Compliance at the Forefront: Creating a Culture of Compliance to Navigate Regulatory Changes

Kate Morgan is a Senior Legal Counsel at Medline Industries, LP, a manufacturer and distributor of medical products and solutions. At Medline, Kate’s work is focused on healthcare regulatory compliance counseling and corporate governance initiatives. Her role includes supporting compliance program development, and she serves as the “go to” in-house lawyer on sales and marketing program design and ad hoc regulatory counseling.

Prior to joining Medline, Kate was a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. At Skadden, her practice focused on complex commercial, securities, and antitrust litigation. Her experience included advising clients on antitrust and securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits, and qui tam actions. She also maintained an active pro bono practice, including representing multiple asylum seekers in removal proceedings.

Meredith Monroe advises corporate clients, leading financial institutions, and individuals to navigate a wide range of criminal and civil litigation matters, with a particular focus on government cross-border investigations and complex securities regulatory issues.

Ms. Monroe regularly handles sensitive and high-profile matters on behalf of US and international clients, drawing on her significant experience in relation to investigating potential violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and US securities laws and regulations. She brings particular experience advising clients on internal and government-facing investigations involving multiple regulators and jurisdictions. More broadly, she advises on alleged financial crimes, criminal and civil fraud, and deceptive business practices, regularly working with a full spectrum of government agencies and regulatory regimes.

Ms. Monroe adeptly diffuses intense situations, adapts to fast-moving investigations, and can provide clients with insightful and effective guidance based on significant on-the-ground experience in countries across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Ms. Monroe also regularly helps clients to create, review, and enhance their internal compliance programs, including drafting policies and procedures, conducting risk assessments across jurisdictions, and advising companies with respect to innovative compliance monitoring and analytics.

Complementing her investigation and litigation work, Ms. Monroe also regularly advises clients in connection with cross-border mergers and acquisitions, including pre- and post-acquisition due diligence and counseling. Ms. Monroe is a member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association and maintains an active pro bono practice, handling prisoner rights litigation, immigration appeals, landlord tenant litigation, community outreach and police reform, as well as educational reform. She is also a former member of the firm’s Women Enriching Business committee.

Carolyn Dinberg is General Counsel, Global Commercial, Marketing, & Technology at IHG Hotels & Resorts. In this role, Carolyn is responsible for being the business partner and legal advisor for IP, brands, guest experience, marketing, data & analytics, loyalty, commercial performance, sales, distribution, technology systems, CRM, hotel products and platforms, marketing fund governance and procurement.

Carolyn began her career as a U.S. District Court law clerk and then joined a boutique litigation firm as a trial lawyer, later becoming partner. Following a brief stint with Arby’s, she joined IHG in 1997 and has had multiple legal roles over the years.

Carolyn lives in Atlanta with her husband Steve, a professional photographer; they have three daughters, two of their own dogs and a couple of “grand”dogs. The hospitality industry allowed them to introduce the girls to different cultures and places, sometimes with the dogs. Carolyn also enjoys scenic hikes, particularly to waterfalls, cooking up a dish with whatever ingredients are already in the kitchen.

As the Director of Global Compliance at Internet Society, I am responsible for setting strategies and overseeing operations in the organization's compliance function, which ensures adherence to laws, regulations, and standards impacting the organization.

I have served in compliance roles in the financial and manufacturing industries for eight years and I specialize in designing, developing, and implementing corporate compliance and ethics programs from the ground up. Prior to joining the Internet Society, I led the compliance function at two large manufacturing companies where I advised on anti-corruption and international trade issues, internal investigations, employee training, and policy development.

I received my J.D. from the University of Nebraska School of Law in 2016, with an emphasis in corporate compliance and human resources, and I am a licensed attorney in the state of Colorado.

Stephana is Global Trade Counsel with Hewlett Packard Enterprise supporting compliance on export controls, economic sanctions, customs, and related regulatory matters. Given her international trade experience in-house, in big law, and as a member of a Special Compliance Officer team for a defense contractor under a Consent Agreement with the Department of State, she brings a unique perspective to creating a culture of compliance to navigate regulatory changes.

Prior to joining Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Stephana worked at an AmLaw 100 law firm advising multi-national companies in the aerospace, defense and information technology industries on U.S. export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations, and trade policy. Stephana is experienced researching and analyzing complex and discrete issues, interpreting federal regulations, and analyzing the policy implications of a course of action.

Michelle is a seasoned international trade compliance leader with over 15 years of practical experience. Acting as SAP’s strategic legal advisor for all activities relating to the export of goods and services for North and South America, Michelle works closely with all SAP cloud business groups (Concur, Ariba, Fieldglass, Success Factors) and other functional teams within SAP to ensure compliance with trade laws and market requirements in dealing with customers, partners, authorities and policy makers. Michelle helps define SAP’s export control and trade sanctions operations policies and standards; develops and implements export and trade sanctions authorization strategies and advises the lines of business on export control and trade sanctions best practices while monitoring SAP’s deliveries On-Premise and in the Cloud.

Prior to joining SAP, Michelle was part of the management team of Deloitte’s Global Trade Advisory Practice Group. Client matters included the design and implementation of export compliance programs, providing guidance and solutions for proactive and remedial measures for global trade compliance; creating and leading customized export compliance training; and assisting global companies with strategic, operational and compliance matters as related to mergers and acquisitions, integration activities, trade automation, and business model optimization.

Michelle was also an Attorney within the International Trade practice group of a large law firm in Washington, DC and has considerable experience working in the Office of General Counsel and Corporate departments of large aerospace and defense companies such as Raytheon Technologies and The Boeing Company, where she provided strategic regulatory trade control guidance on licensing and compliance. She was also the Empowered Official and subject matter expert at a major University where she spent much time developing and implementing an internal export control and trade sanctions compliance program.

Michelle is an experienced international trade compliance speaker. In February, Michelle spoke virtually at the American Conference Institute/C5 European Summit on Economic Sanctions Risk & Compliance to provide a US perspective on an in-house counsel panel. In 2020, Michelle spoke virtually at CompTIA’s 14th Annual Global Trade Compliance Best Practices Conference. In 2019, Michelle spoke at the Society of Research Administrators International Annual Conference in San Francisco and was the moderator and speaker at an African Global Trade roundtable discussion Deloitte hosted with the Global African Chamber of Commerce in Chicago.

Michelle was also Publications Chair of the Society for International Affairs (SIA) 2018 Summer Conference and served on the SIA Task Force to re-write and co-author the 2018 Voluntary Disclosure Handbook second edition publication. She was also Assistant Vice President for Women in International Trade (WIIT) for Special Events and the WIIT Scholarship Trust. Michelle’s current professional and personal activities include leadership roles in SAP’s Washington DC Business Women’s Network and SAP North America’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. In August 2020, Michelle was a member of the inaugural SAP Inflection Point executive panel sharing her personal experiences and point of view on diversity and inclusion podcasts from Harvard Business Review’s Women at Work series. In October 2020, Michelle was featured in an SAP global branding video shared across SAP social media channels for SAP’s inaugural inclusive hiring virtual career open house.

Michelle is a founding member of the Syracuse University College of Law Inclusion Network to support law students of color by providing mentorship, skills training, and opportunities to celebrate and promote diversity. Michelle has also been a member of the Syracuse University Law Alumni Association Board of Directors for over four years.

Michelle received her Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law in 2005 where she was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society and an Editor for both The Labor Lawyer Journal and Journal of International Law and Commerce. Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Virginia in 2001 where she was a member of the University Judiciary Committee. She is a member of the District of Columbia, Virginia and New Jersey bars.

Michelle and her husband Brian have one young son, named Brandon and a very active two year old goldendoodle named Bailey. The family resides in Maryland.