April 29 Lunch & Learn

Topic: Whistle(blowers) while you Work: An Understanding of How Companies are Handling Whistleblowers

Summary:  This panel will take a look at whistleblower laws, unique challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, and lessons learned from creating and monitoring programs in public and private organizations.  The session will include breakout rooms to facilitate sharing among our attendees so we can hear from our experts and colleagues.

Learning Objectives:

• Better understand the whistleblower laws to which your company may be subject
• Recent trends, particularly in the pandemic environment
• How to effectively create and manage programs in your organization

Date & Agenda: Thursday, April 29, 2021  11:00am – 1pm.

11:00 AM: Welcome & Intros
11:10 AM: Program, including breakout discussion groups
12:45 PM: Q&A

Audience: This event is open to all compliance & ethics professionals.

CEU/CLE: We are happy to provide up to 2.0 credits for SHRM.  This education activity has been submitted to the Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® and the GA Bar and is currently pending their review for approval of CCB CEUs (SCCE) and CLEs (GA Bar). Credits will be issued based on actual run time and attendance.

Additionally, participants can request a participation certificate to use to self-submit for other professional development credits, including CPEs with the GA State Accountancy Board.

Location: A Zoom link will be provided upon registration.

Cost: $75 non-members | No cost to current ACE members

Speakers:

• Emma Cecil | Partner, Finch McCranie
  Emma is a partner at Finch McCranie, where she focuses her practice on government investigations and white collar criminal defense, SEC enforcement, and corporate governance. She also represents FCA qui tam relators and SEC and CFTC whistleblowers. Following law school, Emma clerked for the Honorable Stanley F. Birch, Jr. of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is admitted to practice in Georgia and Colorado.
• Melissa Hall | Deputy Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Georgia Institute of Technology

  Melissa is the Deputy Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Director of Investigations at Georgia Tech.  She is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional.  Before joining Georgia Tech, she served as the Chief Financial Officer and Audit manager at several metro Atlanta organizations. In addition to ACE, Melissa serves as the Treasurer of the Association of College and University Auditors, and is a frequent speaker and thought leader at industry events in both the audit and compliance and ethics space.

• Amie McLemore | Director, Ethics & Compliance Office at Cox Enterprises
  Prior to moving into the Director role, Amie served as Senior Manager of Ethics & Compliance for Cox Communications, Inc. In that role, Amie was responsible for leading special compliance, litigation and privacy projects and ensuring ongoing compliance for any Consent Decrees the company is subject to while also conducting Regulatory Compliance Risk Assessments. She is the Navex Policy Tech system site administrator for the Cox organization, and responsible for policy lifecycle management. Amie obtained her Certified Fraud Examiner’s license in October 2018 to conduct internal employee investigations for Cox.
• Elizabeth Simon | Vice President, Compliance at FirstKey Homes
  Elizabeth Simon is the Vice President of Compliance at FirstKey Homes, a single-family home rental company based in Atlanta, GA.  She is responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring compliance initiatives to ensure FirstKey Homes’ work activities are compliant with all laws and regulations. She reviews regulatory requirements with Legal team members and operationalizes practices for the broader company, establishes formalized policies and procedures, reporting channels, auditing mechanisms, and vendor management compliance, and leads training initiatives to ensure all employees understand and practice compliance practices.  Prior to joining FirstKey Homes, Elizabeth served as Director of Ethics & Compliance for Cox Enterprises, Inc.    In her eight years at Cox, she was responsible for managing the Ethics Hotline and overseeing ethics-related investigations, conducting compliance risk assessments and ensuring that Cox is complying with the laws and regulations that are relevant to the company, leading the Records & Information Management program, and leading compliance-related projects, such as standardizing the investigation process across the company’s divisions.

Reminders:

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