Michele Edwards
StoneTurn
Excellence in Execution
After the U.S. Department of Justice appointed Larry Thompson to serve as independent compliance monitor and auditor of Volkswagen AG, he entrusted Michele to be his chief of staff. Michele led the team and managed day-to-day operations for one of the largest and most high-profile corporate compliance monitorships in history. She oversaw strategy and testing of the effectiveness of VW's compliance program, directing a global testing effort.
Over the course of the three-year monitorship, Edwards was critical in ensuring VW met its commitments as part of a DOJ plea agreement and civil consent decree, an effort impacting more than 670,000 employees worldwide. Under her leadership, the VW team conducted more than 8,000 meetings and reviewed thousands of documents to make recommendations to enhance compliance culture and drive transformational change.
Ask her about her greatest professional achievements, and she'll point to the path she found herself on early in her career that got her to where she is today, starting with earning her Public Accountant certification.
"Later in my career at PwC, I identified fraud at one of my audit clients. Subsequently, public accounting firms and corporations came under significant scrutiny related to financial statement fraud scandals and I advised PwC's audit teams on how to assess and respond to the risk of fraud as part of the audit and also advised clients on building effective antifraud and compliance programs. This created a strong foundation for the trajectory of my future professional career, which included being appointed to the senior leadership team on the Volkswagen AG monitorship and being named a Partner and leader at StoneTurn," she says.
As for the biggest keys to her success so far, Edwards says it's largely come down to preparation, planning, and monitoring progress.
"Clearly, being highly organized was key with a large mandate like the VW monitorship but it's also important to recognize that others have more improvisational workstyles. Empathy is critical— whether you are putting yourself in the client's shoes, the regulator's or your team member's."
Q&A: What does it mean for you, your firm and your clients to be named a Global Leader in Consulting?
"This recognition provides independent affirmation of my and StoneTurn's deep dedication to our clients. StoneTurn is a highly collaborative, people-focused global advisory firm where the quality of work is paramount, and building and maintaining long-term relationships is key. The Global Leader in Consulting honor is especially significant because it serves as an acknowledgement of these values in action and also, the phenomenal team effort behind the successful execution and completion of one of the largest and most complex corporate monitorships in history."
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