Amy Hutchens, StrategyDriven Executive Corporate Compliance & Ethics AdvisorExecutive Corporate Compliance & Ethics Advisor

Phone: (210) 632-6077
Email: [email protected]

Amy Hutchens is a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Executive Corporate Compliance & Ethics Advisor with over 15 years of experience practicing law and consulting. Amy assists domestic and international organizations with development of the compliance and ethics infrastructure required by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Federal Acquisition Regulations, and other ethics and compliance statutory frameworks. She has developed, implemented, overseen, and managed all aspects of compliance and ethics programs including assessing risk, surveying culture, drafting policies, training employees, developing organizational values, and establishing, monitoring, and investigative protocols to maximize value and effectiveness in how organizations foster ethics and compliance as central to their missions. Amy is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. She previously served as General Counsel and Vice President of Compliance and Ethics Services for Watermark Risk Management International, LLC. Amy also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and as an Air Force Judge Advocate.

As a trusted advisor, Amy has completed ethics and compliance engagements for large corporations doing business within numerous industries:

  • Compliance Program Development Lead – established a FAR-required compliance program from its inception, including risk assessment, code of conduct, policies, audit and monitoring protocols, and managing reporting mechanisms for a national engineering and construction firm. Amy shepherded all compliance-related training efforts, directing training resources to high risk compliance topics. Through increased awareness and proactive on-site training, her efforts prevented compliance violations at one location from happening on 26 other job locations
  • Compliance and Ethics Assessment Leader – led the assessment of the compliance and ethics program at a large healthcare organization with three divisions after the new CEO lost confidence in the former Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. Amy evaluated the health of the program and delivered a report to the Board mapping opportunities for maturation and performance gap closure as well as areas that were functioning at or above best practices. With this report in hand, the Board was able to assign resources to the program in a manner that ensured balanced growth and effectiveness
  • Compliance Risk Analysis and Strategic Planning Leader – advised the General Counsel at a publicly traded educational software company, who also served as the Chief Compliance Officer, through a three phase process to identify compliance program gaps, identify and prioritize legal risks, and develop a strategic plan to align resources according to risk thereby maximizing risk mitigation and management
  • Anti-bribery and Corruption Evaluation Lead – oversaw the assessment of a publicly traded telecommunications company’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption program, including due diligence. Amy evaluated the compliance and ethics program with focus on anti-corruption risks; recommending development and implementation of various controls to mitigate the risks of corruption in global business dealings. Her assistance enabled the client in creating a risk-based approach to due diligence thereby spending less money on background checks and comprehensive due diligence reports on their tens of thousands of third parties around the world
  • Compliance Program Consultant – serves as the independent consultant approved by the Department of Homeland Security to assess and provide continuous reporting on the development and progress of the compliance program of a major supplier of security equipment to the Transportation Security Administration

Additionally, she activity serves the State of Virginia and the community as:

  • Appointee, Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council – serves as a non-legislative citizen member of the newly formed Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council residing in the Virginia Department of Legislative Services
  • Voices of Valor Advisory Board Member – serves as an Advisory Board member for Voices of Valor, a therapeutic program benefitting veterans

Amy’s insights have been published in several well respected periodicals and presented at national conferences:

  • Compliance Risk Assessment: Getting It Right, Compliance & Ethics Professional, July 2013
  • New Age Training and Communications Techniques Seminar, ACC Compliance and Ethics Committee, May 2013
  • Herding Cats: Managing Conflicts of Interest in Federal Contracting, Contract Management Magazine, National Contract Management Association, November 2012
  • Navigating the Choppy Waters of Corporate Compliance, ABA Business Law, Corporate Counsel Newsletter, March 2012
  • Wearing Two Hats: The Dual Roles of In-House Counsel and Compliance Officer, Contract Management, National Contract Management Association, February 2012
  • Wearing Two Hats At Once – Counsel and Compliance Officer, ACC/West LegalEdCenter, October 2011
  • Pay Now or Pay Later: Wage-and-hour enforcement outlook for 2011, Compliance & Ethics Professional, Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, February 2011

Amy’s work as an attorney and author is recognized as industry leading by:

  • Writing Award for “Herding Cats: Managing Conflicts of Interest in Federal Contracting,” Board of Contract Appeals Bar Association, December 2013
  • Influential Women in Virginia Class of 2013, Virginia Lawyers Media, May 2013
  • Association of Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Community Service Award, Association of Corporate Counsel Washington DC Chapter, November 2012

Amy earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from John Hopkins University.

Amy can be contacted by phone at (210) 632-6077 or email at [email protected].