinkedIn Profile

LRN

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to navigate any company’s compliance waters successfully? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced, and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Susan Divers, currently Director of Thought Leadership at LRN. 

Susan graduated from George Washington University at night while working at the State Department during the day. Her legal career began Office of the Legal Advisor at the State Department and continued in London with two large law firms. I moved back to Washington, entered private practice, working first with Bob Strauss at Akin Gump and then moving over to Sonnenshien’s DC office, where she became a partner.

Resources

 Susan Divers LinkedIn Profile

LRN

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to navigate the compliance waters in any company successfully? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced, and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Audrey Harris, who handled FCPA cases before the explosion of FCPA enforcement actions in the early 2000s, sat in the CCO Chair, led compliance program work back in private practice, and now as Managing Director for Global Anti-corruption, Compliance, Ethics & Non-Financial Risk at Affiliated Monitors Inc.

Audrey graduated from Central Florida with a BA, got a MA at the University of Miami, and her law degree from Georgetown. A question about whether she wanted to go to South Beach when she was a summer clerk at Kirkland & Ellis led to FCPA work and eventual partnership at Kirkland. When she began, it was a different time in FCPA enforcement, pre-2004, and the explosion in FCPA growth. In this role, she loved problem-solving and seeing patterns, and asking why (and why and why).

Resources

 Audrey Harris on LinkedIn

Audrey Harris on Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Audrey Harris, who handled FCPA cases prior the explosion of FCPA enforcement actions in the early 2000’s, sat in the CCO Chair, led compliance program work back in private practice and now is Managing Director for Global Anti-corruption, Compliance, Ethics & Non-Financial Risk at Affiliated Monitors Inc. 

In this concluding episode, Audrey reflects on a key lesson which led her to join AMI. It is that an external monitor can be  a Value-Add proposition for all-sides, Company Business, Company Compliance, External Counsel, Enforcement/Regulators and other Stakeholders. It is not a second investigation, nor should it be seen as a “gotcha”. Rather a monitor can present  a path that can protect stakeholder and grow business, especially in this time of heightened awareness to social license and reputational risk. Audrey concludes that she loves the concept of turning a challenge into an opportunity and working at AMI on a monitorship team provides that opportunity. 

Resources

 Audrey Harris on LinkedIn

Audrey Harris on Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Audrey Harris, who handled FCPA cases prior the explosion of FCPA enforcement actions in the early 2000’s, sat in the CCO Chair, led compliance program work back in private practice and now is Managing Director for Global Anti-corruption, Compliance, Ethics & Non-Financial Risk at Affiliated Monitors Inc. 

In 2018, Audrey moved back into private practice, utilizing many of the skill sets she learned in the CCO chair. She understood that the business folks in any company needed answers not legal Memos so she worked to create compliance programs tailored to how business works. She helped to identify emerging risks company’s did not see and helped not simply solve compliance issues but also solve business problems with the same or similar solutions. 

Resources

 Audrey Harris on LinkedIn

Audrey Harris on Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Audrey Harris, who handled FCPA cases prior the explosion of FCPA enforcement actions in the early 2000’s, sat in the CCO Chair, led compliance program work back in private practice and now is Managing Director for Global Anti-corruption, Compliance, Ethics & Non-Financial Risk at Affiliated Monitors Inc. 

Even though Audrey had seen numerous CCOs ‘die painful professional deaths’ in 2015,  Audrey moved into the CCO Chairs at BHP. She gave the Top 10 CCO lessons she learned in that role. When asked what her top accomplishment was, she answered that it was seeing the professional growth in her team and how this compliance team grew and led a compliance reset for the company. She also learned to make the commercial case for compliance. 

Resources

 Audrey Harris on LinkedIn

Audrey Harris on Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Ellen Smith, who has sat in the chair of a Director of Trade Compliance. 

In this concluding episode, Ellen reflects on leaving her trade compliance chair at Baker Hughes during the pandemic and setting up her own consulting company, Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting. She discusses building up her own business and how she was able to reconnect with many people she developed relationships with at all the stages of her career. She emphasized why building your network is so critical and how to use if you move into consulting. She talks about the challenges and rewards of a consulting practice. 

Rather than a favorite adopted saying to conclude this series, Ellen talks about the presence of Jay Martin and how his presence added to the ethical culture at Baker Hughes. 

Resources

 Ellen Smith LinkedIn Profile

Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Ellen Smith, who has sat in the chair of a Director of Trade Compliance. 

 In late 2013, Ellen met Jay Martin, CCO at Baker Hughes who convinced her to move to Baker Hughes to help rationalize and rebuild/rebrand the Trade Compliance Department. While at Baker, Ellen had the opportunity to rebuild the trade program 3 or 4 times. The first, when she joined Baker. A second time, when Baker was considering a possible merger with Halliburton. A third time after a merger with GE Oil & Gas as we were a GE company. The fourth and final time came after post separation from GE. The biggest change in this job was that Jay Martin had established a culture of compliance throughout the organization.

Favorite adopted sayings

‘what you see is what you get’

‘Arm-in-arm’

Resources

 Ellen Smith LinkedIn Profile

Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Ellen Smith, who has sat in the chair of a Director of Trade Compliance. 

In 2002,  took her my first in-house job at Jockey International – the underwear company. It was a private company, family business, with a small legal department but with tremendous brand recognition and international footprint. Participated in a U.S. Focused Assessment, an early member of CTPAT validation, and a very intense customs valuation investigation and appeal by the CBSA, the Canada Customs authorities. In early 2010, she moved to Texas and joined Billy Jacobsen and Natalia Shehadeh at Weatherford, which was going through an investigation for export violations and bribery allegations.

Favorite adopted sayings

From Jockey– ‘life is like underwear, change is good’

From Mark Jaeger “perhaps“

Resources

 Ellen Smith LinkedIn Profile

Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting

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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Ellen Smith, who has sat in the chair of a Director of Trade Compliance. 

Ellen graduated from Dickinson College in central Pennsylvania in 1989 with a double major in Political Science and International Policy & Management Studies, spending her junior year abroad in Bologna, Italy.  Her first job was  at a family-owned freight forwarding company. After a couple of years, she started night law school in NYC, eventually graduating from John Marshall Law School. Ellen started her family and then moved into the law firm world, starting at a plaintiff’s med mal firm where she learned how to strategically work through a case in a team. Eventually, Ellen switched practice focus back to her trade roots and went to a boutique International Trade firm in Chicago, where she got her feet wet in the International Trade legal space working on many different customs and export issues.

Favorite Adopted Saying

Patrick Salvi-“In all due respect…”

Resources

 Ellen Smith LinkedIn Profile

Amalie Trade Compliance Consulting

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