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A Salute to the Compliance Profession
 
More than two months have now gone by since the beginning of my official tenure as president of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association. I have been active with the organization since its inception and a board member and officer for the past 10 years. I have learned a lot during this time about the needs and aspirations of the compliance profession and also about the obstacles and challenges to promoting compliance and an ethical culture in business organizations. I have taken a little bit different perspective on these issues now that I’m more directly involved in the many things that make SCCE/HCCA a successful membership organization. In attempting to fulfill my obligation to see that it continues to serve the interests of the membership.
 
There is no doubt that being a compliance professional can be a very tough assignment and perhaps with more casualties than successes. The range of maturity in American businesses, when it comes to organizational compliance, varies from mere compliance “window dressing” to fully cognizant understanding of the nuances of compliance in a modern and committed business organization. Unfortunately, it has been my observation, by no means validated empirically, that there are more organizations on the “window dressing” side than of the “fully committed” end of the spectrum. It is also my observation, again by no means validated empirically, that the ranks of available compliance professionals to take on the chief compliance officer role leaves a fair gap in experience skills, and abilities for what is (or should be) essentially a very important upper-level management position.
 
Consequently, I believe that most important objectives for SCCE/HCCA are to continue is steady efforts to educate business organizations about compliance and what it really means, and to educate the membership on what it really takes to become a functioning and effective compliance officer in a business organization. SCCE/HCCA has been committed to these objectives since its inception. There is every reason to continue its focus and progress in meeting those objectives for the future. There are many ways to promote these objectives, and SCCE/HCCA has developed its Compliance Institutes, Compliance Academies, and local conferences for these purposes.