Things to see and do at next week's SSCE event in Chicago
When the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) holds its 13th annual Compliance & Ethics Institute in Chicago on September 14-17, more than 1,300 people are expected to attend, up from 1,200 last year. The number of vendors has increased as well, to 52 from 42, offering attendees exposure to more compliance and ethics solutions than in previous years.
Launching the conference for those arriving a day early is a volunteer project that lets people form bonds with fellow conference attendees, speakers and SCCE board members. On September 13, participants will assist the Volunteers of America Illinois chapter with landscaping, painting and light repairs at Hope Manor Apartments, an 80-unit permanent supportive housing program on Chicago’s west side.
This year, SCCE is trying new networking and mentoring tactics. A speed mentoring session will allow members to meet five or six prospective mentors for about 20 minutes each and gauge their compatibility. Filling out a short questionnaire will help match people by industry and interests.
‘We also do speed networking sessions where attendees meet five or six colleagues, chat for five minutes, swap business cards and have somebody to call when they’re stuck on an issue,’ says Roy Snell, CEO of SCCE. There will also be 400 iPads mounted on the hallway walls outside the meeting rooms, which members can use to ask and answer each other’s questions and share websites or articles, adds Snell.
This year, the Compliance & Ethics Institute is offering a new learning track, ‘Compliance Lawyer’, geared to the needs of in-house and outside counsel. The other six tracks – general compliance/ hot topics, risk, ethics, case studies, multi-national/international, and advanced discussion groups – enable attendees to focus on more narrow interests.
Responding to demand for higher learning opportunities, SCCE has doubled the number of advanced discussion groups to 14. Each group is limited to 50 participants and is all about frank dialogue: no need for PowerPoint slides or other bells and whistles.
‘Attendees can drill down into the detail in any direction they want to go,’ says Snell.
Cyber-security is a running theme, starting with an opening address on September 15 by FBI director James Comey and continuing with breakout sessions on trends, challenges and strategies to manage cyber-risks. Robert Bond, head of data protection and information security at UK-based law firm Speechly Bircham, will be returning to talk about best practices for global privacy and data protection risk management in order to comply with impending regulatory change.
Two breakout sessions will focus on conflicts of interest, one in the context of organizations’ financial contributions to political candidates and trade associations that support them. Other hot topics include M&A ethics integration, use of behavioral economics to support compliance programs, and investigations and compliance forensic tools.
Another highlight will be a general session on September 16, during which Jenny O’Brien, chief compliance officer at UnitedHealthcare, and Snell will discuss how to improve chief compliance officers’ influence in their company’s decision making. ‘We will talk about being able to collaborate, negotiate, motivate and compromise,’ says Snell.
