In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Pat Poitevin.
Mr. Pat Poitevin is an internationally recognized expert in anti-corruption, corporate ethics, and compliance. He is the co-founder and executive director of the Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption (CCEAC). He is also co-founder & CEO of the boutique advisory firm Active Compliance and Ethics Group (ACEG). Mr. Poitevin is a 35-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and retired in October 2017, where he was the RCMP's anti-corruption and compliance expert. He has also been an investigator and expert on drugs, organized crime, and financial crime. He is in demand as a speaker, university lecturer, and trainer at the international level and has extensive experience in program development and capacity building. Mr. Poitevin has been advising and helping public and private organizations to improve their ethics, compliance, and anti-corruption measures. Mr. Poitevin has also worked on research, consultative, and advisory projects with the G20, UNODC, and the IMF. He was a member of the Canadian Project Committee (PC278) involved in the development of the ISO 37001 Anti-bribery and ISO 37002 Whistleblowing Management systems standard as well ISO 42001 AI Management systems. He is a member of the Transparency International Expert Network, ACFE, IAFCI, AACI, and several other professional associations. He also has the CACM and TASA professional designations. He is a member of Transparency International Canada and a Certified Anti-Corruption Manager (CMAC-USA).
Connect with Pat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patpoitevin/
64 min
2
Episode 221 - Elizabeth Wilks-Wood
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Elizabeth Wilks-Wood.
Elizabeth is a barrister by training, who started her legal career as a regulator, in the Office of Telecommunications and the European Commission. She has over 20 years’ in house experience of advising companies in the UK and internationally, including at Digicel, du and Royal Mail. Elizabeth is passionate about making compliance simple, and empowering all to make ethical decisions every day. In 2017, her team in Royal Mail was awarded “In House Compliance Team of the Year” by Women in Compliance. In 2018, as compliance lead for the Ritz Hotel Casino, the company was awarded “Socially Responsible Operator of the Year”, for their innovative work with a clinician and economist, to proactively identify those who may develop problematic play. She joined Carlsberg in 2019, and during her tenure her team worked to embed and enhance compliance in over 100 markets, many of which are high risk. Elizabeth is a lifelong learner. She has master’s degrees in international business law, economics and a distinction in the psychology of behaviour change.
Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-wilks-wood-46b0b448
58 min
3
Episode 220 - Michael Levin
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Michael Levin.
Michael Levin has a proven track-record of developing strategies and tactics for reducing compliance and ethics risks and has designed best-practice compliance programs for more than 100 companies.
Michael spent 10+ years overseeing Compliance and Ethics at Freddie Mac, leading a team of compliance professionals and corporate investigators, and setting the strategy to manage and mitigate Ethics, Culture and Conduct risk across the enterprise. This includes the Compliance Helpline, the Code of Conduct, employee trading controls, corporate investigations, and enterprise risk and compliance training. Levin was the founder of and also served as Secretary of Freddie Mac’s Conduct Risk Committee.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-levin-0a958a1/
61 min
4
Episode 219 - Mark Jaffe
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Mark Jaffe.
Mark Jaffe leads the Rivian ethics, compliance and privacy program which includes ethical culture, compliance oversight, privacy, and investigations. He leads a team of 16 people which includes privacy professionals, lawyers, compliance professionals, and investigators responsible for developing and implementing Rivian’s ethics, compliance and privacy programs and to investigate allegations of employee wrongdoing. Mark and his team work on issues related to privacy, information governance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data ethics.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjaffe/
67 min
5
Episode 218 - Ken Myers
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Ken Myers.
Ken Myers is a global strategic business executive of global product compliance turned regulatory and business consultant with a passion and history of building organizations, relationships, practices, and cultures aimed at defending and emboldening omni-channel brands following a cross-functionally collaborative, risk-managed, data-driven, decision-making approach. Ken has over 20 years of experience lifting Supplement, Functional Food, OTC, Cosmetic, and Beauty/Medical/Electronic Device brands to achieve their goals. He is presently the Executive Director of Regulatory Avenues Consulting.
56 min
6
Episode 217 - Matt Fawcett
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Matt Fawcett.
Matt Fawcett is general counsel for DXC Technology. He serves as principal counsel and advisor to senior leadership and the DXC Board of Directors. He has global responsibility for all legal, privacy, contracting, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, and compliance activities, as well as government and regulatory affairs.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattfawcett/
53 min
7
Episode 216 - Guido Palazzo
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Gio welcomes Guido Palazzo.
Guido Palazzo is a professor of business ethics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and a sought-after adviser on ethics and compliance. His work has been published in leading management journals such as the Academy of Management Review and the Academy of Management Journal.
Guido, along with Ulrich Hoffrage, authored the book The Dark Pattern - The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals. The book is set to release on June 3rd, 2025. In the book, Guido and Ulrich reveal why good people in organizations do bad things and how entire organizations can fall off a moral cliff.
Connect with Guido on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guidopalazzo-/
Learn more about the book and order: https://guidopalazzo.com/book-project/
58 min
8
Episode 215 - Jay Cohen
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Jay Cohen.
Jay Cohen has a wealth of experience as an architect of comprehensive legal compliance and risk management programs that identify and prevent fraud, promote ethical business practices, and ensure compliance with global legal mandates. As both Chief Compliance Officer and independent consultant, he has proven effective at identifying and interpreting applicable regulations and then crafting and communicating required organizational responses, motivating individuals at all levels of an organization, and collaborating with business leaders to advance compliant business strategies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-cohen-legalcompliance
66 min
9
Episode 214 - Todd Gower
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Todd Gower.
Todd Gower serves as the Chief Compliance Officer at L.A. Care Health Plan, bringing a distinctive blend of Big 4 consulting, finance, technology, and healthcare governance expertise to one of the nation’s largest publicly operated health plans. In this role, he leads a broad portfolio that includes corporate and regulatory compliance, enterprise risk management, external audit coordination, organizational ethics, privacy, special investigations, internal audit, delegated provider oversight, and compliance analytics. His focus is on building a culture of compliance that not only meets regulatory expectations—especially across Medicare and Medicaid programs—but also supports L.A. Care’s mission of delivering quality care to its members, providers, and communities.
62 min
10
Episode 213 - Betty Tierney
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Betty Tierney.
Betty Thorne Tierney is the Vice President, Litigation for a nationwide retailer. Betty leads the company’s in-house litigation team which actively defends the company’s uninsured litigation across the country. In this role, she has tried cases and arbitrations in numerous jurisdictions. Betty has also argued appeals in several federal districts and before the Missouri Supreme Court. In fulfilling this not so traditional in-house litigation role, Betty works closely with local counsel in the jurisdictions where her cases are pending. A 1990 graduate of Washington University School of Law, Betty spent her first two years of practice in a local law firm and has spent the remaining 33 years of her practice in-house.
43 min
11
Episode 212 - Margaret McLean
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Margaret McLean.
Margaret B. McLean is General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer, and Corporate Secretary for TTEC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), a leading global CX (customer experience) technology and services innovator for AI-enabled solutions for many of the world’s most iconic and disruptive brands.
Ms. McLean joined TTEC in 2013, with global legal, corporate governance, compliance, and risk management responsibilities for TTEC’s diversified business portfolio in 22 countries on six continents. She has special expertise in corporate governance and risk management, including data privacy, information security, healthcare, financial services, and public sector special regulatory regimes. She is also the executive sponsor for TTEC’s Impact & Sustainability/ESG initiative and the chair of the company’s Responsible AI Council.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-mclean/
61 min
12
Episode 211 - Barry Parsons
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Barry Parsons.
Barry Parsons is an Associate General Counsel for General Litigation. Barry litigates cases, advises clients, and manages outside counsel on a wide variety of legal matters including employment, contract, housing discrimination, insurance, fraud, counterparty receiverships, securities, and antitrust law. He also conducts internal investigations, prepares corporate policies, and advises the company on document retention, e-discovery, information governance, legal hold, privilege, litigation avoidance,
and compliance issues.
46 min
13
Episode 210 - Leigh Mulholland
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Leigh Mulholland.
Leigh Mulholland serves as the Chief Compliance Officer at the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU), where she oversees regulatory compliance, regulatory, environmental policy and compliance, enterprise risk management, insurance, and internal audit for both water and electric operations.
Before joining BPU, Leigh spent 16 years at Capital Power Corp (TSE:CPX), a Canadian-based independent power producer, where she served as Chief Compliance Officer from 2015 to 2023. Under her leadership, Capital Power earned Ethisphere’s prestigious World’s Most Ethical Companies designation from 2018 to 2023. Her prior roles at Capital Power spanned Corporate Strategy, Business Planning, M&A and Asset Valuation, Commercial Management, Real-time Operations, and Finance, showcasing her breadth of expertise in the energy sector.
52 min
14
Episode 209 - Kurt Stitcher
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Kurt Stitcher.
Kurt Stitcher is the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Nihon Kohden North America, Inc., a subsidiary of Nihon Kohden Corporation, a Japan-based medical device manufacturer. In this role, Kurt manages all legal and compliance matters for seven North American subsidiaries.
Before NKNA, Kurt served in senior compliance roles in multi-national medical device, manufacturing, and technology companies, where he helped design, build, and lead various elements of global compliance programs.
Before he moved in-house, Kurt spent over 20 years as a practicing lawyer, where he served as a Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense, and Investigations Partner at a number of global law firms. He also spent several years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Miami, Florida.
48 min
15
Episode 208 - Michelle Scharfenberg
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Michelle Sharfenberg.
Michelle has over 25 years of legal experience. She has spent the majority of her career in the medical device industry, providing legal advice to business teams, building compliance programs, and integrating compliance into business operations and culture. Michelle has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer for Avanos Medical and Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for Cantel Corporation (acquired by Steris Corporation). Prior to that experience, she held roles of increasing responsibility in the legal and compliance departments at Integra LifeSciences Corporation, including Chief Compliance Officer as well as General Counsel for Global Operations. She began her career as a law clerk in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and worked at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP) before joining the medical device industry.
49 min
16
Episode 207 - Katherine Cohen
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Katherine Cohen, JD, CHC, CHRC.
Katherine is the Chief Compliance Officer of Southern Illinois University (SIU) Medicine. In that role, Kate leads the compliance program for the SIU School of Medicine, the affiliated faculty practice plan and the SIU federally qualified health center. Focusing on collaborative, proactive compliance support for the organization, the compliance office is responsible for physician billing auditing and compliance, referral issues, conflict of interest, research compliance, research integrity, and privacy. Prior to her work with SIU Medicine, Kate has worked in healthcare and research compliance and legal positions. Kate is a graduate of Florida International University College of Law and Colgate University and holds certifications in healthcare compliance and healthcare research compliance from the Healthcare
Compliance Association.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-cohen-jd-chc-chrc-a6380b15/
55 min
17
Episode 206 - Scott Sullivan
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Scott Sullivan.
Scott E. Sullivan was most recently the former Chief Integrity & Compliance Officer of Newmont Corporation, the world’s leading gold company. Newmont has approximately 20,000 employees and 25,000 contractors with 12 operating mines and 2 non-operated JVs in 9 countries. Mr. Sullivan oversaw, developed, implemented and managed Newmont’s integrity and compliance program including ethics, anti-bribery, corporate investigations, conflicts of interest and global trade compliance. Previously, Mr. Sullivan was the Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Flowserve Corporation, a global manufacturer of fluid motion and control products with approximately 17,000 employees operating in 55 countries.
Linkedin.com/in/scottesullivancco
56 min
18
Episode 205 - Steven Robinson
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Steven Robinson.
Steven Robinson (CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPT, FIP, AI Security & Governance) is the former Chief Privacy Officer and Associate General Counsel at Ricoh USA, Inc., where he led technology transactions teams and supported U.S.-based technology development, privacy, security, and compliance teams. In that role, he spearheaded AI, privacy, and compliance policy development and provided comprehensive legal support for new technology initiatives. Mr. Robinson came to Ricoh as the Chief Legal Officer of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc., when Ricoh acquired it. He began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan DA's Office.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenhrobinson/
https://stevenhrobinson.substack.com/
55 min
19
Episode 204 - Gary Ballesteros
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Gary Ballesteros.
Gary Ballesteros is Vice President, Law, Chief Compliance Officer and Ombuds. He leads the team of compliance professionals who oversee Rockwell Automation’s compliance with regulatory requirements around the globe. Under his leadership, Rockwell has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Magazine.
As the Company’s Ombuds, Gary serves a critical role in the Company’s culture of ethics and integrity. The Ombuds has a direct reporting authority to the Board of Directors and is empowered to investigate any claims or allegations of misconduct within the Company. The Ombuds maintains a variety of hotline reporting mechanisms that can be accessed anonymously by any employee worldwide; and he also manages a staff of investigative personnel and counsel who investigate any reported violations of our Code of Conduct.
47 min
20
Episode 203 - Curtis Oltmans
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Curtis Oltmans.
Curtis Oltmans joined Fulcrum as General Counsel in November 2020 with over 25 years of experience in corporate law including senior management positions in legal departments at several leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He served as Vice President, Head of Litigation at DaVita Kidney Care, Inc. where he led a 30-person team and was responsible for all litigation, workers’ compensation and employee safety matters. Prior to DaVita, Curtis was Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Array BioPharma Inc. where he oversaw all legal, corporate governance, patent and compliance matters.
He has served on the Avenue Therapeutics Board of Directors since April 2021. Curtis received a BA in political science from the University of Nebraska and his JD from the University of Nebraska College of Law.
58 min
21
Episode 202 - Avril Ussery Sisk
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Avril Ussery Sisk.
Avril Ussery Sisk, NACD.DC, serves as Chair of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Capital Area Chapter Advisory Board, and is on the Advisory Boards of MABLE Software and Athena Alliance. She recently served on the board of a privately held information technology company where she supported strategic public-private partnerships and the government relations strategy to drive significant revenue and ultimately a transaction.
An attorney with more than 30 years of professional and community leadership, Avril has a strong record of innovation in large and mid-size government, business, and nonprofit organizations as well as consulting experience in both Japan and the United States.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/avril-ussery-sisk/
63 min
22
Episode 201 - Karin Hurt & David Dye
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Karin Hurt and David Dye.
Karin inspires courage confidence, and innovation. A former Verizon Wireless executive, she’s known for growing courageous leaders, building great cultures, and inspiring high-performance teams.
David helps leaders and teams achieve transformational results without sacrificing their humanity. As a former executive and elected official, he is known for practical leadership techniques you can use right away.
While they were reading and supporting one another's work, they met online. After a while, they realized they were writing the same book, so they decided to collaborate. They wrote their first book, Winning Well: A Manager’s Guide to Getting Results Without Losing Your Soul, while David was living in Colorado and Karin was in Maryland.
Soon after the book was complete, they realized we had fallen in love somewhere along the way and they got married and merged their businesses.
Now they help human-centered leaders (like you) resolve workplace ambiguity and chaos so that you can drive innovation, productivity, and revenue without burning out employees. At Let’s Grow Leaders, our leadership development programs and proven, researched-based techniques create sustained transformation. They equip your leaders with practical tools to cultivate lasting habits and build strong, cohesive, courageous cultures.
Learn more about Karin and David and Let's Grow Leaders here: https://letsgrowleaders.com/
Karin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-hurt/
David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmdye
60 min
23
Episode 200 - Andrew McBride
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick and Gio welcome Andrew McBride.
Andrew McBride is the CEO of Integrity Bridge LLC, a consulting practice offering strategic & operational compliance support for companies.
Andrew has over 25 years of compliance experience, at an international law firm and several multinational companies in the Americas, Europe and Australasia. In his most recent role as Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at Albemarle Corporation, he built a new ethics and compliance program, and recruited a new team, against the backdrop of an FCPA investigation. The investigation was resolved by way of a Non-Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and Cease & Desist Order with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the resolution, Albemarle secured a 45% reduction in penalty due to its co-operation with the investigation and the compliance program that was built, the largest FCPA % penalty reduction to date. In recognition of these efforts Albemarle was awarded Compliance Program of the Year by Compliance Week in May 2024.
In parallel to the FCPA investigation and business ethics efforts, Andrew played a key role supporting Albemarle’s commitment to sustainability including UN Global Compact membership, management of the company’s human rights framework and support for the company’s successful efforts to achieve certification against the Initiative of Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA)’s Mining Standard.
Prior to Albemarle, Andrew was Associate General Counsel Compliance at BHP, Senior Antitrust Counsel at BP and Managing Associate at Linklaters. Andrew is admitted to practice law in England, Western Australia & California. He is also a Certified Fraud Examiner.
77 min
24
Episode 199 - Christine Cunningham
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Christine Cunningham.
Christine Cunningham is a Pharmacy Compliance Coordinator and recent graduate of Western Governors University, earning a bachelor’s in healthcare administration. She is a certified pharmacy technician with twenty years of experience and is studying to earn the CHC through HCCA. When Christine isn’t helping hospital caregivers follow the myriad of pharmacy rules and regulations, she can be found listening to the latest Ethicsverse podcast, playing one of her ukuleles, or enjoying the view from her deck with a cat on her lap.
53 min
25
Episode 198 - Kimberly Strong
In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Kimberly Strong.
Kimberly Strong is vice president, Chief Ethics & Compliance officer for Con Edison, a regulated utility providing electric, gas and steam service in New York.
Since joining the company in 2012, Ms. Strong has been responsible for all aspects of the company’s business ethics and compliance program. She uses her years of experience as a trial attorney and advice lawyer on employment and labor issues by working with corporate leadership and employees to meet the company's commitment to integrity and accountability.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlystrong/