Compliance, Governance Officers To Converge In Washington, D.C.

BOSTON -- Chief compliance and governance officers at Dell, DuPont, Qwest, Ford, Sprint, and dozens of other leading public companies will meet in Washington, D.C., for Compliance Week 2006, an annual conference on governance, risk and compliance.

Sponsored by Deloitte and the law firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge, the event will take place at the historic Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., June 7-9, 2006. Compliance Week 2006 is co-hosted by The Open Compliance and Ethics Group.

According to Compliance Week editor and publisher Scott S. Cohen, Compliance Week 2006 will be a unique opportunity to hear from governance, risk and compliance officers about "what works" in their organizations. "The event will not only focus on the metrics and benchmarks being used to track effective compliance, but on the ways companies are achieving sustainable compliance and fundamentally improving business performance," said Cohen.

"Any organization that is looking to more broadly leverage Sarbanes-Oxley investments should attend this event," said Scott Mitchell, chairman and CEO of OCEG. "This is the first event of its kind that looks at the big picture of governance, risk and compliance management."

Among the speakers at Compliance Week 2006 are:

--Affiliated Computer Services Chief Compliance Officer, Karen D. Wilson

--Arrow Electronics Chief Compliance Officer, Wayne Brody

--Dell Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Thurmond B. Woodard

--DuPont Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Marjorie Doyle

--Cendant Corporate Compliance Officer, Richard Wolf

--Ford Motor Co. Asst. General Counsel & Compliance Director, Robert Biskup

--Genzyme Chief Compliance Officer, Roger Louis

--McAfee EVP, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Kent Roberts

--Novelis Corporate Compliance Officer, Brock Shealy

--Ryder System Chief Compliance, Ethics and Privacy Officer, Marcia Narine

--Sempra Energy Chief Compliance Officer, Randall B. Peterson

--Sprint Nextel Divisional VP Corp. Governance and Ethics, Claudia Toussaint

--Sun Microsystems Chief Compliance Officer, David Farrell

--Tyco International SVP Corporate Governance, Eric Pillmore

--Qwest Communications Chief Compliance Officer, David Heller

Current and former regulators and standard setters, including former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, will also lead keynote sessions at the event.

The sessions at Compliance Week 2006 will focus on three broad topics: effective compliance (i.e., what works), optimizing compliance, and the future of compliance. Among the sessions are:

--Leveraging Compliance To Maximize Stakeholder Value--One of the biggest opportunities in sustainable compliance is the reduction of complexity, costs and risks. But for most companies, that's still an untapped opportunity. At this session, compliance and finance executives will discuss their experiences and "best practices" for improving performance and efficiency.

--The Board, The Auditor & Management-- The processes put in place by the board of directors and management--enhanced by the independent and objective view of the external auditor--are among the most important a company can design to ensure the achievement of fundamental objectives. This session will examine how leading companies are approaching board effectiveness, auditor communication, committee effectiveness, and more.

--Compensation, Disclosure, And Risk-- The SEC's proposed compensation disclosure rules aim to overhaul the ways that companies communicate executive pay--and the methodologies employed--to the investing public. This session will look at the potential risks and pitfalls associated with the proposed regulation, and the steps companies should take to prepare themselves for the likely codification of the rule.

--Best Practices And Investigations: SEC, DoJ & Internal--The SEC's Division of Enforcement and the Department of Justice have been initiating both informal and formal investigations at a record pace. Companies that fail to prepare and respond appropriately do so at their own peril. But there are also perils in incorrectly undertaking internal investigations. This session will explore best practices.

Other sessions will cover ethical cultures, risk assessment, cost-containment, international developments, the benchmarking of compliance programs, and more.

In addition, all attendees will receive a free copy of the Open Compliance and Ethics Group's landmark 2005 Benchmarking Study, which compares over 125 attributes of governance, compliance and ethics programs including organizational structures, processes, program metrics, planning and budgeting information.

Exhibitors at Compliance Week 2006 include leading governance and compliance providers such as IBM, Grant Thornton, Hewlett Packard, Thomson Financial, and others.

Conference discounts are available for Compliance Week subscribers and OCEG members.

Additional details are at http://conference.complianceweek.com

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Compliance Week

Compliance Week is a newsletter on corporate governance and compliance that reaches over 40,000 financial and legal executives at U.S. public companies. Available in print and online, Compliance Week features the insights of numerous governance and securities experts, including former Securities and Exchange Chairman Harvey Pitt, and COSO internal control and ERM frameworks co-author Richard Steinberg. For more information on Compliance Week visit http://www.complianceweek.com

The Open Compliance And Ethics Group

OCEG is a nonprofit organization that provides a framework (the OCEG Framework) for integrating governance, compliance, risk management, and integrity into the tangible practice of everyday business; drives adoption of the Framework through a multi-industry, multidisciplinary coalition; and provides a community of practice for the exchange of information, tools, benchmarking and feedback for continual improvement of the Framework. For more information on OCEG and the OCEG Framework, visit http://www.oceg.org.