Debra Clements, chief administrative officer, general counsel and corporate secretary of the industrial manufacturer Milliken & Co., believes in having a robust ethics and compliance program, which has led to the company being named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute for 13 consecutive years.

In an email, Clements told Corporate Counsel how the Spartanburg, South Carolina-based company is committed to ethics and compliance and the challenges in the ethics and compliance space. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Corporate Counsel: Could you discuss the importance of having robust ethics and compliance programs?

Debra Clements: We celebrate our longtime commitment to ethics and compliance as embodied by our recognition for the past 13 consecutive years as a World's Most Ethical Company. We lead our ethics and compliance program so that it continually evolves to enable Milliken's positive impact for many generations. Like many companies, we understand the value of trust, purpose and the premium that comes from excellence in ethics.

Also, like many companies, we realize as a global company that we face higher demands from a variety of stakeholders to provide transparency on multiple interconnected and complex issues including climate change, human rights, product stewardship, inclusion and sustainable procurement.

Our ethics and compliance program continues to innovate in order to drive corporate accountability, transparency and progress on issues of corporate social responsibility, or corporate sustainability. Our program collaborates with our business leadership to support our sustainability goals, including Milliken's commitment to convening thought leaders to advance end-of-life solutions on plastics.

CC: How does this element of your ethics and compliance program help the material sciences industry overall?  

DC: Societal issues like the need to reduce plastic waste, or the need for investments in recycling infrastructure, require collaboration across many stakeholders. We know that our company, Milliken, and the material science industry plays a key role. The driving force comes from multiple stakeholders, shifting regulatory schemes and increasing awareness of the collective commitment to work toward achieving the United Nation's 17 sustainable development goals. Specifically, we are convening thought leaders, annually reporting on our progress toward goals (including our goal around end-of-life solutions for plastics) and collaborating across our compliance leadership to monitor and influence the risks and opportunities that come from fragmented regulations.

CC: What are the challenges you are facing in the ethics and compliance space?

DC: We realize an increasing need for business analytics or useful metrics. However, how metrics are best used can be quite complicated. For example, how to measure an ethics program, or the appropriate metrics for ESG [environmental, social and governance], or progress on the UN SDG's [United Nations sustainable development goals], continues to evolve and improve. Yet, while metrics beyond traditional financial metrics drive performance, those of us in ethics and compliance need to continue to advance the value to improve the business performance of metrics beyond the more traditional, financial metrics.

CC: How do you think your ethics and compliance program will evolve?

DC: In the future, even more companies will rely on their ethics and compliance programs to play increasingly critical roles in their sustainability efforts. Our program will likely evolve to play an increasing role in both internal communications and external thought leadership so that we can influence the highest ethical and sustainable solutions for generations to come.