First four ‘Excellence in Compliance Awards’ finalists revealed

From a pool of more than 300 nominations, CW selected the following four individuals as finalists in four categories:

These four standouts will be joined by many of their peers in the weeks ahead as we select 3-5 finalists in 11 of our award categories. From that list of finalists, all of whom will be named by March 1, winners from each category will be chosen by a panel of Compliance Week staff and announced at the “Excellence in Compliance Awards” gala on Monday night, May 18, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The gala headlines Day 1 of our National Conference, which is celebrating its 15th year.

We’ll be selecting finalists for each of the 13 categories:

• Chief Compliance Officer of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement in Compliance
• Rising Star in Compliance
• Compliance Innovator of the Year (one finalist already selected)
• Compliance Mentor of the Year (one finalist already selected)
• Compliance Comeback of the Year
• Best Compliance Consultant/Advisor
• Best Compliance Technology Partner
• Excellence in Compliance: TPRM (one finalist already selected)
• Excellence in Compliance: Data Privacy
• Excellence in Compliance: Cyber-Security (one finalist already selected)
• Excellence in Compliance: Training
• Excellence in Compliance: Anti-Corruption

 Wondering what a winning nomination looks like? Here are some excerpts from the nominations submitted for our four finalists so far:

 Making a case for David Kessler | “Excellence in Cyber-security” finalist

 “David has been a leader in cybersecurity compliance for over 15 years, particularly in the area of government cybersecurity standards and regulations. … He has helped shape cybersecurity best practices by working with both practitioners and government regulators, including those from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DoD) and other Federal agencies. One of David’s strengths is taking dry, technical cybersecurity compliance requirements and translating them into an easily-understandable format for both executives and non-technical decision-makers.”

 Making a case for Matt Galvin | “Innovator of the Year” finalist

 “Matt’s compliance team at ABInBev exemplifies measurable compliance effectiveness and has the statistics to back it up. This year, Matt expanded his existing compliance monitoring platform initiative, codenamed BrewRIGHT, to include machine learning over high risk vendor payments as well as using predictive modeling to proactively flag high risk vendors with statistical accuracy. Integrating over 50 countries, and scores of multiple, disparate data sources including payments data, investigations data, third party due diligence data, hotline calls and third-party data sources, he is using machine learning to proactively prevent, detect and in many cases stop an improper or high-risk payment before it gets paid or a high risk vendor before it gets entered into the system. His predictive modeling platform identifies (predicts) high risk third parties in their vendor master payments system with 86 percent accuracy, which improves over time as more data is poured in and the machine ‘learns.’”

Making a case for Vera Powell | “Excellence in TPRM” finalist

“I have worked with Vera Powell over the last two years developing a compliance program for one of the most recognized disruptive companies in the world – Uber. She is sharp, thorough, and absolutely committed to making sure that the Company, whatever its history, moves forward in a compliant way. I have worked with hundreds of companies with their compliance programs during my career, and can honestly say that I’ve been the most impressed with Vera’s level of insight, attention to detail, and thoughtfulness about developing a sustainable program and ensuring that others are given the benefit of the knowledge she has to offer.”

Making a case for Craig Watanabe | “Mentor of the Year” finalist

“Craig has been a champion of National Society of Compliance Professionals’ Mentoring Program from inception. He regularly works with mentees via NSCP but also with those recommended to him by others in the industry. Craig has been a member of NSCP serving on several committees - Conference, Publications, Membership Affairs and as a past board member and board chair, where his membership is invaluable from a leadership a learning perspective. … Craig is well respected by compliance professionals and industry. He is well deserving of this award.”