NORDIC Business Ethics Day 2022
– Honest discussions about whistleblowing and corporate scandals
MAY 17 -18 · VIRTUAL EVENT
The 4th annual Nordic Business Ethics Day will address the theme “Honest discussions about whistleblowing and corporate scandals“
Is your organisation next out? Whistleblowers and investigative journalists ensure that we keep reading about companies and their short comings. Sometimes the conduct is outright illegal, other times it is perceived as unethical and often times only lawyers and the involved persons care about the difference.
An effective ethics and compliance program includes learning from own mistakes and the mistakes of others. The expectation on integrating these into your program is for example specifically mentioned in the document on Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs issued by the US Department of Justice. During the 2022 Nordic Business Ethics Day we have the privilege of being joined by individuals who generously will share their lessons learned the hard way. We will talk about how hard it is to speak up and what we can learn from whistleblowers. We will also dive deep into the Volkswagen scandal and talk about what went wrong, what the company did to fix this and hear about the (not always positive) impact from the E&C work on operations that were a bit farther from the misconduct.
The NBE Day 2022 aims for adjusting to the “new normal” in a hybrid setting. The testimonials and discussions will be held virtually, and will be followed by networking in Helsinki and Stockholm. You can join us either virtually, physical or both. The “day” is divided into two half-days to accommodate for feedback from last year.
Participation is free – on one condition – which is that you actively participate in the discussion throughout the event!
We invite all business leaders, ethics & compliance professionals and any individual who shares our passion to join the discussion around the challenges and opportunities related to corporate conduct, ethics, and sustainability.
Speakers
Dr. Thomas Meiers has been Chief Governance and Legal Officer of SEAT S.A. and CUPRA since October 2020.
Previously, since 2017, he has headed the Volkswagen Group’s global coordination department with the US monitor Larry D. Thompson with respect to two 2017 settlements with the US Department of Justice.
Prior to joining Volkswagen, he held various leadership positions at Italdesign, MAN Truck & Bus and GE Healthcare. Thomas began his career at the international law firm Freshfields.
Guido Palazzo is a professor of Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne. He studied business administration and has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Marburg in Germany. In his research, he is passionate about the dark side of the force and examines unethical decision making from various angles. He is mainly known for his studies in globalization, in particular on human rights violations in global value chains, but he also studies the reasons for unethical behaviour in organization and the impact of organized crime on business and society.
Michaela Ahlberg is a lawyer with over thirty years of experience working with global business and ethics & compliance, with a proven capability of engaging those around her. She is an advocate for empowering leadership, strengthening a culture of ethical business. She has been responsible for ethics & compliance programs at several multinational companies such as Nokia, Volvo Cars, Telia Company and Getinge.
Volkswagen Group Sverige/EuropCAR
Per Arne has worked with VW Group Sweden for more than 30 years in various management positions. During his years in the company, he has acquired broad experience from different positions such as accounting controlling, sales, Aftersales, product marketing, competence development. Currently he is responsible for the GRC team at VW Group Sweden and Europcar Sweden responsible for compliance and risk topics together with two colleagues.
Over the years a natural part of the work has consisted of many contacts, both with international manufacturers of the VW Group in Europe and the Swedish dealer net.
Per Arne has always been a team player, encouraging and enjoying the success of his teammates, has always been a very important part of my management toolbox.
“I see myself as a coach, determined to release the full power of my teammates, both in working and private life!”
Johannes Stefansson is the whistleblower who blew the whistle on a big corruption scandal known as Fishrot in 2019. The corruption scandal is about misuse of power by Ministers of Fisheries and Justice, officials and well connected business people in Namibia who received at least US$ 15million in bribes and kickbacks from the Icelandic fishing company Samherji in order for them to have preferable access to lucrative fishing quotas in Namibia for their own benefits and through bribery schemes, tax evasions and other financial crimes.
Currently, Johannes holds a status of a suspect in Iceland but in Namibia he is a state witness and will go to Namibia to testify at the main trial which is expected to start during 2022 or 2023.
Johannes has faced many life threating challenges, intimidations, propaganda, and other means against him since he left the fishing company Samherji in July 2016. Several attempts were made to his life including strongly suspected poisonings.
Johannes received 2 awards during 2021, the The Order of the Baobab awarded by Ben Africa and the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award 2021.
Partner
CONSTANTINE | CANNON
Mary Inman, a partner in Constantine Cannon’s London and San Francisco offices, heads the firm’s International Whistleblower practice. She specializes in representing whistleblowers worldwide under the US whistleblower reward programs, including the SEC, CFTC, IRS, DOT and FinCEN programs.
Mary’s efforts to export the US whistleblower programs to the UK were featured in the New York Times article “Law Firm Sees Britain as Hunting Ground for U.S. Whistleblower Cases.” Her successful representation of three healthcare whistleblowers and the personal toll whistleblowing exacted from these clients was featured in the New Yorker (Feb. 4, 2019). Mary represents renowned SEC whistleblower Tyler Shultz who exposed the infamous Silicon Valley blood testing start-up Theranos, and regularly speaks on lessons to be learned from this scandal. Mary is a regular commentator on whistleblower matters for the Financial Times, BBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Financial News.
The Founders of the Nordic Business Ethics Initiative, Anna and Niina, will moderate the day.
Watch the recordings!
AGENDA (EEST)
| Day 1: 17.5.2022 | |
| 14:00 | 14:15 | Welcome to the NBE Day 1 Niina Ratsula & Anna Romberg Founders of Nordic Business Ethics Initiative |
| 14:15 | 15:30 | What we must know about whistleblowers – panel discussion Mary Inman, a partner in Constantine Cannon Johannes Stefansson, Fishrot whistleblower Michaela Ahlberg, former Chief Ethics & Compliance officer at Telia |
| 15:30 | 16:15 | Virtual networking and “roundtable discussions” You can decide which roundtable to join, and can also interact with our speakers. During the virtual networking session you can join discussions on the following topics (preliminary) which will be led by seasoned experts. You can “jump” between tables during the session. Table 1 – Why should E&C professionals have a whistleblower mindset? Table 2 – Retaliation and whistleblowing – expectations on companies under the EU Directive |
| 17:00 | Refreshments and networking in Helsinki |
| Day 2: 18.5.2022 | |
| 10:00 | 10:15 | Welcome to the NBE Day 2 Niina Ratsula & Anna Romberg Founders of Nordic Business Ethics Initiative |
| 10:15 | 10:35 | The Dieselgate case Can a company be both good and bad? What we can learn from the never ending VW scandal? A monitorship and increased E&C work from the perspective of a Nordic subsidiary? Thomas Meiers, was heading the monitorship coordination at VW and was part of the top management circle Guido Palazzo, Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne, has studied the scandal in detail during several years Per Arne Lund, Chief Compliance Officer at VW in Sweden Guido – personal reflections |
| 10:35 | 10:55 | The Dieselgate case Thomas – personal reflections |
| 10:55 | 11:30 | The Dieselgate case – panel discussion Thomas, Guido and Per Arne |
| 11:30 | 12:15 | Virtual networking and “roundtable discussions” (online) You can decide which roundtable to join, and can also interact with our speakers. During the virtual networking session you can join discussions on the following topics (preliminary) which will be led by seasoned experts. Table 1 – Warning signs that your culture is a breeding ground for the next corporate scandal Table 2 – Dealing with data privacy issues in cross boarder investigations |
| 17:00 | Post-event dinner in Stockholm |
WHY JOIN?
1.
Get inspired and energised, expand your network in the Nordics and beyond
2.
Get new insights and be challenged, learn and share in an interactive setting
3.
Earn credits (CPE, CLE) to maintain your professional development
PARTNERS
