Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer

Why Join Us:

• Opportunity to build and lead a new compliance and ethics program for LACERA, one of the largest public pension and benefits organizations in the US with over 200,000 members and over $92.3 billion in fund assets
• Strong Board and executive commitment to investing in and supporting the program and its staff, including existing approval for further compliance-team hiring and growth once CECO is in place
• Meaningful mission: protecting the retirement security of public employee members and their families

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the Ethics and Compliance Office, with responsibility for the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of ethics and compliance strategies, policies, and controls; this includes compliance with Code of Ethical Conduct, laws, regulations, policies, and procedures applicable to public pension administration, benefits, healthcare, finance, and investments
• Developing and overseeing ethics and compliance strategies and annual work plans approved by the Chief Executive Officer the Audit, Compliance, Risk, and Ethics Committee and provided to LACERA’s governing Board of Retirement and Board of Investments
• Managing periodic ethics and compliance risk assessments to identify, evaluate, and monitor risks, controls, key risk indicators, and metrics
• Overseeing the ethics and compliance review of policies, procedures and systems for policy development, review, maintenance, and compliance
• Advising and consulting with executive management, division managers, supervisors, other staff members, and the staff Ethics and Compliance Committee regarding ethical standards and governing laws, regulations, policies, procedures, ethics and compliance risks, concerns, and controls
• Establishing ongoing reporting mechanisms to advise the Chief Executive Officer, Boards, and Audit, Compliance, Risk, and Ethics Committee as to the activities of the ethics and compliance program and providing Boards and committee education on ethics and compliance
• Developing and overseeing ethics and compliance training and communication with staff on risk awareness, ethical standards, governing laws, regulations, policies, procedures, and the role and responsibility of internal stakeholders for ethical and compliant behavior
• Establishing and monitoring channels for reporting suspected misconduct and other ethics and compliance concerns, with a commitment to non-retaliation and positive incentives for ethical and compliant behavior
• Managing enforcement, investigations, and remediation proposals
• Overseeing review and monitoring of third-party and vendor ethics and compliance risks
• Directing periodic measurements of organizational culture of ethics and compliance and developing strategies to enhance organizational culture

Requirements:

• Essential education: Bachelor’s degree
• Preferred education: Advanced degree such as Masters or JD
• Certification as a Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) is highly desirable
• You must have significant and demonstrable experience building and leading ethics and compliance programs in large, complex and regulated organizations, including directing and educating governing bodies, executives, management and staff at all levels
• You must bring people-management experience including recruiting, supporting and retaining
• Strong written and oral communication skills; proven ability to present effectively to boards, committees, and senior leadership