WALTHAM,MA. - August 25, 2008 - The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA) announces an updated agenda for its 2008 Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference. The conference occurs September 24-26, 2008, at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Hotel in Orlando, Florida, and is sponsored by BAE Systems, Daylight Forensic & Advisory, Ernst & Young LLP, SAI Global, Global Compliance, General Mills, International Paper, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Additional support comes from American Electric Power Service Corporation, United Space Alliance, and Padgett Communications.

The extraordinary two-and-one-half-day program offers an invaluable opportunity for ethics and compliance practitioners to learn from leading peers and the highest-quality subject-matter experts, each contributing substantial thought leadership to the major issues facing the ethics and compliance community. The conference will accomplish its goals through panel presentations, keynote addresses, roundtable discussions, networking events, and substantive sessions on a variety of topics, including:

• Measuring the Divide between HR and Ethics featuring Patricia Harned, president, Ethics Resource Center and Deborah Keary, HR director, Society for Human Resource Management. This plenary session will review and analyze results of two recent surveys, each of which separately asked HR professionals and ethics and compliance professionals about their experiences and perceptions regarding working with the other.
  
• The Ethics and Compliance Handbook: An Analysis in Relation to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines featuring the Honorable Ruben Castillo, vice chair, United States Sentencing Commission; Beryl Howell, commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission; Andrew Weissmann, partner, Jenner & Block LLP; and Andrea Bonime-Blanc, general counsel, chief compliance officer, and corporate secretary, Daylight Forensic & Advisory.
  
• Surveys, Ratings, and Metrics: Ethical Issues in Data Collection and Analysis featuring Brad Agle, Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh; and, from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, Associate Professor of Ethics and Public Management David W. Hart and Assistant Professor of Public Management Jeffrey A. Thompson. The professors address the numerous traps and failings that can undermine efforts to build accurate ethics and compliance metrics. They will help attendees learn how to see behind published surveys and ratings to see if the underlying methodology makes them invalid or, even worse, misleading.

The conference's keynote speakers include Lynn E. Turner, former chief accountant, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Frank Bucaro of Frank Bucaro and Associates. Among the topics they'll address are a principles-based approach to financial regulation, trust, integrity, and the future of ethics and compliance.

Registration is now open for the ECOA 2008 Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference. To view the complete agenda or register online, please visit www.theecoa.org.

About the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association
The ECOA is a nonconsulting, member-driven association exclusively serving individuals responsible for their organization's ethics, compliance, and business conduct programs. Dedicated to building trust and corporate integrity worldwide, the ECOA is the most-respected group of ethics and compliance practitioners in the world. By gathering those new to the field along with seasoned professionals, the ECOA facilitates peer-to-peer learning and helps to foster a global commitment to business ethics and integrity. Over 1,350 ECOA members represent nearly 600 organizations worldwide in over 30 industries.

The ECOA hosts the ethics and compliance community’s largest annual conference as well as professional development workshops, periodic webcasts, and regional fora that offer its members invaluable learning and discussion. In addition, the ECOA publishes daily news updates and houses an e-Library containing ethics and compliance program materials from hundreds of companies, along with business videos, DVDs, magazines, and books. To learn more about the ECOA, please visit www.theecoa.org or call 781-647-9333.

Ethics and Compliance Officer Association

Ethics and Compliance Officer Association

The ECOA is a nonconsulting, member-driven association exclusively serving individuals responsible for their organization's ethics, compliance, and business conduct programs. Dedicated to building trust and organizational integrity worldwide, the ECOA is the most-respected group of ethics and compliance practitioners in the world. By gathering those new to the field along with seasoned professionals, the ECOA facilitates peer-to-peer learning and helps to foster a global commitment to business ethics and integrity. Over 1,250 ECOA members represent nearly 525 organizations worldwide in over 30 industries. The ECOA hosts the ethics and compliance community's largest annual conference as well as professional development workshops, webcasts, and regional forums that offer its members invaluable learning and discussion. In addition, the ECOA publishes daily news updates and houses an e-Library containing ethics and compliance program materials from hundreds of organizations, along with training videos, DVDs, magazines, and books. To learn more about the ECOA, please visit www.theecoa.org or call 781-647-9333.

More from Ethics and Compliance Officer Association