The nomination deadline has closed for Compliance Week’s second annual “Excellence in Compliance Awards,”  which for 2021 includes a new category to honor companies whose ethics and compliance programs are head and shoulders above the rest.

EIC banner nodate

The “Compliance Program of the Year” honor joins our list of seven award categories for 2021. Starting Jan. 11 and running through March 1, nominations were accepted in the following categories:

With the nomination process closed, the CW team will choose five finalists in each of the categories besides “Lifetime Achievement.” For that category, no finalists will be selected—only a winner. This person—a longtime compliance practitioner who has upheld the core principles of ethics and leadership throughout his or her career—will be announced in advance of the awards ceremony and will be profiled in a special edition of Compliance Week magazine.

Finalists in each category will be named in mid-March, and winners will be unveiled at the Compliance Week National Conference (a virtual event) from May 11-13. Each winner will be interviewed by Compliance Week and receive special recognition at some point during the National Conference. 

For all awards, special consideration will be given to nominees who demonstrated resilience under the unprecedented adversity that 2020 threw at all of us. Check out video interviews with last year’s winners and a list of every finalist on our awards site.

About each award

The CCO/CECO of the Year will be awarded to the practitioner who has best demonstrated the values of leadership, effectiveness, collaboration, communication, constructiveness, and vision at his or her organization. The same goes for our newest category—Compliance Program of the Year. For finalists for that award, we’re looking for best-in-class programs that can show measurable successes, demonstrate cultural impact across the company, and tell a story that ethics and compliance are truly baked into the decision-making process for the organization.  

The Future Star in Compliance will go to an up-and-comer in the business who has shown the skills and ethics-first leadership needed to be a next-generation CCO.

The Innovator of the Year recognition will go to an in-house practitioner who has taken an outside-the-box approach to solving a complex problem or made the most out of available resources. Perhaps it will be someone who zigs when everyone else zags; a trailblazer who sets an example for others to follow.

Potential nominees for our Mentor of the Year honor will be people who have provided needed guidance and leadership to peers or subordinates for the betterment of a particular organization’s compliance program or the profession at large.

To borrow a phrase: It takes a village to run a successful compliance program. In other words, you can’t do it all yourself, so the Excellence in Compliance Awards also present an opportunity to nominate a compliance consultant or advisor whose services you can’t live without. 

The fine print

Please note members of our “Top Minds” Classes from 2016-2019 will be eligible for “Excellence in Compliance Awards” as well.

Dave Lefort was Managing Director of Compliance Week. Before joining CW, he spent nearly two decades in digital leadership roles with ESPN and The Boston Globe.View full Profile

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