The accolade, in its second year, recognises the tireless efforts and dedication of E&C professionals who are leading the charge to embed integrity and ethics as a core value within their organizations.

Nominated by the Ethics and Compliance and Vault Platform community, these individuals stand out as the movers and shakers of the ethics and integrity space.

The 2024 Integrity Innovators

– Amy Mertz Brown, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer, Boeing Employees Credit Union 

– Laurel Burke, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer and In-House Leader, Axiom

– Candace Ciresi, Chief Compliance Officer, Mobileum

– Sam Craft, Global Director, Compliance Training and LMS Management, Alcon

– Claudia Curtis, Senior Vice Presidents, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, BD

– Rupert Evill, Founding Director, Ethics Insight

– Linda Frazier, Chief Compliance Officer, TripAdvisor 

– Adam Hunt, Leader (Senior Director) of Global Ethics and Compliance Org, Netflix

– Ellen Hunt, Principal Consultant and Advisor, Spark Compliance Consulting

– Sandhya Sharma Global HR Program Manager, MiQ 

– Joseph Philipose, Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Emergent Bio Solutions

– Gitanjali Sakhuja, Fractional CCEO, GS Consulting

– Carolina Santos da Silva, Head of Ethics & Compliance EMIA, Bridgestone EMIA

– Sonja Sefrin, Associate Director, Ethics, ING

– Micheal Sheely, Chief Compliance Officer, Payoneer

– Monica Thurman, Director, Ethics and Legal Compliance, Intel

 – LaSalle Vaughn, Chief Compliance, Ethics & Risk Officer, Bestow

– Hitomi Walter, Legal Compliance Lead, Wellcome Trust

– Emma Williams, Director of European Risk & Compliance MLRO, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Promoting Active Integrity

At Vault, we believe that companies must be active in their pursuit of flawless integrity. And Vault’s core value – promoting Active Integrity – is at the heart of what Integrity Innovators is all about. 

Everyone selected embodies this value, and exemplifies a commitment and vision to make work a better place for everyone.

Their endeavours are serving as inspiration for the next generation of Ethics and Compliance leadership, showing that integrity is not just a buzzword, but a fundamental principle that shapes organizational culture and success.

Our Innovators have also been earmarked as thought leaders in their field, the ones to watch for the latest trends. 

In coming weeks we will hear from them about the projects they’re most proud of, their vision for creating better ethics programs, and their thoughts on the hot topics within the profession.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to find out more about how innovators are building active speak up cultures in their organizations, get in touch.

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Kevin is a purpose-led senior lawyer and ethics and compliance executive with a passion for building positive work cultures with strong climates of integrity. He advocates for a modern approach to Speak Up and orchestrated TI Fluid System’s adoption of Vault Platform. The organization is now setting the tone for the rest of the automotive sector through its innovative compliance programs.

He said: “We’re maintaining momentum and traction in our efforts to build a culture of ethics and make headway in keeping colleagues engaged.”

Kevin is also the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Diversity X, supporting underestimated founders of purpose-led start-ups. He applies his world travels and deep insights into the shift towards human leadership and the demand for businesses to align their purpose with making the world a better place for everyone.

TI Fluid Systems is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of automotive fluid systems technology with nearly 100 years of automotive fluid systems experience and manufacturing facilities in 28 countries.

Check out some of our other Integrity Innovator blog posts here.

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Airbnb is a brand that needs no introduction. The online marketplace for homestays has invested heavily in its ethical health and has embedded integrity in the way it does business. The brand wants to promote a culture within the Airbnb community that goes above and beyond mere compliance.

Alongside the Airbnb team, Jennifer has built a compliance program that goes beyond legal requirements; from prevention and detection to transparent and direct responses to reports of misconduct. Jennifer leads with empathy and is motivated by the continuous challenge to innovate with data-driven systems and standards that incentivize accountability. She likes to use brain teasers and hypotheticals to bring the Airbnb Code of Ethics and other policies to life.

She said: “Over the last five years, I’ve developed a real passion for teaching. I love leveraging my experience as an instructor at Harvard’s Trial Advocacy Workshop in presentations I make to Airbnb employees across the globe. I take care to tell every member of the audience that their voice matters; that we want – and need – to hear from them, before detailing how, when, and to whom to raise any concern or complaint. These presentations proactively prevent policy violations. They also help create a culture in which we feel inspired, encouraged, and empowered to speak up whenever any of us fall short. Whether or not the word is in your job title, ethics is everyone’s responsibility.”

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Driven by a personal manifesto to lead with positive psychology and happiness, Gustavo shapes the culture of OLX through anti-corruption partnerships and renewed investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Having worked in risk analysis, risk management, compliance, internal controls, internal audits, investigations, and more, Gustavo is always keen to find new ways of reinventing ethics and compliance functions. His current focus is on leveling up OLX’s Speak Up program for 2023.

When asked about the challenges facing ethics and compliance professionals, Gustavo said: “With advances in technology, the associated risks have become increasingly complex and concerns are no longer solely data-centric. For example, despite its adaptive predictive power and autonomous learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not work in the same way as human intelligence. Without proper safeguards, an AI system can introduce cognitive risks that could have legal implications for an organization. To guard against these risks, organizations need to make informed and cautious decisions about the design, development, implementation, and use of a wide variety of emerging technologies.“

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Fraser’s work on ethics initiatives is a driving force for change. He’s brought a new approach to Speak Up at Wellcome, moving the organization away from a hotline and adopting digital channels that provide proactive insights for the business.

His innovative ethics-focused initiatives include ‘The Only Way is Ethics’ – open discussions between staff and board members and external speakers who talk about different integrity topics, including fraud, modern slavery, and ethical standards. Fraser and his team then link each session’s topic to Wellcome’s mission and values, demonstrating why integrity is so important to the organization and how everyone can be accountable and have a direct impact. This kind of dialogue around integrity and accountability in the workplace is raising the bar for foundations and nonprofits.

Fraser said: “We’re continuing to try ‘humanise’ what we’re doing – to truly embed our process of engaging mindsets (in particular through storytelling and role-modeling), sparking conversations, and providing simple and human tools for changing behaviours and habits in the moments that matter.”

Fraser is inspired by the wonderful Wellcome team, who consistently inspire great ideas and motivation.

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Wavering trust

Our Trust Gap survey demonstrated that a rift exists between employees and employers which is costing US businesses $20 billion a year on rehiring alone. It also revealed that a third of workers believed their organization would brush aside workplace misconduct if it was likely to impact profits or reputation and that 63% of workplace misconduct incidents are never reported.

Zendesk’s Hemma Ramrattan Lomax said: “One of the biggest challenges for businesses will be instilling and maintaining trust with a workforce that is insecure and burned out, especially in the tech sector, with recent layoffs and hits on revenue and stock prices. It’s important for E&C professionals and leaders to decide how we can best support our colleagues when they’re asked to do more with less.”

Adam Balfour from Bridgestone Americas added: “Trust levels are low and stakeholder expectations of organizations are increasing. While this is a significant challenge in 2023, it’s also an opportunity to really focus on being trustworthy, taking ethics and compliance seriously, and being a purpose-driven and people-focused organization.”

Organizations today need to continue to place a significant focus on trust, considering carefully how they build and maintain it with employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, and the world at large. Read more about the importance of rebuilding trust in our recent blog post.

Changing expectations

As Hemma alluded to, recent layoffs in the tech industry have many people worried about job security. Moreover, conscious quitting has been making headlines as more people choose to work for organizations that better represent their personal values. Organizations yet to truly understand just how crucial it is to build and maintain their workforce are falling behind while others that are actively choosing to align their values with those of the people in their ecosystems thrive.

Fraser Simpson from the Wellcome Trust said: “We’re focusing on humanising what we’re doing and truly embedding our process of engaging mindsets through storytelling and role-modeling, sparking conversations, and providing access to simple tools for changing behaviours and habits in the moments that matter.”

Similarly, Kevin Withane from TI Fluid Systems said: “We’re maintaining momentum and traction in our efforts to build a culture of ethics and make headway in keeping colleagues engaged.”

Another consideration for worldwide businesses is how to ensure policies and initiatives are both standardized and yet localized. Billy Hughes from Victoria’s Secret said: “After a few years of restricted travel due to the pandemic, I’m excited to get our team back into the field, visit more of our global offices, and find innovative ways to better localize our programs.”

Political divides and legislative changes

There has been a backlash in recent months, primarily from Republicans in the US, against the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing movement. However, executives say ESG Is here to stay.

Rob Chesnut said: “ESG shouldn’t be partisan – the biggest challenge is to help keep ESG from being dragged into our fractious politics. We can disagree about what ESG may mean for different companies with different cultures in different sectors, but we all should be aligned in the belief that companies have an obligation to stakeholders beyond just their investors.”

Meanwhile, Anna Romberg, co-founder of the Nordic Business Ethics Network, foresees a tsunami of ESG-related regulation in the near future.

And ESG isn’t the only area in which our Integrity Innovators predict major legislative changes. Jennifer Lane, a former federal prosecutor, highlighted The Department of Justice’s recent settlement with Meta, which set a new standard for addressing discrimination through machine learning, as well as the significant changes made to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Similarly, Lloydette Bai-Marrow said: “The likely changes to corporate criminal liability in the UK will be a significant challenge for organizations, not to mention the use of artificial intelligence in the E&C field.“

It’s clear that forward-thinking businesses must ensure they remain up to date on and compliant with any relevant changes in ESG legislation regardless of politics.

Moving away from reactive mitigation

When it comes to dealing with issues of workplace misconduct, businesses can no longer afford to take a reactive approach, which involves mitigating incidents rather than active prevention.

Alison Taylor, Executive Director at Ethical Systems said: ”We must reinforce the importance of integrity despite the political backlash and continuously improve the Speak Up culture we’re creating. We need to continue to provide employees with assurance that action will be taken where necessary and that a healthy Speak Up culture works hand in hand with a healthy company culture.”

Aura’s Ling-Ling Nie said: “Some people think that a high-growth culture and a compliance culture cannot co-exist in a productive way. But I am always up for a challenge and will continue to cultivate a healthy ecosystem where both can thrive.”

Jennifer Lane added: “We’ve designed our compliance program to go above and beyond what the law requires. From prevention and detection to our response to reports of misconduct – our perennial challenge is to continue to innovate, with data-driven systems and standards that incentivize accountability.”

Check out our Active Integrity: A New Code of Ethics for Forward-Thinking Businesses ebook to find out more about the benefits of Active Integrity.

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Billy understands the huge importance of psychological safety and ensures this is core to his risk programs. He actively challenges the traditional way of thinking about speaking up at work. He also understands that E&C is collaborative; he works closely with internal partners such as Victoria secret’s HR team.

As well as releasing a brand new anti-harassment training course with content customized for different populations (e.g., home office, stores, distribution centers), Billy is developing and releasing Victoria Secret’s first-ever standalone Speak Up Policy.

He said: “We wanted to create a policy that would act as a companion to our Code of Conduct but go into more depth on topics like reporting, investigations, and anti-retaliation. We also worked hard to make the policy accessible with easy-to-understand language and FAQs that took on (and hopefully busted) some common myths about reporting. After a few years of pandemic-limited travel and lots of remote meetings, I’m excited to visit more of our global offices and find ways to better localize our program.” The final policy is available for download on Victoria’s Secret’s website.

Billy is a big fan of Adam Balfour’s “Sunday Morning Compliance Tips” on LinkedIn.

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The Nordic Business Ethics Network is dedicated to sharing best practices and facilitating dialogue through networking. Through her work in building the Nordic Business Ethics Network, Anna advances business ethics and supports professionals everywhere in building more responsible organizations.

Getinge is a leading provider of products and systems within health care and life sciences. At Getinge, every employee and business partner is expected to be a ‘responsible leader’, which means sharing responsibility for and being passionate about doing the right thing. Anna and the Getinge team are keen to extend the responsible leadership program to quality compliance in the coming year.

Anna is particularly inspired by the work of Alison Taylor, who we spotlighted recently. Anna also co-authored the book The Grey Zone: A practical guide to corporate conduct, compliance and business ethics.

Pragmatic and results-oriented, Anna’s passion for good business ethics, governance, and compliance is clear in everything that she does and she has a reputation for ”making things happen in complex organizations”.

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Housed in NYU Stern’s Business and Society Program, Ethical Systems uses research-based strategies to help transform the ethical practices of the corporate world through trust, integrity, and collaborative research. By working directly with companies to address cultural challenges, Ethical Systems is helping to raise the bar for corporate ethical standards.

Along with her colleagues and industry collaborators, Alison is moving corporate ethics and compliance forward, leading the next generation of ethical businesses toward effective cultures.

This year, Alison is hoping to wrap up her book on how businesses can do the right thing in a turbulent world. She said: “One of the biggest challenges and opportunities for the corporate compliance world this year is how we collectively reinforce the importance of integrity in business despite the huge political backlash.”

When it comes to inspirational peers, Alison cites Denise Hearn’s work on economics and Tessa Wernink’s work on employee activism. Alison is also a huge inspiration for others and was the most referenced nominee amongst our other Integrity Innovators in the field.

Always thought-provoking with her examples of good and bad corporate ethics, Alison is a true torchbearer and an excellent advocate for innovation.

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