New Year, New Name: EOA Becomes the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association.

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Board of Directors of the Ethics Officer Association (EOA) has adopted a resolution changing the name of the EOA to the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA), effective January 13, 2006.

"We did this because it reflects the reality of our current world," according to Keith Darcy, Executive Director. "In the past several years, following numerous highly publicized scandals in the United States, Europe and Asia, there have been widespread legislative and regulatory reforms, from Sarbanes-Oxley and EU directives on anti-discrimination and anti-trust to reforms to the Japanese Commercial Code. As a result, there is an emerging worldwide convergence of ethics, compliance, governance and social responsibility demands on our members and their organizations, and severe penalties for individuals and organizations that fail to meet these new standards," said Darcy. "Given this reality, the Board carefully considered whether our name accurately reflected our membership and its needs. It became increasingly evident that our name needed to catch up with what we have become - the largest global association of ethics and compliance professionals."

"Our new name reflects our new world," according to Gretchen Winter, Vice President and Counsel, Business Practices at Baxter International, and Board Chair of the ECOA. "Since 2002, we have more than doubled in size to over 1,250 members, including many new corporations headquartered in a variety of countries. Our membership includes 62% of the Fortune 100, whose business operations extend to 160 countries. The phenomenal growth we have experienced clearly reflects not only the new legislative and regulatory demands in many different countries, but also the complex host-country and transnational ethics and compliance issues that naturally emerge in a global economy."

The ECOA is a nonprofit, non-consulting, member-driven organization exclusively for members who are responsible for their company's ethics, compliance and business conduct programs. In addition to its peer-to-peer networking through conferences (in 2006 in London, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City), the ECOA also provides seminars, workshops, forums and educational programs (at The Aspen Institute, Bentley College and Washington, DC among other locations) as well as benchmarking, surveys and research on topics important to its membership. Also, the ECOA provides member web casts and government affairs bulletins on important legislative and regulatory topics, as well as up-to-date information through its on-line library, newsletters and web site. The ECOA is headquartered in Waltham, MA, and Board members represent Baxter International, Alabama Power, Novartis, BP plc, International Paper, Bertelsmann, Merck, Lucent Technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers, NY Life Insurance, Energy East Corporation,, CenterPoint Energy, Honda, Alcoa, Kraton Polymers, Shell and AOL.

Over the years, the ECOA has rightfully earned its reputation as the leading resource for ethics, compliance and business conduct professionals. The only organization of its kind, ECOA is the largest organization of ethics and compliance practitioners in the world. The Association's mission states, "...(it is) committed to being the leading provider of ethics, compliance and corporate governance resources to ethics and compliance professionals worldwide, and providing members with access to an unparalleled network of ethics and compliance professionals and a global forum for the exchange of ideas and strategies.