Ethicast

What happens when a company becomes the target of a congressional investigation, and how can ethics, compliance, legal, and government affairs teams prepare before scrutiny arrives? In this episode of The Ethicast, host Bill Coffin speaks with Kimberly Hamm and Carlos Felipe Uriarte, partners at Morrison Foerster and co-chairs of the firm’s Congressional Investigations practice. Drawing on deep experience across Congress, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and high-stakes corporate investigations, Kim and Carlos explain what organizations should understand about congressional scrutiny, how investigations unfold, and why preparation across internal teams matters. The conversation explores what a congressional investigation really entails, whether companies should expect executive testimony, the emerging issues most likely to attract attention, and how congressional inquiries can intersect with other government investigations or enforcement actions. Kim and Carlos also discuss how ethics and compliance, legal, and government affairs teams can work together before a crisis hits, and whether there is such a thing as “winning” before Congress. Topics include: What a congressional investigation involves Why private sector companies are facing more congressional scrutiny Whether investigations begin with testimony or document requests High-risk areas including AI, supply chain, and data privacy How congressional investigations can overlap with DOJ, SEC, or other agency activity Why cross-functional preparation matters What companies should expect if called before Congress For more insights from Kim Hamm and Carlos Felipe Uriarte, visit their profile pages at mofo.com and Morrison Foerster’s Congressional Investigations page, including their Congressional Investigations Quarterly client alert. For additional free resources on ethics, compliance, and corporate integrity, visit the Ethisphere Resource Center at ethisphere.com/resources. Chapters (00:02:10) - What does a congressional investigation really entail?(00:04:28) - Do investigations start with executive testimony?(00:05:34) - Topics and trends that may trigger congressional scrutiny(00:08:21) - How congressional investigations intersect with other government investigations(00:10:10) - Breaking down silos between Ethics & Compliance, Legal, and Government Affairs(00:12:51) - What outcomes should companies realistically expect?

Prediction markets promise a sharper read on the future. But recent stories raise a darker question: what happens when traders are not predicting events, but exploiting confidential information or manipulating the inputs that settle the bet? In this episode, Erica and Bill examine alleged classified-information betting tied to a Venezuela military operation, suspected weather-sensor tampering in Paris, and a college football gambling scandal to unpack the ethics and compliance risks now surrounding prediction markets, from insider information and fraud to oversight, trust, and institutional integrity. For those who are not aware, prediction markets work like a hybrid between investment markets and prop betting. "Investors" buy shares in the yes-or-no or A-or-B outcome of a projected uncertainty: Will Finland or Greece win the 2026 Eurovision contest? Will the Fed change interest rates in June? Will traffic in the Strait of Hormuz return to normal by May 15? Will Tottenham Hotspur be relegated at the end of the 2025-2026 English Premier League? And so on. Prediction markets have been around for a while, but they have exploded in betting volume in recent years. And on a more troubling note, they increasingly appear to provide an avenue for the improper use of inside information as well as a vector for fraud, cheating, and other undesireable outcomes. NEWS LINKS - MADURO RAID U.S. soldier accused of betting on Maduro operation pleads not guilty https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-soldier-accused-betting-maduro-operation-pleads-not-guilty-rcna342586 Special forces soldier who won $400,000 betting on Maduro's capture pleads not guilty https://abcnews.com/US/special-forces-soldier-won-400000-betting-maduros-capture/story?id=132442898 US soldier pleads not guilty to charges of gambling on Maduro ouster https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-soldier-accused-gambling-maduro-removal-due-court-2026-04-28/ U.S. Senators Now Prohibited From Trading on Prediction Markets https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/senators-vote-to-ban-themselves-from-trading-on-prediction-markets-ae4535dd NEWS LINKS - CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT Polymarket just paid out $21,398 on a $119 weather bet — after a Paris airport sensor spiked 6°C in seconds https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/options/articles/polymarket-just-paid-21-398-153000011.html France investigates suspected tampering with weather sensors after Polymarket bets https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/23/europe/france-weather-sensor-polymarket-bet-intl-latam French police probe suspected weather device tampering after odd Polymarket bet https://www.npr.org/2026/04/23/nx-s1-5797876/polymarket-paris-weather-bet The prediction-market gold rush is here — and the shenanigans are getting messy https://www.businessinsider.com/prediction-market-event-analysis-outlook-polymarket-insider-trading-market-manipulation-2026-4 Polymarket reportedly seeking CFTC approval to reopen ma... Chapters (00:04:30) - How the Maduro Raid shows that every organization has insider information risk(00:11:00) - How insider trading can become a fraud risk...and worse(00:18:20) - How the temptation of insider trading creates a sports integrity issue

Ethics and compliance champions programs can extend the reach of a centralized E&C team, but how do you prove they are working? In this BELA Asks episode of Ethicast, Ethisphere’s Erica Salmon Byrne explains how organizations can evaluate both the overall ROI of an ambassador or champions program and the performance of individual ambassadors. Erica discusses practical data points to track, including employee questions, policy confusion, participation in ambassador conversations, use of program materials, and employee awareness of local champions. She also explains why a strong champions program creates a valuable feedback loop between employees and the ethics and compliance team, helping organizations respond faster, improve communications, and strengthen risk mitigation.Learn more about BELA: www.ethisphere.com/bela

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future-state issue for ethics and compliance teams. It is already reshaping how programs manage training, reporting, risk assessment, monitoring, measurement, and operational decision-making. In this episode of The Ethicast, host Bill Coffin speaks with Roxanne Petraeus, Co-Founder and CEO of Ethena, and Dianne Ramos, Head of Ethics at Guardian Life Insurance, about how ethics and compliance leaders can move AI from experimentation into practical, responsible use. Roxanne and Dianne recently led the “Prompt to Practice: A Hands-On Workshop for the AI-Curious CCO” breakout session at the 2026 Global Ethics Summit, and they bring a practical, field-tested perspective to one of the most urgent questions facing today’s chief ethics and compliance officers: how can E&C teams adopt AI quickly, responsibly, and in ways that actually improve program performance? This conversation covers how to build AI fluency, create safe space for experimentation, engage leadership and key stakeholders, measure ROI, and lead teams through the cultural change that AI adoption requires. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why ethics and compliance teams should begin experimenting with AI now, even if they are still early in their journey How to distinguish between AI tools that are ready for operational use and those better suited for learning and experimentation Why leadership support, legal, risk, privacy, security, and compliance alignment matter when introducing AI How to measure the impact of AI on cycle time, error rates, rework, costs, and program maturity Why AI ROI should include both time savings and new capabilities that were not previously possible How E&C leaders can bring teams along through change without creating fatigue, disengagement, or quiet resistance To learn more about Ethena’s AI-driven compliance tools, visit goethena.com. To learn more about Guardian Life, visit guardianlife.com. To learn more about Ethisphere’s research on AI in ethics and compliance, visit ethisphere.com and download AI in Ethics & Compliance: Risk to Manage, Tool to Leverage. Subscribe to The Ethicast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify for more conversations on ethics, compliance, corporate integrity, and the future of business leadership. Chapters (00:02:13) - How E&C teams can catch up on AI adoption(00:04:33) - What is ready for prime time versus what is still experimental(00:07:01) - How to operationalize AI in regulated or resistant organizations(00:09:18) - Why measurement matters for AI in ethics and compliance(00:12:23) - Lessons learned from real AI implementation(00:15:51) - Resources and closing

At Ethisphere, we believe there is no competition in compliance. That’s why we’re using this show as a platform to answer high-level questions about business integrity that have been posed to us by the members of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, or BELA. BELA is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program. It also provides a concierge service by which members can submit questions around best practices, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. Many of these questions are particular to a specific company’s needs. But many more of them speak to challenges or opportunities facing E&C professionals everywhere. So in this episode, we’re going to answer one such question as part of our ongoing mission to make the world a better place by advancing business integrity. Joining us once again to answer your questions is BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne. In this episode, Erica answers the following question: How can I build the business case for an embedded and dedicated communications specialist within our E&C department? To learn more about BELA, visit https://www.ethisphere.com/bela to request guest access to the Member Resource Hub and to speak with a BELA Engagement Director.

Erica Salmon Byrne, Executive Chair of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, answers another question from the BELA Membership around how to date investigations case volume data. In particular, should case volume be dates when investigations are opened or closed? To learn more about joining the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, visit https://www.ethisphere.com/bela to request guest access to the Member Resource Hub and to speak with a BELA Engagement Director.

In the highly regulated world of financial services, running a top-notch ethics and compliance program is table stakes for maintaining one's ability to do business at all. But Principal Financial Group recognizes that this goes deeper than merely abiding by regulatory expectation. By maintaining high ethical standards and reinforcing the understanding of (and adherence to) its Global Code of Conduct, related policies, and legal and regulatory requirements across the organization by delivering education, training, and conducting risk assessments, Principal has earned the coveted Compliance Leader Verification designation through 2026 from Ethisphere. In this episode, Noreen Fierro, Senior Vice President, & Enterprise Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Principal explains how the company maintains its best-in-class ethics and compliance program by keeping culture at the center of it. To learn more about the great work that Noreen and her colleagues are accomplishing at Principal, please visit their Governance, Ethics, & Risk page at https://www.principal.com/sustainability/governance-ethics-risk  To learn more about the Compliance Leader Verification program, and to see how well your ethics and compliance program compares to your peers, visit https://www.ethisphere.com/solutions Chapters (00:02:42) - How a long-term focus on consistent, recurring culture measurement helps to position Principal's E&C team as a trusted strategic advisor within the organization(00:05:04) - Developing an organizational skillset around measuring, analyzing, and improving your overall culture has helped you to meet business units “where they live"(00:09:06) - How other organizations with integrated models can apply Principal’s approach to advancing culture

BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne tackles an interesting question from the members of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance around how to handle the risks that arise when employees relocate temporarily to an international location - either for professional or private reasons - but must maintain their connectivity to their virtual workplace. To learn more about joining the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, visit https://www.ethisphere.com/bela to request guest access to the Member Resource Hub and to speak with a BELA Engagement Director.

The Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program.  Each year, BELA honors select member companies and individual ethics and compliance leaders for their extraordinary commitment to advancing community engagement, growth, and transformation. These are the BELA Impact Awards, and they reflect BELA’s own dedication to moving the integrity agenda forward for all companies. In particular, the BELA Community Champion award recognizes outstanding contributions to the member community by way of content resources, event participation, publications, mentorship, or peer-to-peer support. This year, BELA recognizes American defense, aviation, information technology, health services, and medical research company Leidos—which has also been a World's Most Ethical Companies honoree since 2018—as one of its BELA Community Champions. With us today to discuss how Leidos earned this award—and how the organization exemplifies the credo that there is no competition in compliance—is Jelahn Stewart, Chief Compliance Officer, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Leidos, where she oversees the organization’s global ethics, compliance, and business integrity functions.  Leidos Ethics & Business Integrity page: https://www.leidos.com/company/ethics-and-business-integrity Learn more about BELA: https://www.ethisphere.com/bela Chapters (00:02:16) - How BELA resources help Leidos achieve their ethics and compliance goals(00:05:16) - How BELA Roundtables provide a forum for E&C leaders to share information and best practices(00:07:17) - On sharing resources to the BELA Member Hub and how Leidos gives back to the E&C community(00:10:26) - Recommendations for contributing a policy or asset to the BELA member hub

People managers are the front line for delivering to employees the expectations (and aspirations) of not just the ethics and compliance team, but that of senior management and even the Board. And yet, managers often struggle with these burdens because they just don’t receive the right support...which creates otherwise preventable friction and risk within the organization. In this episode, Ethisphere’s Eric Jorgenson, Director, Data & Services, and Katie Kruger, Senior Culture Analyst, will discuss how organizations can improve their manager communications on topics involving ethics and compliance. Learn more at the Ethisphere Resource Center: https://www.ethisphere.com/resources Chapters (00:01:21) - Understanding both Ethics Quotient and Culture Quotient data(00:03:11) - The unique role managers play in shaping an ethical culture(00:08:49) - Rethinking the role of managers as ethics ambassadors(00:10:17) - How to lead meaningful ethics conversations with their teams(00:14:25) - More ethics conversations vs better ones(00:17:35) - Scaling ethics conversations across the organization

In this episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne dives into the data surrounding best practices in governance and oversight for Ethics & Compliance. From data surrounding where the function sits, to how the Chief Compliance Officer should interact with the committee and the board, this episode is chock-full of valuable insights stemming from the 2026 World's Most Ethical Companies data set. Want more data? Reach out to us to get access to the Sphere, our on-demand data platform! #Ethisphere #Ethicast #BELAAsks #Governance #EthicsandCompliance

In today's episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair of BELA, addresses who should ultimately own an organization's compliance program. The answer is: it depends. Learn more about BELA: https://bela.ethisphere.com/ Ethisphere Resource Center: https://www.ethisphere.com/resources

One of the most pronounced concerns of the 2026 risk landscape so far is that of external investigations that involve multiple jurisdictions. Many businesses operate on an international, multi-national, or global basis. And if they don’t, their third-party suppliers and partners certainly do. At the same time, a worldwide fracturing of regulatory expectations, enforcement paradigms, and legal controls have made the threat of a cross-border investigation an even greater risk than it has been traditionally. For any business facing the possibility of dealing with legal troubles that span jurisdictions, there has never been a better time to prepare in advance than right now. Joining us this episode to explain how you can manage the risk of cross-border external investigations is Sagarika Chakraborty, CEO – India and Gulf, and Global Head of Investigations, of IIRIS Consulting, the largest Indian Digital, Risk, and Intelligence consulting firm. IIRIS Consulting: https://iirisconsulting.com Sagarika Chakraborty LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagarikachakraborty/ Chapters (00:01:48) - The state of cross-border external investigations today(00:03:26) - How organizations should prepare in advance for cross-jurisdictional investigations, and how should Legal and Compliance work together(00:05:18) - Key challenges in running internal investigations across jurisdictions, particularly around privacy(00:08:14) - How organizations can balance legal privilege with transparency when regulators across jurisdictions expect different levels of disclosure(00:12:31) - Common mistakes boards & senior leaders make when overseeing cross-border investigations

In today's episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne answers the question, "We are reviewing our approach to service on external boards, both governing and advisory. In particular, what are circumstances in which we would or would not allow compensation for service on such boards?" Erica addresses best practices on ensuring board service is documented as a conflict of interest, getting permission for service, and what to watch out for, particularly in allowing compensation for external board service.  The Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) is a community of organizations committed to strengthening and maturing their E&C programs. In BELA Asks, we take time to address members' questions, and we share that information widely, because we believe there is no competition in compliance.  #BELAAsks #Ethicast #Ethisphere #ConflictsofInterest

As businesses face relentless market challenges, technological transformations, leadership misconduct, and geopolitical whiplash, Boards of Directors play a vital role in providing the kind of ethical leadership that will help organizations build value and manage risk. And yet, those same pressures also expose the thin ethical oversight that many Boards provide—mainly because they lack practical ways to promote culture, conduct, and trust as core business values. In response, Boards of the Future—a U.S.-based nonprofit advancing ethical leadership and integrity at the highest levels of corporate power—has released How Boards Should Oversee Ethics, a guide that distills ten concrete practices to help boards bring ethics into the center of strategy, risk, and performance conversations. In this episode, Boards of the Future Executive Director, Vera Cherepanova speaks to the distinct practices that can help Boards be better drivers of ethical business culture. Download How Boards Should Oversee Ethics: https://newboards.org Ethisphere Resource Center: https://www.ethisphere.com/resources Chapters (00:01:46) - How executive leaders can ask “better questions” of their Boards(00:07:02) - Why Boards should step away from past analysis and embrace ethical foresight(00:10:28) - How can Boards can best help set the conditions for speak-up culture

As we celebrate our 100th episode of BELA Asks, we're answering *two* questions: How Do I Help My New CEO, and How Do I Reward Speak-Up?" And, we have a special guest appearance, too. Don't miss it!

At this year's Global Ethics Summit, Ethisphere kicks things off with industry roundtables in which you can spend time with your peers discussing best practices, challenges, and successes that specifically pertain to your industry. One of these is Next-Gen Learning: Exploring Emerging Tech Tools to Engage the "Non-Desked" Employee, which will discuss of the challenges of trying to apply exciting advancements in training and communications with a production workforce. Joining us this episode is this workshop’s leader, Christopher Annand, Senior Director of the Ethics & Compliance Office, as he offers his thoughts on how Cargill innovates around training and engaging its production employees. Cargill is the largest privately held U.S. company in terms of revenue. Based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Cargill’s various businesses touch every major aspect of the global food supply chain, including agriculture, animal nutrition, food & beverage production, and transportation. Cargill also produces pharmaceuticals, supplements, beauty products, & bioindustrial products. On March 29, 30, and 31, Ethisphere will host the 2026 Global Ethics Summit, held live in Atlanta GA and virtually online. This leading ethics and compliance event brings together leaders from nearly 500 organizations around the world, representing more than 60 industries, as they share innovations, insights, and best practices that help them tackle the real-world E&C challenges that face companies everywhere. Register for the Global Ethics Summit here: https://events.ethisphere.com/e/global-ethics-summit-2026 Chapters (00:01:53) - The challenge of training employees in a production setting(00:04:38) - How Cargill innovates around engaging its large and diversified production workforce(00:09:16) - Advice do you have for E&C leaders seeking to train employees who might not be at a desk or terminal(00:12:42) - Encouragement for companies seeking to improve their own training efforts

Premera Blue Cross is a not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield-licensed health insurance company that services approximately 2 million people in Washington state and Alaska. Premera holds itself to the highest standards of ethical behavior, which is why Ethisphere has recognized the company with the coveted Compliance Leader Verification designation for 2025 through 2027. In this episode, Sven Peterson, Vice President of Compliance, Ethics and Regulatory Services, and Corporate Compliance & Ethics Officer at Premera Blue Cross, explains how pursuing "ethics as a team sport" has been instrumental in advancing training and communications, developing a highly effective Compliance and Ethics Champion program, and strengthening monitoring and control functions. Learn more about Ethics & Integrity at Premera Blue Cross: https://www.premera.com/visitor/ethics-integrity Learn more about the Compliance Leader Verification program: https://www/ethisphere.com/solutions Chapters (00:02:50) - Premera Blue Cross’s ethics & compliance maturity journey(00:06:13) - Program successes that reflects Prepera's wider commitment to ethics within its business strategy(00:09:00) - Premera's future aspirations for its E&C program(00:11:38) - Words of advice for companies looking to make program assessment part of their maturity journey

In today's episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair of BELA, answers the question, "In addition to training and manager policy education, what approaches are companies using to address areas with a significant number of concerns/ employee concerns of a specific type?" For more information, visit ethisphere.com/resources #BELAAsks #Ethisphere #EmployeeEngagement #EthicsandCompliance Chapters (00:00:00) - Welcome to today's episode!(00:01:04) - How are companies approaching numerous concerns?

On March 29, 30, and 31, Ethisphere will host the 2026 Global Ethics Summit, held live in Atlanta GA and virtually online. This leading ethics and compliance event brings together leaders from nearly 500 organizations around the world, representing more than 60 industries, as they share innovations, insights, and best practices that help them tackle the real-world E&C challenges that face companies everywhere. A can't-miss part of this year' agenda are interactive workshops such as One Speak Up Program, Many Voices: Bridging Generational, Cultural, and Organizational Divides. This session directly addresses the challenges of navigating the different expectations and communication preferences of a diversified workforce. Through real-life case studies and peer problem-solving, you'll build practical skills you can apply immediately. You'll leave with a comprehensive workbook filled with frameworks, guides, and a 90-day plan, plus actionable next steps, all tailored to help your organization navigate these differences without diluting your program's integrity. In this episode, we're joined by this workshop's leader, Nela Gomez, VP, Growth and Commercial Strategy for North America at SpeakUp, as she discusses how to build a speak-up program that delivers the same levels of trust and confidence to your 22-year-old warehouse worker in Manila as it does to your 55-year-old manager in Munich, and your stateside legal team. # Visit attendges.com to register for the Global Ethics Summit, where you can save your seat in Marinela’s interactive workshop, One Speak Up Program, Many Voices: Bridging Generational, Cultural, and Organizational Divides. Space is limited, and GES will be upon us before we know it, so don’t delay! Register and reserve your spot today.  And to learn more about SpeakUp, be sure to engage with them at GES, visit speakup.com, and of course, follow both Nela and SpeakUp on LinkedIn. And if you’re already set to attend GES, the Ethicast will once again be streaming live from the event! Please stop by and say hello. Who knows? We might even invite you to join the show. Chapters (00:01:52) - Sharing what actually works across generational and cultural divides within speak-up programs around the world, from global enterprises to smaller orgs(00:04:28) - Speak-up programs are becoming significantly more complex as organizations manage increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforces(00:05:41) - The move to culture-based E&C programs is driving the need for multi-channel reporting options and ongoing awareness campaigns rather than one-off initiatives

You've got questions, and we've got answers! In this episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne, Chair of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, explains when the right time is to let external audit know that a misconduct investigation is underway. Business Ethics Leadership Alliance: https://bela.ethisphere.com/

Kendall Mills - Head of Ethics and Compliance, Americas, for global real estate services company JLL - shares how she uses data to highlight the impact of JLL's ethics and compliance program when meeting with the Board of Directors. This includes building better board presentations, sharing the right KPIs, and crafting a narrative that puts this all together. JLL's Ethics Everywhere Annual Report: https://www.jll.com/content/dam/legacy/jll-com/documents/pdf/company-information/ethics-everywhere-annual-report.pdf At the 2026 Global Ethics Summit—which will be held in Atlanta, GA this March 30-31, Kendall will go even deeper into this topic at the main stage session, Speak the Language of the Board with Data-Driven Stories. Kendall will be joined by colleagues from Mitratech, Amgen, Circana, and AT&T. Register today to attend the Global Ethics Summit in person, or virtually! https://events.ethisphere.com/e/global-ethics-summit-2026 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethisphere-institute Chapters (00:01:50) - How and why JLL turned to data to drive ethics & compliance(00:03:51) - How JLL's data journey reduces risk and builds value(00:06:36) - Measuring the impact of this approach, and how it changes over time(00:09:32) - Advice for E&C leaders to incorporate data into their own operations

You've got questions, and we've got answers! In this episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne, Chair of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, offers helpful insight for how E&C leaders can monitor industry gatherings where there is the potential to encounter members of competing companies. #BELA #ethics #compliance #competition Business Ethics Leadership Alliance: https://bela.ethisphere.com/

Our guest for this episode is Mark Driedger, CEO of AppLogic Networks, a provider of network observability technology, based in Plano, Texas that over the last year has undergone a substantial organizational transformation. That includes a truly impressive advancement of its ethics and compliance efforts. Which, as Mark explains, play a crucial role in aiding the company’s ongoing transformation, supporting its continued growth and sustained success, and upholding an enterprise-wide commitment to being a champion of digital human rights. AppLogic Networks: https://www.applogicnetworks.com/ AppLogic Networks LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/applogicnetworks/ Ethisphere: https://ethisphere.com/ Ethisphere Resource Center: https://ethisphere.com/resource-search/ Chapters (00:01:37) - What AppLogic Networks does, and how it has transformed over the last year(00:03:07) - Building a strong leadership relationship with the ethics & compliance team amid broader organizational transformation(00:05:18) - What success looks like for AppLogic's E&C program, the program's biggest wins, and planned future achievements(00:08:56) - How E&C leaders can use "technologies for good" to build better, more ethical businesses everywhere

You've got questions; we've got answers. In this episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne addresses best practices in trainings, specifically: what is the appropriate number of modules/assessments per training? Erica covers best practices with a focus on ensuring the learner is understanding the material and understanding the purpose of the training and why it's important for their work. With those things in mind, a company can structure its effective training with the "right" number of assessments. BELA is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program. It also provides a concierge service by which members can submit questions around best practices, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. To request free guest access to the BELA Member Resource Hub and speak with a BELA Engagement Director visit: www.ethisphere.com/bela #BELAAsks #Ethisphere #ComplianceTraining

In our increasingly interconnected business world, organizational supply chains have become multi-layered supply webs. As a result, the task of managing supply chain due diligence has become more important—and more challenging—than ever. But what if you could use generative AI and large language models to analyze things like program assessment data to accurately extrapolate your total universe of inherent and residual risk? Discussing this with us in this episode is Craig Moss, executive vice president of measurement at Ethisphere. Craig is also a director at the Digital Supply Chain Institute and the Cyber Readiness Institute and is on the board for the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors. Craig's most recent byline with the Dow Jones Risk Journal is “Using AI to Manage Supply Chain Risk.” which explains how generative AI, when applied to program maturity data and ESG assessment data, provide E&C teams with an hourglass-shaped funnel through which supplier risk suddenly becomes a whole lot more manageable. Read “Using AI to Manage Supply Chain Risk,” at www.dowjones.com FREE REPORT - AI in Ethics & Compliance: Risk to Manage, Tool to Leverage: www.ethisphere.com Chapters (00:01:36) - How program maturity assessment data can be used to find risk patterns and manage a much bigger scale of inherent and residual risk, especially within their supply chain?(00:04:41) - How a combination of quantitative data and qualitative intelligence can inform an organization's overall approach to a more holistic compliance and ESG program(00:07:05) - How generative AI and large language models can help companies manage a wide spectrum of compliance and ESG risks

Erica Salmon Byrne, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair of BELA, answers the question, "How should companies escalate investigations of ethics complaints when they involve an executive or member of senior management?"  From developing your policies and procedures prior to this kind of situation, to discussing practical ways that policy might look, Erica walks through exactly how an organization can deal with this type of report.  BELA is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program. It also provides a concierge service by which members can submit questions around best practices, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. To request free guest access to the BELA Member Resource Hub and speak with a BELA Engagement Director visit: www.ethisphere.com/bela

Baker McKenzie has released their 2026 Global Disputes Forecast, which surveys 600 senior decision makers with responsibility for, or with a key role in, litigation at large organizations. The survey provides a wealth of information on what, why, and how senior leaders are viewing today’s biggest business risks with regards to how they might translate into complex legal disputes, with tariffs, sanctions, export controls, and cross-border or multi-agency investigations at top of mind. Baker McKenzie partners Widge Devaney and Peter Tomczak share their insights on what the year ahead will look like, and how organizations can prepare now to succeed in 2026's legal risk landscape. FREE WEBINAR: Register for Global Disputes Forecast: Risk Trends and Priorities for 2026 here: https://ethisphere.com/webinars/global-disputes-forecast-risk-trends-and-priorities/ Read the 2026 Global Disputes Forecast here: www.bakermckenzie.com Chapters (00:03:03) - Will 2026 be more of a threat or an opportunity around global legal risk?(00:07:11) - How can E&C teams prioritize risk and build a truly resilient program?(00:10:33) - How can organizations put robust coordination mechanisms in place before a multi-jurisdictional investigation begins?(00:15:32) - What can organizations do to handle the "it can't happen here" mindset?

The Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) is a community of organizations committed to maturing their E&C programs. One way they do that is through our concierge service, in which they can submit top-of-mind questions for curated answers. In this episode of BELA Asks, Erica Salmon Byrne discusses managing increasing levels in candidate and employment fraud. #ethicsandcompliance #Ethisphere #BELAAsks

In today’s nonlinear, accelerated, volatile, and interconnected (NAVI) business environment, organizations are facing unprecedented pressure to keep pace with change. Yet most compliance functions remain underpowered, under-resourced, and unaligned with the evolving risk landscape. As a result, many businesses are struggling to manage rising threats—from AI-enabled cyberattacks to complex third-party risks—while also tasked with meeting demands for faster, smarter compliance outcomes. In this episode, Cecilia Melzi, Partner of the Forensics and Integrity Risk Services from EY Peru, discusses how you can prevent, detect, and respond to swiftly evolving business risk. To learn more from Cecilia on this very topic, check out our free, on-demand webcast, Why Accelerating Compliance Transformation is Critical in an Era of Disruption, available now in the Ethisphere Resource Center, at www.ethisphere.com/resources Read EY’s in-depth report, How can reimagining risk prepare you for an unpredictable world?, available at www.ey.com Chapters (00:01:36) - How today's NAVI (Nonlinear, Accelerated, Volatile, and Interconnected) business environment makes the work of E&C more difficult(00:05:09) - The role of emerging technology such as AI as a component of E&C risk detection(00:08:34) - Why it is so important for E&C to integrate its work with allied functions such as legal and internal audit

Erica Salmon Byrne, Executive Chair of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, answers another question from the BELA Membership: Who should really be in our champions program? Erica also answers a second question around how to know when your champion, ambassador, or liaison program is really working. BELA is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program. It also provides a concierge service by which members can submit questions around best practices, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. To request free guest access to the BELA Member Resource Hub and speak with a BELA Engagement Director visit: www.ethisphere.com/bela

In this episode, Ethicast host Bill Coffin and Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer Erica Salmon Byrne discuss the insider trading implications involving a suspiciously timed Polymarket bet on the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Are we entering a golden era of insider information? What new risks does access to predictive markets bring to the workplace? How can business respond ethically to technological and market gray areas? Attend the 2026 Global Ethics Summit! Register here: www.attendges.com Check out the Ethisphere Resource Center for free: www.ethisphere.com/resources Appear as a guest on the Ethicast: www.ethisphere.com/ethicast - or- Book an editorial call with host Bill Coffin at: https://calendly.com/bill-coffin-ethisphere/30min

Investigations are serious business, but what happens after one concludes is just as important as the speak-up that promoted the investigation, and the investigation itself. Jodie Fredericksen (VP of Data & Services, Ethisphere) and Eric Jorgenson (Director, Data & Services, Ethisphere) share post-investigation best practices that get help ensure equitable outcomes and support organizational justice, from address workplace retaliation, to discipline calibration, to when the time is right for root cause analysis. 2:21: Retaliation is a perpetual problem for companies. Year after year it rates as one of the top 3 reasons why employees are reluctant to “speak up”. Do you see the climate around retaliation as improving or getting worse? Are there outside factors that companies should be considering when addressing retaliation? 4:33: Discipline Calibration really sounds like something more suited for a Human Resources podcast and discussion, why are we talking about it from an Ethics & Compliance point of view? 9:12: Once an investigation is closed, should root cause analysis be conducted for all investigations? Or are there certain criteria that should trigger a root cause analysis process? FULL EPISODES How to Stop Retaliation Before It Startshttps://youtu.be/Q_N2xjKkLJM?si=Gyf4jh8TRYjGACIg Calibrating Discipline in Investigationshttps://youtu.be/hq1izslHUuY?si=J81PU-TD_L-SPR2Y When to Conduct Root Cause Analysishttps://youtu.be/785CAUPUERo?si=s8LEkko2z2-h7b4N For a ton of free, in-depth reports, guidance documents, articles, videos, and more to help you reach ever-higher levels of excellence in ethics and compliance, visit the Ethisphere Resource Center, at www.ethisphere.com/resources Chapters (00:02:21) - Addressing retaliation(00:04:33) - Discipline calibration(00:09:12) - Root Cause Analysis

Here at Ethisphere, we believe there is no competition in compliance. That’s why we’re using this show as a platform to answer high-level questions about business integrity that have been posed to us by the members of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, or BELA. BELA is a global ethics & compliance community that provides exclusive access to helpful data, benchmarking, events, and other resources to advance your E&C program. It also provides a concierge service by which members can submit questions around best practices, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. Many of these questions are particular to a specific company’s needs. But many more of them speak to challenges or opportunities facing E&C professionals everywhere. So in this episode, we’re going to answer one such question as part of our ongoing mission to make the world a better place by advancing business integrity. In this episode, revisit a series of interconnected questions around the topic of investigations, through the insights of BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne. 0:54: 5:23: 12:51: 15:55:  Chapters (00:00:54) - How should managers respond to reports of misconduct?(00:05:23) - How do I check for post-investigation or post-survey retaliation?(00:12:51) - How do I substantiate a claim of retaliation?(00:15:55) - What strategic purpose should my investigations substantiation rate be serving?

After a year of CEOs getting caught on kiss cams, facing charges for looting their own company, or fielding tough questions form the DOJ about financial mismanagement, Ethisphere Editor in Chief Bill Coffin looks to what we should really be taking away from all of this leadership churn...and what it means for E&C programs everywhere. RELATED EPISODES E&C Lessons from the First Brands Bankruptcy: https://www.youtube.com/live/dGdjsuS7hOg?si=Ukjb6teEPyId-Y-d Ethicast Reacts: Nestlé CEO Ousted Over Code Violation: https://www.youtube.com/live/k5hmZLovn2Q?si=_TTbthb-mvHYPxFZ Ethicast Reacts: Embezzlement at the Detroit River Conservancy https://youtu.be/C-XUaM33QYY?si=RrK3Qpos1vkke5b2 Ethicast Reacts - Kohl's CEO Termination & NFL Prankgate https://www.youtube.com/live/n4x5HpWuTv8?si=Bo6Bsk1pFM3uv6_ Visit the Ethisphere Resource Center,: www.ethisphere.com/resources

Once an investigation into reports of workplace misconduct is closed, organizations often conduct a root cause analysis (or RCA) on the issue. But is that always the right course of action? Should root cause analysis be conducted for all investigations, or are there certain criteria that should trigger a root cause analysis process? It’s a good question, because there are plenty of obstacles to overcome when conducting effective root cause analysis, from incorporating the right data analytics to securing leadership buy-in. And perhaps the biggest one of them all is ensuring that the lessons learned after conducting root cause analysis translate into sustainable change, rather than become an unimpactful check-the-box exercise. Ethisphere's Jodie Fredericksen and Eric Jorgenson explain. 1:53: Criteria that should trigger a root cause analysis 4:02: Common obstacles that prevent effective RCA 6:58: How to leverage root cause analysis data to identify trends 8:03: How to ensure that root cause analysis translates into sustainable change 9:08: Common mistakes when conducting root cause analyses….and how avoid them

In this episode, BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne returns to the topic of internal investigations and answers a most interesting question from the membership of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA): What strategic role should your substantiation rate play? Stick around for a compelling story Erica shares in which an unsubstantiated claim at one company led to a shocking discovery. To learn more about BELA, request guest access to the Member Resource Hub, or speak with a BELA Engagement Director, visit www.ethisphere.com/bela

On a long enough timeline, an inevitable outcome of workplace investigations is disciplinary action. Applying the right level of outcome to an investigation is crucial to a fair and effective ethics and compliance program. It’s something that the Department of Justice’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs encourages, but doesn’t necessarily require, which places it in the realm of voluntary best practices. But what is the DOJ really looking for? And what really constitutes a best practice? In this episode, Ethisphere's Jodie Fredericksen and Eric Jorgenson discuss how calibrating discipline is an important—yet often overlooked—aspect of an effective workplace investigation. For a ton of free, in-depth reports, guidance documents, articles, videos, and more to help you reach ever-higher levels of excellence in ethics and compliance, visit the Ethisphere Resource Center, at www.ethisphere.com/resources Chapters (00:01:39) - Why it's worth talking about discipline calibration from an Ethics & Compliance point of view(00:03:45) - How E&C organizations calibrate discipline today(00:05:51) - What the DOJ is looking for, and what constitutes best practice(00:08:56) - What companies are doing to implement discipline calibration and recommended practices(00:12:20) - Final thoughts

In BELA Asks, we answer to high-level questions submitted by the members of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) - a membership community for ethics and compliance professionals - for the benefit of E&C teams everywhere. In this episode, BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne explains what consequence modeling is, how you can use it to advance your E&C program, and why E&C practitioners everywhere should look to their allied functions for ideas. To learn more about BELA, request guest access to the Member Resource Hub, or speak with a BELA Engagement Director, visit www.ethisphere.com/bela

Ethical culture is at the heart of business integrity. It is measurable and can create a virtuous cycle of psychological safety, values-based leadership, and higher financial performance. But it doesn’t always go that way. Every culture, no matter how well-meaning, lives with certain pressures that, if not handled the right way, can foster poor-decision making and foment unethical behavior. In this episode, organizational culture expert Tobias Sturesson describes how his experience in freeing himself from a religious cult and unlearning its toxic behavior patterns has given him unique insight on how to help organizations build strong, ethical cultures that enable people to perform, thrive and act with integrity when under pressure. Learn more about how Tobias can help your organization here: www.heartmanagement.org Read Tobias's book, You Can Culture, here: https://youcanculture.com/ Listen to Tobias's podcast, Leading Transformational Change, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-transformational-change-with-tobias-sturesson/id1504162092 For a free demo of our Ethical Culture Accelerator, visit here: www.Ethisphere.com/solutions Chapters (00:02:08) - Tobias's compelling personal story of how he went from toxic cult to ethical culture(00:06:27) - Ensuring that top-down cultural leadership delivers results through every layer of the organization(00:10:27) - How to rescue a culture in danger of going off the rails(00:12:57) - Recommended first steps for building a strong, ethical culture

One of the best benefits of membership in the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) is that members can submit any question regarding ethics & compliance, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information.  And while we invite everyone watching and listening to join BELA, we also know that there’s no competition in compliance, which is why the Ethicast thematically responds to high-level questions from the BELA community for the benefit of E&C teams everywhere. In this episode of BELA Asks, BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne addresses the concept of a "test-out" style of training, and if there are good use-cases for organizations to have that option. #Ethisphere #EthicsandCompliance #TestOutTraining #EandCTraining

In late September 2025, aftermarket auto parts manufacturer and brand owner First Brands suddenly filed for bankruptcy, which took many in the world of finance (and auto parts) by surprise. But the failure was a long time coming, fueled by a debt-driven acquisition strategy and more importantly, an opaque, asset-based finance system that exists largely outside of regulatory restraint and perhaps even the most basic tenets of good corporate governance. In this episode, Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer Erica Salmon Byrne provides a helpful look at what happened with First Brands, lawsuits and investigations into allegations of fraud and embezzlement, and what E&C leaders can learn from this as fears of contagion in the world's shadow lending system seem poised to spread to other parts of the global economy. How basic corporate governance could have prevented disaster The red flags that something was amiss at First Brands...and those who ignored them How do you stop financial mismanagement at the top level of leadership? Indicators suggest there are more stories like this out there waiting to happen Why E&C really is a risk management strategy you can't afford to do without Learn how to protect your business and supercharge your success. Visit www.ethisphere.com today for free resources, a look at our unique data & assessment solutions, the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, and more!

One of the highly utilized benefits of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) is its concierge service, in which members of the BELA community can submit any question regarding ethics & compliance, and our internal experts will provide an answer, plus helpful resources with more information. Since there is no competition in compliance, we respond thematically to high-level concierge questions for the benefit of E&C teams everywhere. And in this episode, BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne addresses how organizations can best develop E&C skill matrices. Learn more about BELA, request guest access to the Member Resource Hub, and to speak with a BELA Engagement Director at: www.ethisphere.com/bela #ethics #compliance #skillsmatrix #2026annualplanning

For most E&C programs, a robust data analytics element is table stakes for running a best-in-class business integrity effort. But as data volumes grow to astounding levels, we must ask ourselves an important question: are we gathering the right kind of data? Case in point: How people feel about a particular issue is one of the most commonly overlooked data sets in employee behavior. And yet, it is an element that many data analytics programs simply don’t take into account. In this episode, Ray Day and Tony Sardella of Stagwell and Allison Worldwide explore how data around employee emotions might be one of the most critically overlooked pieces of the data analytics puzzle.   To learn more from today’s guests, please reach out directly to Ray and Tony at: [email protected] [email protected] Free resources on data and benchmarking,: www.ethisphere.com/resources Data & benchmarking: https://sphere.ethisphere.com     Chapters (00:02:39) - E&C programs might be flying at “too high of an altitude” when it comes to gathering and analyzing program data(00:05:19) - Approaching data analytics that focuses on emotion provides a unique insight to organizational risk(00:10:40) - Incorporating employee emotion into strategic planning leads to more ethical leadership(00:15:19) - Building out the capability to gather & analyze emotional data

On Oct. 23, the FBI indicted more than 30 people within the National Basketball Association for charges related to illegal gambling; namely insider trading-style schemes around so-called "pop bets," that wager not on a game's outcome but on an individual's performance or a specific moment or event within a game. The indictments have been described by the FBI as a major blow against organized crime, and characterize this as a major crisis for the NBA. For those within the ethics and compliance profession, this is a corruption scandal with clear lessons to teach us around subjects such as incentives, pressure, and more. With us in this episode is Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer, Erica Salmon Byrne, as she provides her insight on how E&C leaders can take the lessons learned from this scenario and inform best practices within their own business integrity efforts.

In this special Halloween-themed episode of BELA Asks, we discuss something which many E&C leaders might find a little unsettling, if not downright scary: being called upon to justify the E&C function to the Board. With us as always is BELA Chair and Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer Erica Salmon Byrne as she provides her signature insight to high-level questions such as these from the BELA Community. To learn more about BELA, visit ethisphere.com/bela to request guest access to the Member Resource Hub and to speak with a BELA Engagement Director. If you have a question that you’d like answered on this program, contact the BELA Concierge Service, and we’ll get to work on it for you.

In an increasingly interconnected world where supply chains have become multi-layered supply webs, the task of managing supply chain due diligence has become more important than ever. A key aspect of this is social compliance auditing, the manner in which organizations ensure that their partners and third parties are abiding by human labor law. In this episode, Craig Moss—executive vice president of measurement at Ethisphere, director at the Digital Supply Chain Institute and the Cyber Readiness Institute, and board member of the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors—discusses the vital role that social compliance auditing plays within the larger effort to manage supply chain due diligence. 1:30: Why supply chain due diligence has become such a critical part of enterprise risk management 4:28: Social compliance audits get way more static than they deserve 7:19: How to embed social compliance audits within a risk-based due diligence process 12:13: Connecting social compliance audit data with broader due diligence data Further reading: “Using Social Audits to Refine Supply Chain Due Diligence" at www.dowjones.com Free report - AI in Ethics & Compliance: Risk to Manage, Tool to Leverage: www.ethisphere.com

Ethics and compliance programs are often stuck in reactive mode, and the way to break out of that is to build a road map for where you see the function heading over the next year, three years, and five years. BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne explains how you can build a 1-3-5 road map for your E&C team. This episode stems from the BELA concierge service, in which our internal experts will answer any E&C question a BELA member poses. And since there is no competition in compliance, we respond to anonymized, high-level concierge questions here for the benefit of E&C teams everywhere. Want to join BELA? Here's how: www.ethisphere.com/bela

Organizational justice examines whether employees believe the company holds wrongdoers accountable and communicates disciplinary guidelines effectively. When we talk about speakup culture, the effectiveness of the ethics and compliance program, the power of values-based leadership, and the overall health of a culture of ethics, these things often connect directly back to organizational justice. In this episode, Malthe Helt, a Culture Analyst on the Ethisphere Data & Services team, provides his insights on how organizational justice needs to be maintained and why it sometimes feels like the most invisible part of an organization's culture. Why organizational justice is such an interesting, subjective, and compelling pillar of ethical culture How trust—the most important aspect of organizational justice—is difficult and time-consuming to build and easy to break Examples of organizations where misconduct or a breach of trust erodes organizational justice The particular challenges of organizational trust’s truism that the stronger it is and the more it works, the more invisible it becomes Measure & analyze your organization’s culture: www.ethisphere.com/solutions FREE Report - AI in Ethics & Compliance: Risk to Manage, Tool to Leverage: https://ethisphere.com/resources/ai-in-ethics-compliance-risk-to-manage-tool-to-leverage/

The SEC is using AI to detect suspicious trading patterns with unprecedented power and accuracy. So that begs the question: how can you be using AI to prevent insider traiding within your own organization? BELA Chair Erica Salmon Byrne explains. This episode stems from the BELA concierge service, in which our internal experts will answer any E&C question a BELA member poses. And since there is no competition in compliance, we respond to anonymized, high-level concierge questions here for the benefit of E&C teams everywhere. Two Workers at Filing Agent to SEC Edgar Get Insider Charges: https://fortune.com/2025/06/28/sec-workers-edgar-system-insider-trading-securities-fraud/ Ethisphere's free AI Report: https://resources.ethisphere.com/story/ai-in-ethics-and-compliance/page/1?hsCtaAttrib=195957177382 Want to join BELA? Here's how: www.ethisphere.com/bela