Sessions

Updates from the Regulators: SEC & DOJ Enforcement Priorities

Learning Objectives: 

• Review major white-collar crime cases and settlements
• Discuss current enforcement priorities and progress on new priorities in the Biden Administration
• Review recent pronouncements from DOJ and SEC on enforcement priorities
• Discuss trends and hot topics that regulators are seeing in areas such as cybersecurity, anti-corruption, COVID relief-related fraud, and ESG reporting

Speakers:

Ryan Buchanan | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia   

As the chief federal law enforcement official in the Northern District of Georgia, U.S. Attorney Buchanan oversees the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought in the district on behalf of the United States. He leads an office of approximately 250 prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel in its mission to enforce federal criminal law, advocate for the victims of crimes, and represent the United States’ interests in federal court – including in matters involving domestic and international terrorism, organized crime, gang violence, public corruption, cybercrime, narcotics trafficking, civil rights violations, whistleblower actions, and financial and healthcare fraud. Mr. Buchanan joined the Department of Justice in 2010. From 2010 to 2013, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Alabama. Since 2013, he has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, where he has also served as the National Security and Anti-Terrorism Council Coordinator and as Deputy Chief of the Violent Crime and National Security Section. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Buchanan was in private practice at McGuire Woods LLP. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Inge P. Johnson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Mr. Buchanan received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2005 and his B.S. from Samford University in 2001.

Nekia Hackworth Jones | Director, Atlanta Regional Office, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

As Director of the Atlanta Regional Office, Nekia Jones leads a staff of more than 100 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators, and compliance examiners involved in the investigation and prosecution of enforcement actions and the performance of compliance inspections in the Atlanta region. Jones joined the SEC from her role as litigation partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Atlanta, specializing in government investigations, internal investigations, and white collar criminal defense. Prior to joining Nelson Mullins, Ms. Jones has worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, where she investigated and prosecuted complex fraud cases, including securities and investment fraud, mortgage fraud, tax fraud, health care fraud, and public corruption. She also served in the Department of Justice’s Office of the Deputy Attorney General in Washington, D.C., first as a Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and then as Associate Deputy Attorney General and Executive Director of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. Prior to becoming a prosecutor in 2008, Jones worked as an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York and Nelson Mullins in Atlanta. She was also a law clerk to a federal district judge in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her law degree at Harvard Law School and her MBA at Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Business Administration with distinction from Emory University.

Justin Jeffries | U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission – Associate Regional Director, Division of Enforcement

Justin C. Jeffries is the Associate Director for the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office, where he heads the Enforcement program. Justin joined the SEC’s Division of Enforcement as a staff attorney in 2010 and was promoted to Assistant Regional Director in 2017. He also served as a counsel to the Division Director. During his tenure at the SEC, Justin has investigated or supervised a number of high-profile investigations and enforcement actions in all of the Commission’s major program areas. Before joining the SEC staff, Justin worked as a senior associate in King & Spalding LLP’s business litigation practice group in Atlanta, and as an associate in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s labor and employment practice group in Washington, D.C. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable William S. Duffey, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Justin received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2002 and his bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1997.

Steve McClain | U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of GA – Assistant US Attorney & Chief of the Complex Frauds Section

Steve is responsible for supervising other fraud prosecutors and white-collar matters in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He serves as the point of contact for the FBI, SEC, United States Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, and other federal and state agencies on fraud matters. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Department of Justice Director’s Award for the prosecution of a defendant who was convicted by a jury for running a Ponzi scheme and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Before his government service, Steve was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he focused on complex commercial litigation. He began his career as a law clerk for Judge Kenneth F. Ripple on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Steve graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he was the Managing Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Clemson University.

Compliance Program Effectiveness Assessment

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the evolving views of regulators on the need for continuous and dynamic monitoring for non-compliance
• Understand the limitations of traditional compliance metrics to provide an objective and comprehensive view of non-compliance
• Identify best practices in a world of continuous transaction monitoring
• Discuss how to implement such continuous monitoring programs (i.e., data acquisition and analysis, staffing and governance, resourcing)

Speaker:

Parth Chanda | Founder & CEO of Lextegrity

Parth Chanda is a veteran in-house compliance lawyer turned technologist. Parth is the Founder & CEO of Lextegrity, a software company providing data analytics and automation technology for leading global companies. Lextegrity’s software has been before regulators on several occasions and was cited by the SEC as a remediation factor in a client’s FCPA resolution in 2020. Prior to Lextegrity, Parth served in various global compliance roles at Pfizer and Avon. Parth began his career at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, where he was the Contributing Editor of its FCPA Digest.

Technology in Compliance 

Learning Objectives: 

• Discuss the evolution of the use of technology in compliance programs
• Determine the right balance between technology and people in your compliance program
• Explore how to use technology to enhance your risk assessment and identification and effectively manage red flags
• Investigate how to gain leadership support to invest in technology and who should you partner with to implement and manage these tools going forward
• Determine the pitfalls you could face when leveraging technology in your compliance program
• Discuss what good use of technology looks like and what are regulators expecting to see

Speakers: 

Michelle Davis | Director of Ethics & Compliance at Cox Communications, Inc.

In her role at CCI, Michelle primarily focuses on building and operationalizing CCI’s compliance programs. Prior to joining Cox Communications, Michelle spent over 14 years in PwC’s Forensics Services practice. As a consultant and strategic business advisor, Michelle led complex internal investigations, advised companies and external counsel during business disputes, and evaluated and designed effective internal controls and compliance programs, with a focus on leveraging technology solutions.

In early 2020, Michelle started working with Cox on developing a custom technology product designed to administer the enterprise’s regulatory risk assessment program. Upon transition to her current role at CCI, Michelle led design, build and implementation efforts for PwC’s technology product, re-evaluated CCI’s regulatory risk register, implemented process enhancements, launched the program, analyzed results, prepared reporting packages for business leaders, and reported frequently to CCI’s Enterprise Risk Management team on statutory and regulatory risk.

In addition to leading the regulatory risk assessment program, Michelle serves as the liaison between compliance (second line) and the business (first line), working with these teams to identify opportunities to improve management oversight and controls in some of CCI’s highest risk areas. Michelle also oversees investigation teams in matters that involve alleged kickbacks, bribery, and other internal fraud and leverages her experience leading complex internal investigations and process improvement design to identify and implement opportunities to streamline CCI’s corporate investigations process.

Michelle earned an accounting degree from the University of Florida. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP). She currently serves on the Corporate Leadership Council for the Fernbank Museum and is the treasurer of her children’s school foundation board. She is an alumnus member of the LEAD Atlanta class of 2013, Leadership Buckhead class of 2018, and is currently participating in the Leadership Georgia Program (c/o 2022). Michelle lives in Morningside with her husband Walt, two children Parker and Bailey, and puppy JoJo.

John Harris | Associate Director, Predictive Modeling & Advanced Analytics at Protiviti

John is an Associate Director in Protiviti’s Predictive Modeling and Advanced Analytics practice.  He has over 17 years of direct experience in the financial services, airline and utility industries applying a strategic thinking and advanced analytical skill set for all levels of leadership.  This includes building predictive models, optimizing resources, improving processes and developing quantitative models that turn data into decision-aid information.

As a Ph.D. student and National Science Foundation fellow, John’s research focus required the creation of predictive models and was supported/funded by the FAA, a large airline and a large aircraft manufacturing company.  While in industry, John held various levels of leadership responsibilities with the last one being Director of Analytics for a large financial services firm.  He developed predictive models for engine and aircraft component failures at a large airline company that resulted in patent applications to protect the work.  A large energy utility company filed patent applications to protect John’s work associated with developing resource and scheduling optimization models. John was also an adjunct professor of industrial engineering at Clemson University.

Hillary Rightler | Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend, Government Enforcement & Investigations

Hillary Rightler has over 11 years of experience practicing in areas relevant to corporate compliance and ethics.  She focuses her practice on white collar criminal defense matters including internal, criminal, and SEC investigations and corporate compliance monitorships.  Ms. Rightler has experience representing both individuals and corporations in handling government enforcement issues, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the False Claims Act (including government contracting and healthcare matters), Civil Investigative Demands, securities fraud allegations, and grand jury investigations.  Ms. Rightler has extensive experience assisting multinational organizations develop, implement and enhance their compliance programs.  Ms. Rightler performed a significant role in the Volkswagen AG Independent Compliance Monitor & Auditor team that oversaw VW AG’s compliance with Plea Agreement and Consent Decree obligations arising from parallel criminal and civil cases concerning emissions fraud with regard to the company’s diesel-powered cars sold in the United States.  Ms. Rightler also has experience in multiple areas of complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis in the area of securities litigation.  Ms. Rightler was recently named one of the “40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40” in 2021 by the National LGBT Bar Association and recognized for distinguishing herself in her field and demonstrating a profound commitment to LGBTQ+ equality.

Third Party Risk Management

Learning Objectives: 

• Define who/what is a ‘third party’
• Identify risks associated with third party engagement 
• Establish metrics to assess & rank risk threat
• Assess your due diligence process to reduce third party risk

Speakers: 

Virginia Adams | Ernst & Young LLP US Forensic & Integrity Services Partner

An EY veteran of over 20 years, Virginia is the Atlanta office Forensic & Integrity Services Leader. She regularly assists clients with complex, cross-border financial fraud investigations. She has worked alongside international law firms, reporting to regulators, law enforcement agencies, senior management and independent auditors on a range of issues pertaining to accounting matters, including fraud, corruption and financial statement restatements. Virginia began her career as a part of the EY audit practice in Atlanta and has worked in the New York and Boston offices during her career. Virginia holds a BBA in International Business from the University of Georgia and an MS in Accountancy from the University of Virginia. She has co-authored several publications addressing fraud and corruption risk and is a frequent speaker on these topics. Virginia is a CPA in Georgia and New York and is a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Elizabeth Ames | Corporate Counsel and Ethics, Delta Airlines

Elizabeth is experienced compliance & ethics counsel who uses innovation and technology to create compliance programs to meet business needs while minimizing frustration to operations. In addition to overseeing corporate policies, hotlines, training, communications, and investigations, I have provided legal advice on a wide array of subject matters including antitrust, bribery, fraud, international trade, and data privacy.

Erin Brown |  Vice President of Operational Risk Management at Mitsubishi UJF Financial Group (MUFG)

Erin earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a focus on economic development in the Middle East and North Africa, and a double minor in Arabic and Anthropology, from Emory University, and her law degree from the University of Georgia. Erin is an active member of various professional organizations, including the State Bar of Georgia, the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) and Mediators without Borders. She also serves as a Law School Alumni mentor, volunteers with the Georgia Radio Reading Service (GaRRS) and is a member of the Dogwood City Chapter of the Links, Inc. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and dogs, as well as cooking, kickboxing and traveling.

Brennan M. Stewart | Director of Compliance & Privacy, Rheem Manufacturing Company

Charged with oversight of the global corporate compliance program at Rheem Manufacturing Co, Brennan provides counsel, guidance, and advice with respect to the development, implementation and maintenance of Rheem’s policies, procedures, training, Ethics Helpline, and investigations.  She also provides legal guidance on privacy, data security and consumer protection laws and regulations. Prior to joining Rheem, Brennan was Senior Legal Counsel, Director of Compliance & Privacy at Aaron’s, Inc and Senior Legal Counsel at Fiserv. In addition, Brennan was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Reliance Trust Company from 2003 to 2011. Brennan received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Juris Doctor from the UNC School of Law. She is a member of the North Carolina Bar, State Bar of Georgia and the American Bar Association.  Brennan is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She served as Chair of the Better Business Bureau serving Metro Atlanta, Athens and NE Georgia (BBB) from 2017 to 2019 and currently sits on the Board of the BBB.  She also currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Compliance & Ethics Roundtable.