Chelsea Diana covers banking and state government for the Albany Business Review. She joined the Business Review in 2014 after graduating from Boston University. Her investigative reporting has been recognized by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and the New York Press Association.

Jacinthe is the creator of Risktory, a first of its kind podcast dedicated to telling the story of risk through the lens of history. Each week, Risktory takes an event or figure from history, and examines how risk management principles, techniques or capabilities have been deployed to both guard against existential threat, but to also grasp exquisite, beautiful opportunity.

Australian born and raised, Jacinthe is the former Chief Risk and Audit Officer for the Department of Justice and Regulation in Victoria, Australia and the former Head of Risk for Telstra Business.

Having moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in February 2016, Jacinthe currently leads emergency, crisis and business continuity arrangements for a Fortune 40 retailer.

One of Jacinthe’s specialities is the story of regulatory risk in telecommunications, how the space has evolved, what history tells us the future will look like, and how we – as active actors in the telecommunications space – can leverage the lessons of history going forward.

Michael “Bret” Hood spent 25 years as an FBI Special Agent investigating complex cases while specializing in financial crimes, corruption, and money laundering violations.   Upon his retirement in 2016, Bret opened 21^st Century Learning & Consulting, LLC, a training and consulting business designed to help prevent people from making the mistakes that lead that first lead them down the slippery slope.

Bret was recruited to become an Association of Certified Fraud Examiners faculty member and was awarded the ACFE’s James R. Baker Speaker of the Year award in 2020.  Bret was named the top-rated speaker at both the ACFE’s Global Fraud Conference as well as the Institute of Internal Auditor’s Global conference.  In addition, Bret also serves as an adjunct professor of forensic accounting for Mt. St. Mary’s University and an adjunct professor of corporate governance and ethics for the University of Virginia.  Bret has previously served as an adjunct professor of forensic accounting for the University of Virginia and Florida Gulf Coast University.  Bret is also part of the Forensic Accounting Advisory Council at Mt. St. Mary’s University.

Some of the top public and private entities in the world have sought out Bret to assist them in creating, adapting, and modifying anti-fraud, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering programs in order to interweave the latest behavioral and neuroscience research into their prevention programs.  Bret continues to publish articles on best practices in Fraud Magazine, Compliance and Ethics Professional magazine, ACAMS Today, National Mortgage Professional Magazine, and Law Enforcement Bulletin. 

Bret is a federal-court certified expert in money laundering and financial crimes.  Bret is also the author of the critically acclaimed books, Eat More Ice Cream: A Succinct Leadership Lesson for Each Week of the Year & Get Off Your Horse! 52 Succinct Leadership Lessons from U.S. Presidents. 

Taylor Larimore is a Senior Manager in the Fraud Risk Mitigation and Analytics practice at Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC. He specializes in developing innovative strategies to help public sector agencies assess their fraud risks and take a proactive stance to combat fraud, waste, and abuse. He recently led the project to develop the government-wide Antifraud Playbook in partnership with the Department of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officers Council, which provides agencies with practical insights, resources, and best practices to more effectively protect taxpayer resources against fraud. Mr. Larimore has spent the last ten years supporting a wide variety of federal, state, and local government clients with fraud risk, internal controls, payment integrity, and enterprise risk management solutions.

Mr. Larimore holds a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) degree from Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs with concentrations in public financial management and program integrity.

Kip serves as the Audits Director for the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. This is the state auditor position for Oregon. Kip’s professional career positions have included Chief Audit Executive for the Oregon State Treasury, Director of Audit Services for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, Audit Manager with the County of San Diego, California, Performance Audit Supervisor with the State of Arizona’s Office of the Auditor General, and as a Senior Consultant with KPMG. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah and a Master of Arts degree from Arizona State University.

Kip is a graduate from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Executives in State and Local Government executive education program and has earned a Certificate in Public Leadership from the Brookings Institute. Kip serves on the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA) Public Sector Auditing Center’s Advisory Board and Chairs the Pacific Northwest Intergovernmental Audit Forum (PNIAF). He previously served as an officer on the Association of Local Government Auditors’ (ALGA) Governing Board.

The Secretary of State’s Audits Division received the National State Auditors Association’s (NSAA) Excellence in Accountability awards for a performance audit reports examining Oregon’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (2020) and Oregon’s foster care system (2019) and Special Project award for a high impact report concerning Medicaid program challenges (2018). In 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 performance audits he directed received Knighton Awards for excellence and impact from the Association of Local Government Auditors. Additionally, in 2014, the Institute of Internal Auditors identified the City and County of Denver, Colorado’s Auditor’s Office as one of 11 best practice audit functions for major cities in the United States and Canada.

Steven Patterson, CFE, is the current Deputy Director of the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center. Received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration from Alderson Broaddus College. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner ("CFE"). Previously an Internal Auditor Manager & Fraud Investigator for both Massey Energy and Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. He has overseen several comprehensive fraud investigations, with over 17 years of experience in internal auditing, fraud investigation, and analyst with over $20 million in recovery and deterrence efforts.

He is an adjunct instructor and board member for the forensic accounting program at Ohio Valley University. Founding member and current President of the Charleston Chapter of the ACFE. Travels and presents nationally and internationally on fraud related topics and interviewing skills.
 

Hi, I’m Kelly Paxton. I’m known most as the Pink Collar Crime lady but that's not all I speak about. I love speaking and training. Cheesy life-long learner here but there is nothing better than planning a presentation and delivering it in the most relevant and meaningful way. 

I didn’t start out in law enforcement but that’s where I have spent most of my career. While working at a financial services firm, a client was arrested on wire fraud charges. This ended up leading me to a new, much more exciting career as a special agent for US Customs. I was able to work all types of cases including white collar fraud, money laundering and narcotics cases. I was used to investigating “bad guys.”

I have worked in the public and private sector. My cases have included embezzlement, conflict of interest, intellectual property, Open Source Intelligence and fraud. My most recent position was at Nike where I was recruited for my expertise in Open Source Intelligence and being a Certified Fraud Examiner.

I also was a contract investigator for the Department of Homeland Security doing background investigations. I have performed hundreds of top secret clearance background investigations for the federal government. (Not Edward Snowden's though!)

• From 2007-2009 I was the fraud analyst at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Fraud and Identity Theft Enforcement team. I was responsible for preparing cases for prosecution. This included testifying before Grand Jury.
• From 2009-2014 I had my own firm, Financial CaseWorks LLC, which specialized in financial and workplace investigations. I worked criminal defense cases which gave me a new and broader perspective on investigations.
• In 2014 I went to work at Nike in their Operational Resilience division. I investigated high level conflict of interest, intellectual property, sexual harassment, embezzlement and theft cases.

Daniel Porter, CFE, has conducted and managed civil and criminal investigations for over 20 years as a licensed private investigator, a loss prevention manager, and as an investigator and as an investigations manager with the State of Tennessee. Currently, he is a senior investigator in the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, of the State of Tennessee where he investigates fraud involving public funds.

He is a Cum Laude graduate from Middle Tennessee State University's Criminal Justice Program and a CFE. He has provided training at AGA, AASHTO, CFE, GFOA, IIA, IIMC, P2F2, and NASACT conferences in the United States and Canada as well as for governmental agencies and professional organizations in various states including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Kentucky League of Cities, the Indiana CPA Society, the Oregon Society of CPAs, and the Florida Institute of CPAs. He is a guest lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University and the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Jamie Ralls worked at the Secretary of State Audits Division for 20 years as a performance auditor and Audit Manager. Most recently, Jamie accepted a position as Chief Internal Auditor with SAIF corporation, Oregon’s top workers’ compensation insurance company.

Jamie has been formally recognized for her high-impact audits and was the recipient of the 2015 and 2020 National State Auditors Association’s Excellence in Accountability Award.  In 2016, 2018, and 2020 audits she led received the “Impact Award” from the National Conference of State Legislators. 

Jamie is certified through ACL as a Data Analyst (ACDA) and is a Certified Fraud Examiner. In her work as a fraud examiner, she has assisted Oregon State Police, local District Attorneys and the FBI in several fraud cases resulting in convictions. Jamie routinely conducts training in fraud prevention and detection, data mining and data analytics, and internal controls. 

James Ruotolo is a Senior Manager in the Fraud Risk Mitigation and Analytics practice at Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Mr. Ruotolo was a Senior Director of Product Management and Product Marketing in the Fraud and Security Intelligence Division at SAS, where he managed a portfolio of products for fraud detection, AML compliance, intelligence management and cybersecurity—primarily in the banking, insurance, government and health care industries. Mr. Ruotolo has also worked in various sales, marketing, product and consulting roles, supporting fraud and risk management offerings.

Mr. Ruotolo has dedicated his entire career to fraud investigation. He held several leadership roles in investigations and intelligence operations at a large U.S. insurance and financial services company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ruotolo served as a Product and Markets Manager with the Fraud Solutions Group for a large data aggregator.

Mr. Ruotolo holds a master’s degree in economic crime management, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and has taught graduate courses as an adjunct faculty member of the Utica College Economic Crime and Fraud Management M.B.A. program. He serves on the board of directors for the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. He is the co-inventor of two patented fraud detection models, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a frequent author and speaker on fraud analytics technology. Connect with him on Twitter: @jdruotolo.