Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference

Thousands of anti-fraud professionals attending the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 22-24, will get a chance to hear from some of the leading experts in the anti-fraud industry. Telling their stories of perseverance and sharing their insight, the conference, presented virtually, will feature some of the following speakers:

Howard Wilkinson - Danske Bank Whistleblower

After graduating with a degree in mathematics from Oxford University in 1992, Howard Wilkinson worked as an options trader in London before leaving banking to qualify as a Chartered Accountant. In 1999, he moved to Finland and returned to banking, working in various financial markets roles for a leading Nordic bank, including time spent working in the Baltic States. In 2006, he joined Sampo Bank, which was shortly thereafter acquired by Danske Bank, and moved to Estonia as Danske Bank’s Head of Markets Baltics, running the financial markets operations in the Baltic States. After making several whistleblowing reports of serious wrongdoing in late 2013 and early 2014, but seeing little or no response, even from top group management, Wilkinson resigned in April 2014. He now lives in England with his family and no longer works in the financial services industry.

Jules Kroll - Co-Founder of K2 Intelligence

In addition to being chairman and co-founder of K2 Intelligence, Jules B. Kroll also serves as chairman of Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Inc., and as a member of the board of directors of BlueVoyant. He is the founder of Kroll, Inc., and the acknowledged pioneer of the modern investigations, intelligence and corporate security industry. In 1972, he established Kroll Associates Inc., the prototype for a new breed of professional services firms dedicated to mitigating risk. By employing former prosecutors, law enforcement officials, journalists and academics who used sophisticated fact-finding techniques to address decision-makers’ need for accurate information, Kroll established investigations and risk consulting as indispensable corporate services.

Javier Peña - Retired DEA Agent, Inspiration for Netflix show, "Narcos"

Javier Peña retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in January 2014 after 30 years of service. His career was highlighted by his volunteering for assignment to the DEA office in Bogota, Colombia, in 1988, where then Special Agent Peña and his partner, then-Special Agent Steve Murphy, set out to bring down the notorious Medellin drug cartel led by Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, or Pablo Escobar.

Special Agents Peña and Murphy worked and lived with a handpicked group of Colombian National Police (CNP) personnel while pursuing Escobar. During Escobar’s reign of narco-terrorism, the cartel kingpin ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including police officers, politicians, judges and a presidential candidate. Peña spent six years in the search for Pablo Escobar before his team successfully captured and killed Escobar. For his efforts, Peña received Colombia’s highest award given to someone not a Colombian citizen, as well as commendation awards from the DEA and the international community.

Stephen Murphy - Retired DEA Agent, Inspiration for Netflix show, "Narcos"

As a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Stephen Murphy and his partner, Javier Peña, targeted the world’s first narco-terrorist, Pablo Escobar, and the Medellin Cartel. Living and working alongside their Colombian National Police counterparts in Medellin, Colombia, as well as with elite U.S. military units, their efforts resulted in the dismantlement of the largest and most violent international drug trafficking organization of its time. This was a first in the field of international narcotics investigations. U.S. and international law enforcement continue to utilize many of the strategies and innovative ideas that were created and implemented by Steve and Javier.

He created and directed the Atlanta Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force. In 2001, Murphy was assigned to the Special Operations Division in Washington, D.C., serving as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge and as the Executive Assistant to the Director. In December 2009, he was promoted to the Senior Executive Service ranks as Deputy Assistant Administrator over DEA’s Office of Special Intelligence in Washington, D.C., and later as the Special Agent in Charge/Director for the Department of Justice (DOJ), OCDETF Fusion Center, where he remained until his retirement in June 2013, after 37 years in law enforcement.

Nicholas Thompson - Editor in Chief, WIRED Magazine

As the editor-in-chief of Wired — one of the most prestigious positions in the world of technology — Nicholas Thompson is staking out a bold, optimistic vision for covering, and responding to, the changing realm of digital culture. From artificial intelligence to entertainment, privacy to social media, ethics to war, Thompson leads the news cycle — and in talks, he champions the ways tech can enhance our lives.

Thompson served previously as a senior editor at Wired from 2005-2010. There, he edited both National Magazine Award-nominated writing and “The Great Escape,” the story that became the feature film Argo. He appears regularly on CBS This Morning and the CBS Evening News, and is a contributor to the network. With a massive and vigilant following on social media, Thompson was named by LinkedIn as #4 on their 2018 list of top influencers, just behind Melinda Gates and one spot ahead of Justin Trudeau. Thompson graduated from Stanford University, where he was a United States Truman Scholar.

Don’t miss you chance to hear from these, and many more speakers, at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. Register today.