<p>One of America’s most respected investigative business journalists, Kurt Eichenwald draws on his decades spent covering the biggest white-collar scandals to offer unmatched insights on what is—and isn’t—good corporate governance.</p><p>In addition to his distinguished work as a senior writer at <em>Newsweek</em> and a contributing editor at <em>Vanity Fair</em>, Kurt Eichenwald spent two decades as a senior writer at <em>The New York Times</em>, where he was a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also a two-time winner of the George Polk Award, a winner of the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism, the SABEW Award for business enterprise reporting, and an Emmy Award nominee.</p><p>The author of six <em>New York Times</em> national bestsellers, Eichenwald has written about some of the nation’s biggest corporate scandals. His first book, <em>Serpent on the Rock</em>, chronicled what was then the largest investment scandal in history. <em>The New York Times</em> called his second book,<em> The Informant,</em> “one of the best non-fiction books of the decade.” The movie version starred Matt Damon and was directed by Stephen Soderbergh. His third book, <em>Conspiracy of Fools</em> is the inside story of the Enron collapse and was the basis for the forthcoming television series <em>Conspiracy</em>. Eichenwald’s fourth book, <em>500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars</em> has been optioned for the screen by Warner Brothers. A memoir titled <em>A Mind Unraveled</em>, addresses Eichenwald’s struggles with epilepsy, and his most recent book, <em>The Big Lie</em>, published in 2021, examines the origins and dangers of the modern anti-vaccination movement in the era of COVID.</p><p>With audiences, Eichenwald focuses on confronting corporate fraud, the challenges of corporate compliance and governance, and the benefits of adopting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. As an acclaimed and award-winning investigative reporter, he developed a deep understanding of the methods most frequently used by white collar criminals. He offers leaders and teams examples of companies with comprehensive compliance programs that nevertheless were felled by fraud, and he explores how a focus on oversight, systems of rewards, and a strong organizational culture can help—while detailing the importance of ESG not only in fraud prevention, but increasingly, to a company’s bottom line.</p><p> </p>
Award-Winning Investigative Journalist; <em>New York Times</em> Best-Selling Author; Senior Writer at <em>Newsweek</em>, Contributing Editor at <em>Vanity Fair</em>, and MSNBC Correspondent
<ul><li><strong>Confronting Corporate Fraud</strong></li></ul><p>Calling on more than three decades of investigating some of the business world’s greatest scandals, Kurt describes the important lessons those infamous events offer today’s companies. He also offers up the secrets he learned in speaking with scores of high-profile white collar criminals whose lawbreaking destroyed management teams and brought down corporations. </p><ul><li><strong>How Corporate Compliance Programs Fail and the Challenge of Governance</strong></li></ul><p> Almost every modern corporation caught up in scandal had a comprehensive compliance program in place, often written by consultants who provide systems and rules designed to achieve standards of conduct. Why do they fail? By having a spent a career digging through the wreckage of these failed companies, Kurt has an answer. In companies felled by fraud despite having compliance programs, Kurt has seen a consistent pattern of weaknesses s in oversight, culture, systems of rewards, and overall governance that undermined compliance programs. Senior executives at every corporation needs to hear these lessons.</p><ul><li><strong>The Rewards of Adopting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria</strong></li></ul><p>Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as part of their analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities. Important ESG issues can include fiduciary duties, externalities, disclosures, and fit within a broader conception of the social responsibilities of the corporation. Governance - the standards of running a company - directly links to protecting the company from internal acts of fraud. The environmental and social standards expand that standard from protecting the corporation to making it a contributor to the broader well-being of society. In this speech, Kurt explains how ESG can best be accomplished and its benefits - from access to greater amounts of investment capital to higher levels of staff retention.</p>