Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference

Thousands of anti-fraud professionals attending the virtual 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 21-23, will hear from some of the leading experts in the anti-fraud industry. Telling their stories of perseverance and sharing their insight, the conference will feature some of the following speakers:

Robert Herjavec - Herjavec Group, CEO

Robert Herjavec is one of North America’s most recognizable business leaders. Born in Eastern Europe, he arrived in Canada on a boat with his parents after escaping Communism in the former Yugoslavia. From delivering newspapers, and waiting tables, to launching a computer company from his basement, his drive to achieve has led him to the fulfillment of a better life for himself and his family.

A dynamic entrepreneur, Herjavec has built and sold several IT companies. In 2003 he founded Herjavec Group, and it quickly became one of the world’s largest, privately held cybersecurity firms. His inspiring books all appeared on bestsellers’ lists: “Driven", "The Will to Win” and “You Don’t Have to Be a Shark: Creating Your Own Success.” His motivational business advice has received millions of impressions through TV, print, radio and digital media. He shares his expertise with other entrepreneurs each week as a leading Shark on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning hit show, “Shark Tank.”

Preet Bharara - Former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York and Host, “Stay Tuned with Preet”

Preet Bharara is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017, nominated to the position on May 15, 2009, by President Barack Obama. Bharara’s nomination was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and he was sworn in on August 13. During his tenure, Bharara earned a reputation as one of “the nation’s most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors,” according to The New York Times. His office’s case against SAC Capital, for example, resulted in the largest fine ever paid in the history of insider trading prosecution and reportedly served as an inspiration for the Showtime television series “Billions.”

As U.S. Attorney, Bharara oversaw the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the U.S. in the Southern District of New York. He supervised an office of more than 200 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, who handled a high volume of cases involving terrorism, narcotics and arms tracking, financial and health care fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime and civil rights violations.

On March 19, 2019, Bharara’s book “Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law” was published by Knopf and debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times best-seller list.

Thuli Madonsela - Professor, Stellenbosch University, Former Public Protector of South Africa

Professor Thulisile “Thuli” Madonsela, an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, is the law trust chair in social justice and a law professor at the University of Stellenbosch, where she conducts and coordinates social justice research and teaches constitutional and administrative law.

Madonsela was the Public Protector of South Africa from 2009 to 2016. She is credited with transforming the institution by enhancing its effectiveness in promoting good governance and integrity — including ethical governance and anticorruption in state affairs — through her reports, jurisprudence on the powers of the Public Protector and introduction of ADR. She is the architect of the OR Tambo Declaration on the minimum standards for an effective ombudsman institution and cooperation with the African Union on strengthening good governance and co-founder of the African Ombudsman Research Centre (AORC) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and she served as AORC’s founding chairperson. As a full-time commissioner of the South African Law Commission, she supervised several investigations — among them Project 25 — on aligning all laws with the Constitution, and participated in the drafting of several laws. She chaired and later project-managed the Equality Legal Education Training Unit (ELETU), which provided foundational training for Equality Court judicial officers. She is the co-founder and one of the inaugural leaders of the South African Women Lawyers Association (SAWLA).

Dan McCrum - Exposed Wirecard Scandal, Investigative Journalist, Financial Times

Dan McCrum is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist. His work for the Financial Times (FT) has helped expose accounting problems and fraud at several listed companies, most recently Wirecard. Formerly the editor of FT Alphaville, over his 13-year career at the FT he’s also run part of the newspaper’s markets team, worked as the FT’s investment correspondent in New York and for the Lex Column. McCrum’s previous experience includes four years in Citigroup’s equity research department.

His reporting on Wirecard has been recognized with the Impact Award for distinguished financial journalism from the New York Financial Writers' Association, the Ludwig Erhard Prize for economic journalism and an honorary Helmut Schmidt Journalistenpreis.

Marcel Reid - Whistleblower, ACORN 8

Marcel Reid has had a major impact over the last decade in grassroots community organizing, the whistleblowing community and a national media foundation. Her efforts have resulted in major policy changes.

As a national director, chair of D.C. ACORN and one of a 3-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) to reorganize ACORN after the discovery of a major embezzlement, Reid came face to face with the difficulties in reporting corruption. This was her first exposure to fighting entrenched corruption and her introduction to the whistleblower community.

Later, Reid was elected to serve as a director on the National Board of Pacifica Radio. In that position, she introduced a motion to have Pacifica support whistleblowers, making it the first national media organization to incorporate it into their platform. After the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) passed in 2012, Pacifica’s steadfast support of whistleblowers was credited by many in the whistleblowing community as helping to reinvigorate the WPEA campaign after over a decade of unsuccessful attempts.

After serving on the board for three terms, Reid became the first national media whistleblower liaison for the Pacifica Foundation, the only position of its kind, in media to date. She continues her efforts to shed light on corruption worldwide by actively supporting the efforts of whistleblowers globally.

Michael McCray, Esq., CPA (Inactive) - Whistleblower, ACORN 8

Michael McCray, Esq., CPA (inactive) is a public interest lawyer, federal whistleblower and former National Board Delegate for Georgia ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

McCray began his career in public service as a community and economic development specialist who pioneered new technologies for the White House Empowerment Zones Initiative under the Clinton Administration. McCray became known as the “$40 Million Whistleblower” when he reported over $40 million in government waste, fraud and abuse at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Subsequently, McCray became the national spokesman for the ACORN 8, a watchdog group of board members and whistleblowers that exposed a multimillion-dollar embezzlement at ACORN.

McCray is the author of “Race, Power & Politics: Memoirs of an ACORN Whistleblower” and is a dedicated human rights and public interest advocate. He co-founded the award-winning Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival — the largest gathering of whistleblowers on Capitol Hill.

Don’t miss you chance to hear from these, and many more speakers, at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.