Speakers BCEC 2020
Gabe Shawn Varges
Mr. Varges is Senior Partner of HCM and Chairman of the GECN Group, an international consulting firm active in Europe and around the world.
Mr. Varges’ expertise includes the intersection of governance, culture, organizational effectiveness, leadership, ethics, and compliance. This also encompasses the role of performance management, compensation, and incentives in promoting responsible conduct.
Mr. Varges works with boards, senior management, heads of key functions, and regulators on the more challenging and delicate aspects of these and other areas. He is also on the faculty of the University of St. Gallen Executive School in Switzerland where he is Director of Compliance Studies. Earlier, Mr. Varges was Head of Governance of the Swiss financial services regulator and was a senior executive at the Zurich Insurance Group, where he had world-wide responsibility as Group Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Varges serves as speaker and moderator for company and other events around the world. He has served as board member of Swiss and international organizations and is currently Vice-Chairman of Ethics & Compliance Switzerland. A Juris Doctor graduate of Harvard, he is the author of numerous publications, including “The HR Side of Compliance”, “Working with the Chief Compliance Officer: A New CEO Skill”, “Internal Governance: The Next Frontier”, “Governing Remuneration”, “Board Assessments”, and chapters in the book “Corporate Compliance: The Next Generation of Compliance”.
Read Mr. Varges’ article on compliance and the coronavirus here.
“Compliance officers should seek to apply the learn-by-analogy technique, i.e. draw parallels from the approaches by various countries to Corona (which vary in how they balance competing risks) with how one approaches compliance at a company.”
2. How is this crisis going to influence corporate governance, if at all?
“Crises tend to focus the mind. And without question the Corona crisis has reminded Boards, executives, and even investors that to get to wise, durable solutions good governance cannot be skipped. Some found during Corona that their company’s governance was lacking in some way, such as in not having good crisis management processes. These are insights that will have impact beyond Corona.”
3. Which compliance and ethics risks have rose from the corona business conditions, which were perhaps not anticipated or not so much in the front before?
“Compliance officers that before shied away from topics such as employee and client safety, or the compliance issues of distant working, are having to retool to better address these challenges.”
4. What specific projects and tasks are you currently working on?
“We are advising companies around the world on topics such as the above but also on how to use the Corona period as a time to rethink their enterprise wide compliance strategy.”
5. What is your message for attendants of the 6th Annual Conference on Compliance and Ethics?
“Be there! As we are moving to the next phase of this Corona period, it is critical for compliance communities to exchange views and concerns, both across industries and across countries. I look forward to seeing you virtually soon.”
Ruth Steinholtz
Ruth’s consulting work, speaking engagements and writing are in service of her mission to fight corruption by changing attitudes and practices relating to regulation, ethics and compliance.
An international corporate lawyer prior to founding AretéWork, Ruth developed a values-based approach to ethics and compliance while General Counsel and Head of Integrity at Borealis AG. The concept and the creation of a network of ethics ambassadors was key to the effectiveness of this approach.
Ruth is a member of the UNODC E4J panel of experts on Ethics & Integrity and is an experienced Certified Barrett Values Centre Consultant.
Ruth is co-author, with Professor Chris Hodges of Ethical Business Practice and Regulation: A Behavioural and Values-Based Approach to Compliance and Enforcement (Hart Publishing, December 2017).
Ruth’s other publications include the Institute of Business Ethics’ Good Practice Guides to Ethics Ambassadors (2010) and Performance Management for an Ethical Culture (2014).
Follow Ruth @ruthsteinholtz, connect with her on LinkedIn and find her blog at aretework.com
1. What are in your opinion most important lessons from current corona crises for compliance officers and business leaders to benefit from?
“It is even more important than ever to stop using the title, compliance officer! CoVid has meant people are focusing on values and on what they see as the fundamental things that are important in life. Processes and procedures, though necessary for legal and organisational reasons, are not the best way to motivate people to do the right thing. Business leaders and people working in the integrity field in various roles must motivate and inspire people to want to do the right thing. So, finding a better balance between ethics and integrity on the one hand, and compliance on the other is key. Another lesson is that we must be flexible and resilient and spend time creating workable approaches to crisis management. This will not be the last time we experience an unanticipated major event. Lets do a better job preparing for the unexpected!”
2. Do you think that this crisis have specific impact on organizational culture and business ethics specifically? And what is the outlook in this perspective past corona in your opinion?
“Yes, I do think it will have an impact on both organizational culture and business ethics. For one thing, we are likely to move into a world where some people work from home all of the time, others from the office all of the time, and others do both. This will bring new challenges for creating a cohesive organisational culture. Values will become even more important, and a great deal of thought will be needed to ensure that everyone feels part of the company. Otherwise, unethical behaviour will rise, as people feel disengaged.
At this point I am optimistic. Moving to remote working has actually increased communication and good ideas are spreading more rapidly as a result. It is too early to tell if we will see an increase in unethical behaviour overall. The only thing I can say with certainty is that companies that have not treated their employees well during this period are likely to experience an increase, assuming they survive.”
3. What concrete projects are you currently working on in your practice?
“I am working hard to spread the word about Ethical Business Practice and Regulation – the topic of the book I co-authored with Professor Chris Hodges of Oxford University. Built on the foundation of research showing that deterrence and punishment are not effective ways to change future behaviour; we are working with both regulators and businesses to stimulate new ways of thinking about the role of culture and values. I am also working with a variety of different types of organisations to measure their culture and identify their core values.”
4. What is your message for attendants of the 6th Annual Conference on Compliance and Ethics?
“It is time to broaden your skill set! It is no longer sufficient (if it ever was) to a good drafter of policies or creator of procedures. Compliance is an outcome, not an approach. It is an outcome of an effective (ethical) culture. Be curious. Read about behavioural ethics. Ethics is everyone’s responsibility; that is why I created the concept of ethics (integrity) ambassadors. Come and find out how a network of employee ambassadors can help you make a difference!
I’m looking forward to the Conference.”
Ruth Steinholtz
Murray Grainger
Country Manager Spain & Portugal Business Keeper AG
Murray Grainger is Business Keeper’s Country Manager for Spain and Portugal and responsible for Strategic Partnerships. Murray is an experienced lawyer and compliance officer, having worked in the UK, Australia, France and Spain. He has his Global Executive MBA from IESE Business School and is a past Chair of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association’s Global Business Interest Group. Murray has presented at US and European conferences including ECOA, SCCE, Compliance Week, ACFE.
- What are in your opinion the most important lessons from the current corona crisis for compliance officers and business leaders to benefit from?
The crisis of 2020 has – believe it or not – had positive as well as negative impacts for organisations and their leadership teams. Despite the immense challenges and the personal trauma experienced by so many people, the crisis has accelerated the implementation of digital tools and remote working. As we all now know, much business travel, previously considered irreplaceable, has been replaced with online meetings! In terms of risk management, this has been a big ‘wake up call’ to remind us that risks considered low probability – high impact need careful planning for business continuity.
- Do you think that this crisis has specific impact on corruption and fraud risks? Is there a need respectively for organizations to reconsider how to implement and manage effective whistleblowing system and why is this important anyway?
Absolutely, yes. Many governments have extended massive financial aid to employers and employees. Human nature suggests that increased fraud is thus inevitable. Whether in companies overclaiming such amounts, claiming while requiring employees to keep working or failing to provide appropriate health conditions or PPE, there are many opportunities for fraud.
Whistleblowing remains, of course, the #1 tool to detect such misconduct. Coupled with the 2021 implementation of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive in countries such as Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, the need to adopt and manage such systems becomes key. Hence we are very active on providing such solutions.
- What concrete projects are you currently working on in your practice?
As above, greatly increased demand for state-of-the-art secure whistleblowing solutions for clients right across Europe. Driven both by the crisis and by the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive. Our projects cover both public sector – market regulators, competition authorities, ABAC hotlines and so forth – plus all private sectors, including financial services, insurance, pharma, transportation and many more.
- What is your message for attendants of the 6th Annual Conference on Compliance and Ethics?
This conference is a fantastic way to stay at the cutting edge of best practice, whilst networking with great fellow professionals in your region and internationally. This has become an annual event which is impossible to miss.
Murray Grainger
Strategic Partnerships
Business Keeper AG
Roman Sartor
Co-Founder and Chairman/Advisory board of the Austrian Compliance Officer Association.
Compliance & Corporate Culture Enthusiast from the very beginning! Roman started with ABB as Head of Legal & Compliance after receiving the bar exam. Since 2014 Managing Director, KPMG Compliance & Risk. He is Co-Founder and Chairman/Advisory board of the Austrian Compliance Officer Association. Editor and author of several publications (Compliance, Risk, Strategy). Co-Founder of the ´5×5-method´ for corporate culture and compliance. Roman initiated and supervises the first Austrian MBA “Compliance & Risikomanagement” and represents Austria at European Network for Compliance Officers (ENFCO).
Jelena Danilović
Compliance Manager
Before joining Hemofarm in 2018, the company leader on the pharmaceutical market and a member of international STADA group, Jelena worked as an attorney at law in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners for more than a decade. As an attorney, Jelena obtained an extensive legal experience in advising international clients on commercial law topics and supporting them in complex legal matters and major M&A transactions in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a Compliance Manager in Hemofarm, she is responsible for enforcing regulations in all aspects and levels of business, as well as for providing guidance on compliance matters. She monitors and implements both international and internal compliance standards and provides education and guidelines on compliance-related topics.
At the conference, Jelena will be discussing challenges of COVID-19 crisis for compliance and different aspects of compliance system that can help in overcoming these challenges.
Barbara Krajnc
Public Affairs / Government Affairs / Strategic Communications / Mentor / Speaker / Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator / Aurora Borealis Consulting (Slovenia, Europe)
Barbara is an experienced international consultant with extensive experience in the areas public sector (Office of Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia), corporate affairs at an international corporation (Philip Morris International), general management of an outdoor advertising company (Epamedia d.o.o. / Premena d.o.o.) as well as a professional association (Slovenian Advertising Association). She also held a position of the Executive Director of the Golden Drum, International Advertising Festival, one of the biggest creative award shows in Europe.
Today she works as independent consultant – strategist, specialized in the areas of public affairs, government affairs, regulatory issues management, compliance and corporate / crisis communications.
Barbara is also keen speaker at conferences in Slovenia and abroad. Mentoring future managers and leaders is also one of her passions.
Creativity has always been at the core of Barbara’s work which means she applies many different innovative methods and approaches to consult, advise, mentor and facilitate.
Certified facilitator of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method and materials brings her consultancy work to a new level adding her extensive career experience.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarakrajnc/
www.auroraborealis.si
Tim Tyler
Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Head of Qualifications, ICA – International Compliance Association, UK
Tim joined the ICT (International Compliance Training) from the Gambling Commission where, as AML lead, he was responsible for AML regulatory and supervisory activity. This was preceded by thirty years in UK Law Enforcement spanning the police, Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and National Crime Agency (NCA). Other roles included oversight of the UK’s INTERPOL & EUROPOL central bureaus, and, working with the Serious Fraud Office in the investigation of complex fraud. Countering the threat of money laundering has been a recurrent theme throughout Tim’s career. He established money laundering investigation teams across the UK, developed innovative tactics to counter the threat, and worked with multiple domestic and international partners to track and eliminate laundering at source.
Adrian Pay
Director of Dynamic-GRC
Adrian has specialized in financial services Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) since 1995. He began his career in compliance monitoring in London, before moving into special investigations and compliance advisory, which took him to Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
While working in Asia, Adrian co-founded LatentZero an investment trading and compliance IT company. Adrian implemented compliance systems with many of the world’s leading investment managers in Europe, North America and Asia.
Currently, Adrian is a Director of Dynamic-GRC, a company focusing on automating manual compliance checks, processes and record keeping. As part of his role, Adrian travels widely and makes a point of meeting AML/Compliance practitioners in countries as varied as Albania and the Philippines, as well as the more traditional financial centers such as Boston, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Adrian regularly publishes his analysis of AML and Regulatory Compliance news stories which is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianpay/
Gaber Kontelj
Founder of CompLex, Compliance and Legal Services
Besides being well experienced lawyer with state legal examination (bar exam) supplemented with executive MBA degree he pursued compliance officer career for more than five years. As he worked for multinational company Siemens, pioneer in compliance systems, he went through a thorough compliance
education program and consequently took over the position as Regional Compliance Officer, responsible for eight countries in the Adriatic area. Acquiring knowledge and experiences in the main compliance areas, such as anti-corruption and conflict of interest, anti-money laundering, antitrust/competition, insider
information and data privacy, he has helped several major Slovenian companies to understand and introduce tailor made compliance processes.
Silvija Vig, PhD
Consultant, author and speaker
Silvija’s professional career is focused on behavioral ethics, business ethics, compliance and ethics programs, ISO standards, anti-corruption, organizational culture, integrity and leadership.
She has more than twenty years of work experience in managerial positions in Croatia and abroad, and last ten years she runs her private company CODUPO specialized in consulting and training. Silvija finished a Ph.D. study at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb with the thesis “The Impact of Business Ethics on Business Performance”. She has been a long-time lecturer at the University of Zagreb in the field of management and a visiting lecturer in the fields of business ethics and ethical management at other higher education institutions in Croatia. She is the author of many scientific papers from the field of business ethics and compliance and organizational culture. Since 2018 she has been a member of the Commission for Corporate Social Responsibility and Combating Corruption, International Chamber of Commerce – ICC Croatia. Silvija, multiple certified international expert, is author of the book “Business Ethics – How to Develop Authentic Leadership and Build a Culture of Happy and Engaged Employees with Ethics and Compliance Programs” – the first book in the Croatian language that explains in detail the implementation of effective ethics and compliance programs, behavioral ethics, decision-making, and global anti-corruption. The book is required literature at several faculties in the course Business Ethics in Croatia. In her career so far, she has participated in several projects related to the fight against corruption, which she considers to be one of the biggest obstacles to the development of modern society, which prompted her ten years ago to engage in studying business ethics, integrity, and compliance programs.
Dr. Moritz Trebeljahr
Senior member of Rusell Reynold’s global Corporate Officers and Board and CEO Advisory Partners practive groups
Dr. Moritz Trebeljahr is a senior member of Russell Reynolds’s global Corporate Officers and Board and CEO Advisory Partners practice groups. He specializes in the legal and compliance as well as corporate governance and supervisory functions. With more than a decade of executive search and leadership advisory experience, Moritz has conducted numerous Chief Compliance Officer searches for large multinational corporations and organizations across all industries. He is based in Hamburg.
Professional Experience
Moritz joined Russell Reynolds Associates from another leading global executive search firm, where he was an Associate Principal in the Legal, Regulatory & Compliance and Public & Social Sector practices. Over the course of more than 10 years with the firm, he held a number of roles, incl. Global Knowledge Manager for the Legal, Regulatory & Compliance practice and Head of Research for the functional practice groups. Previously, Moritz was a Marketing Consultant for the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Germany, based in Frankfurt.
Education
Moritz holds an MA and PhD in history from the University of Freiburg in Germany, having completed research residencies in Portugal, Malta, Italy and Vatican City. He is a member of the German Institute for Compliance (DICO) and sits on the Legal & Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committees of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. Moritz speaks fluent German, English, Portuguese and Italian.
Valentina Paduano
Board member of FERMA – Federation of European Risk Management Associations
Group Chief Risk Officer and Sustainability Director of Sogefi Group.
Valentina is member of the FERMA Board, as key representative of the Italian Risk Management association (ANRA) and specialist in the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Sustainability practices.
Thanks to her current role at Sogefi Group, as CRO & Sustainability Director, she has the opportunity to address within the organization the discussions of that strategic topics which have an increasing relevance for the internal and external stakeholders and for which a constructive benchmarking at European level must be enhanced.
After graduating at Bocconi’s University, Valentina had working in Risk Management & Compliance advisory service line for Ernst & Young and Protiviti. In 2014, she joined the multinational Prysmian Group as ERM Specialist, with the occasion to apply her knowledge to a complex and international context.
Valentina is Rimap certified, that’s the unique European Risk Management Professional Certification recognized by FERMA’s 21 risk management member associations.
Aleš Lunder
Partner | Corporate / M&A
Mr Aleš Lunder is a Local Partner and Head of Corporate / M&A practice in Slovenian branch of the international law firm CMS, which has been present on Slovenian market since 2008.
In more than two decades of professional experience Mr Lunder built a prominent record of accomplishments in advising on high-profile cross-border M&A transactions and privatization deals. He has been serving as a key advisor focusing on the delivery of commercial/strategic due diligence services to corporate and private equity clients across a variety of sectors.
He took a creative approach to transactional mandates by helping the clients, mainly multinationals, locate the most pressing issues of non-compliance and consequentially mitigate incurring risks by developing a risk assessment tool.
The praise to his work as a M&A specialist also comes from the clients. Mr Lunder is consistently listed as a leading expert in corporate and commercial law by Legal Directories.
As a long-time member of several committees and boards in different Slovenian companies and through his close cooperation with the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia, he is co-creating Slovenian corporate culture and continues to be an acclaimed part of Slovene business. As of recent he is also co-leading AmCham‘s Commission on Corporate Ethics and Transparency.
Elena Lunder
Office consultant on business and human rights, Fair Trade Advocacy, Brussels
Elena Lunder is a part of the team of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office in Brussels, representing the interest of the Fair Trade movement at the European Union (EU) level.
With a European Studies BA and International Human Rights Law LLM, Elena works with other NGOs and EU institutions towards sustainable development, with the aim to improve the livelihoods of marginalised producers and workers in the Global South.
Her focus is advocacy on development of an effective mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (HRDD) instrument which would have a positive impact on all actors throughout the value chain. As the FTAO works directly with its partners in the Global South, she has the possibility to discuss and build a better understanding of the situation on the ground which such legislation would aim to improve.
In this work environment, Ms Lunder developed an understanding of the HRDD process in relation to the reality of supply chains from the perspective of small farmers and workers leading to a valuable approach to risk assessments where the focus is risk posed by the company to human rights.
Daniel Barton
Fraud Investigator and Ethics & Compliance Consultant
Daniel brings more than 25 years of professional experience in forensic accounting investigations specialising in fraud, bribery and corruption, and regulatory issues and has worked with clients across a wide range of sectors and has undertaken assignments all over the world.
Daniel regularly works for Boards or Chief Ethics & Compliance Officers to assist them with developing policies, procedures and supporting tools in relation to various aspects of compliance. He has also provided training and education to clients on a broad range of fraud awareness, prevention and remediation issues such as corruption and bribery, internal audit, compliance reviews and internal investigations.
Malte Tober
Data Privacy & Compliance Officer, AXA Group Operations Germany GmbH
Malte is a member of the international data privacy & compliance team at AXA Group Operations. In his role he is responsible for compliance and appointed as DPO in the German AXA Group Operations entity. After studying German & European Economic Law at University of Siegen, Malte started his career in the compliance department of an international real estate company. His main areas of expertise are AML in the non-financial sector and data privacy. Malte is a member of the German Association of Compliance Managers (BCM) and acts as the city speaker for cities of Cologne and Bonn, bringing together local compliance managers to network and share experiences.
Christopher Stringham
Refinitiv
Christopher studied history and law at Arizona State University. He has years of compliance experience in both the first and second lines of defense. He currently works for Refinitiv helping clients fight financial crime and meet their regulatory obligations.
Emily Palmer
Senior Manager at Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations practice in London
Emily Palmer is a Senior Manager with Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations practice in London. She brings more than nine years of experience in forensic accounting investigations, specialising in cross-border & multilingual forensic projects and compliance matters.
Her primary areas of concentration are fraud, bribery & corruption investigations, FCPA / UK Bribery Act compliance reviews & forensic audits, involving the analysis of a significant amount of documentation and fact finding. Emily has worked with clients across a range of industries, including heavy manufacturing, storage & security services, aviation, insurance, pharmaceutical and automotive.
Emily is experienced in leading investigations on the ground and using her Business Intelligence expertise in the process. She is experienced in conducting sensitive interviews, gathering and analyzing various types of information including procurement, contractual, accounting and systems data. Emily also enjoys working with cutting edge forensic technology and data analytics tools, which she uses to collect, process and analyse large and complex data sets.
Milena Basta Trtnik, l.l. B.
Milena Basta Trtnik, l.l. B. is an expert in the field of public procurement, concessions and public-private partnerships. She worked at the National Review Commission for several years. Since 2013 she is managing director of consulting company. She is an author of many expert papers, among other Commentary on a Law of Public Procurement Act and Commentary on a Law of Award of Concession Contracts.