Gerry Zack, CEO of Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) Interview

We had the opportunity to speak with Gerry Zack, (pictured)  CEO of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE). In our conversation, Gerry discussed his leadership tenure at SCCE, navigating the organization through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We delved into topics such as cross-border collaboration, education initiatives, and efforts towards promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization. Additionally, Gerry shared insights on the future challenges he anticipates and the strategies being considered to address them.

• As the CEO of Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, how have you witnessed the landscape of corporate compliance evolving in recent years, especially in the European context?

Globally, as a profession and as a corporate function, compliance is maturing rapidly. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Europe. Recent years have witnessed updated and improved guidance from OECD and ISO, as well as country-specific guidance in France, the United Kingdom, and others. In the early years, countries would often borrow concepts from guidance emanating from the United States, since the U.S. was an early developer of compliance program guidance. But now, there are so many sources of strong published guidance that countries can find and adopt best practices from a variety of other countries  and NGOs and customize them for their unique needs and environments. With the improved guidance and growing respect the profession has gained, the scope of compliance requirements covered by compliance programs has also expanded. Programs that may have previously focused narrowly on corruption or another risk area now address many more compliance risks, all due to the growing success of compliance programs. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for compliance professionals to demonstrate the value that an effective compliance and ethics program can have.

• With the increasing emphasis on corporate responsibility and ethical business practices, what role do you see compliance professionals playing in shaping the future of European businesses?

The scope of what is considered business ethics has expanded significantly from what it started out as years ago. Today’s companies need to consider which of the many environmental, social, and governance issues are important to different groups of stakeholders. These efforts are often led by individuals in a sustainability or ESG function. However, we are increasingly seeing involvement by the compliance function, which makes a lot of sense. The compliance team applies an effective framework that is embodied in the compliance program. And this framework is equally effective in managing ESG risks as it is in connection with traditional legal and compliance risks.

• The pandemic has brought about significant changes in the way businesses operate. How has the role of compliance adapted to the challenges posed by the global health crisis, and what lessons can be drawn for the future?

The first thing that compliance teams learned from the pandemic was how to work and communicate more efficiently in remote environments, since so many people were forced to work from home. This meant learning new ways of conducting investigations and performing internal compliance audit work, modifying compliance training, and making many other adjustments to how compliance programs work. An underlying theme that emerged from this is the need to embrace and utilize technology to its fullest extent. Prior to the pandemic, the compliance and ethics profession wouldn’t have been considered an early or willing adopter of new technologies. A greater openness to new technologies is one of the few positives to come out of the pandemic.

Another effect, of course, was financial. Financial constraints that resulted from the pandemic haven’t disappeared even as the pandemic has ended. Compliance professionals have been forced to be more innovative, more creative, in stretching their resources and finding new ways of being more efficient as the scope of work has expanded disproportionately to the resources available. And I have to say that I’ve been quite impressed with the response. As I speak with compliance professionals in Europe, like I did on recent compliance networking events we held in London and Amsterdam, I come away impressed with some of the innovative new ideas that are being used to enhance efficiency and improve the effectiveness of compliance programs.

• In an era of rapidly changing regulations, how does Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics support its members in staying abreast of legal and ethical considerations in the European business environment?

We do this in a several manners. First, our monthly member magazine, Compliance & Ethics Professional (CEP), covers a broad range of compliance topics in every issue. Articles are written by a wide variety of authors across the globe, including many European compliance professionals who focus on issues unique to the region. Similarly, our resource publication The Complete Compliance and Ethics Manual includes several articles devoted to issues unique to Europe. Perhaps the most current coverage of developments relevant to European compliance and ethics professionals takes place with our annual European Compliance and Ethics Institute (18-20 March 2024) and a variety of other conferences and Academies that we hold globally throughout the year. 

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become central topics in corporate governance. How does SCCE advocate for and support diversity within the compliance and ethics profession, particularly in the European business community?

We’ve had a DEI Working Group for a few years now, and this group advises us on ways we can provide support. Recently, the DEI Working Group produced a guidance document designed to assist compliance and ethics professionals in starting and effectively managing a DEI program. Other aspects of our DEI efforts are embedded in various aspects of our operations. For example, it is a standard practice for us to assess diversity and inclusion in connection with the selection of speakers for conferences, authors for articles, involvement in committees and other aspects of our activities. Where we see instances in which diversity is lacking in any of these areas, we actively seek out ways of improving. Most importantly, we’ve incorporated DEI into our processes across the association. It’s never an afterthought. Building that awareness and desire to embrace DEI into our culture has been an important area of focus and is something I am proud of.

• As businesses increasingly operate on a global scale, how do you see cross-border collaboration in compliance and ethics shaping the future of corporate governance in Europe?

One of the early examples of cross-border collaboration is the OECD monitoring and reporting on implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which goes back more than 20 years. More recently, we’ve seen significantly greater cross-border collaboration between law enforcement agencies from different countries, as they pursue violations by multinational companies. Collaboration by members of the compliance and ethics profession has taken place for many years, but on a rather informal level. Increasingly, this is being done in a more inclusive and structured manner, with groups formed to share best practices and discuss emerging issues. In addition, we are seeing much more collaboration between members of the compliance profession and the regulatory and enforcement branches of governments. This is encouraging. After all, we all want the same thing – minimizing the risk of noncompliance. Increased partnering between the profession and governments can only result in improvements to the overall compliance landscape. I’m optimistic based on what I’ve seen in Europe, and in other parts of the world, that relationships between the compliance profession and government regulators and enforcement divisions will continue to improve.

• Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics places a strong emphasis on education and professional development. Can you share any initiatives or programs aimed at enhancing the skills and knowledge of compliance professionals, particularly in the European region?

We’ve added numerous new educational programs in recent years – some of an in-person nature and others presented in a virtual manner. For example, we now offer 2-day workshops on compliance risk assessments, investigations, compliance training, and auditing & monitoring. Each is designed to dive deeper into these important aspects of compliance programs and when these are offered in live virtual settings, we schedule them in time zones convenient to various regions around the world, including Europe. Finally, an exciting new program we will be offering later in 2024 through our new learning management system will be a series of pre-recorded courses on specialized topics, enabling users to learn “on demand” any time of the day or night.

• Looking ahead, what key trends or challenges do you anticipate for compliance and ethics professionals in Europe, and how can businesses prepare to navigate these complexities effectively?

With success often comes greater expectations, and that’s where compliance and ethics professionals find themselves. I’ll focus on two areas. Building on a point I made earlier, I think we can expect to see an increased scope of risk areas falling under the umbrella of the compliance and ethics program. Compliance programs that initially may have focused solely on one or two narrow areas, such as corruption or antitrust, now often have dozens of areas of risk to consider. As a profession, we need to welcome this challenge. But we also need the support of governments and senior corporate executives in advocating for the resources necessary to effectively manage these risks.

Next, as governmental guidance expands and improves, so will the expectations for the compliance and ethics programs. We can’t expect the program of five years ago to be effective without changing and improving, adapting to a new landscape. For example, one aspect of compliance programs where we are seeing much greater emphasis in Europe and elsewhere is data analytics as a tool for detecting compliance issues or internal control breakdowns. Compliance professionals need to learn how data analytics can be a powerful tool that, when used properly, can greatly improve our chances of finding compliance issues before they develop into major events.

The data analytics issue is really another example of issues I touched on earlier – the need to utilize newer technologies in our work and the need to innovate. Even when laws don’t change, risks and risk environments do. Welcoming change, rather than resisting it, is one of the keys to continued success.