Speakers

Based in Toronto, Stephen is the Global Head, Economic Sanctions at RBC Group. Previously Stephen worked at Navigant, where he helped guide financial services executives in Canada and the U.S. in developing effective sanctions, AML and anti-terrorist financing (ATF) risk management, and compliance programs. With nearly 20 years of experience in financial services and compliance, he most recently served as head of sanctions and ATF at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). He has extensive legal experience in AML and sanctions engagements across the U.S. and Canada, and has worked with financial regulators and federal law enforcement in Canada, the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK.

Mr. Bell helps his clients build or enhance their trade compliance programs through procedural enhancements, audits, and trainings that are properly benchmarked to leading practices.Mr. Bell also has experience overseeing large and highly complex global investigations in some of the most challenging regions of the world. His specialization is honed through his experience as a senior in-house counsel for several organizations that committed significant resources to designing and implementing world-class trade compliance programs. As a result, he advises his clients from a unique perspective that balances compliance with these highly complex laws and regulations with the practical realities of implementing his advice in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Mr. Bell has extensive experience advising clients on the complex regulations related to encryption controls, de miminis analyses, second incorporation rule application, and sanctions regulations, especially as they apply to avoiding business in sanctioned jurisdictions or with sanctioned parties, as well as in wind-down of operations in sanctioned jurisdictions. His expertise spans across several industries including energy, telecommunications, technology, and aerospace/defense, as well as for both US and non-US companies with extensive global operations.

Mr. Bell has made his career building best-in-class compliance programs under intense government scrutiny including extensive experience working with the US Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Treasury as part of government investigations, civil and criminal settlements, and helping companies through the rigors of government-mandated audits and monitorships. Mr. Bell also advises on compliance with the export control regulations administered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy, and Department of State.

Prior to FTI Consulting, Mr. Bell held senior legal and compliance positions in major multi-national companies in the telecommunications and energy industries, including having served as a chief compliance officer, senior global anticorruption counsel, global trade compliance counsel, and regional compliance counsel for these organizations. Much of his work with these companies occurred during investigations related to and as a result of record-setting settlements with various US government agencies related to FCPA, export controls, and sanctions violations. Mr. Bell started his career in consulting with international trade practices in two of the Big 4 consultancies.

Mr. Bell is an active member in the American Bar Association, Section of International Law and serves on advisory committees for both Trace International and the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists.

Luana Saghieh is an expert on Middle East policy, counter terrorism, and strategic communications. She currently serves as the Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Sanctions Policy and Implementation (EB/SPI) at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

Before joining EB/SPI, Ms. Saghieh served as a member of the Office of the Secretary’s Plans and Policy staff at the U.S. Department of State, covering the Levant, Iraq and the Iranian regime impact on the region. She also worked for three years as a strategic planner and Middle East specialist at the Global Engagement Center.

Prior to joining the State Department, Luana spent eight years at U.S. Central Command in information operations, as a Levant socio-political advisor and as a cyber targeting analyst focusing on offensive interagency targeting operations. Luana has a master’s degrees in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University, where she focused on economic sanctions as a tool of U.S. foreign policy. She is fluent in Arabic and French.

Bob Walsh is the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer and Global Financial Crime Officer for AXA Group. AXA provides insurance, investment management and banking in over 50 countries. His main focus is ensuring compliance with international laws on anti-money laundering, international sanctions, bribery and cross-border tax evasion.

His outside activities include:
1. Industry consultation to the Financial Action Task Force and the US Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group
2. The Financial Crime Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors
3. Chairing the Sanctions in Insurance Roundtable, comprised of most major global insurance companies

Bob started his career at an international bank, and had subsequent roles as a securities regulator, and as an executive at an innovative technology firm.

Bob has a Political Science degree from McGill University, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business. He is based in New York.