Vice President and Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Fti Consulting
Search every verified Matthew Pachman interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Matthew Pachman, Vice President and Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at FTI Consulting, discussed his career and views on ethics and compliance in a September 2024 interview with the University of Illinois Gies College of Business. Pachman described entering the field after the WorldCom scandal, where he was asked to start an ethics program at MCI as the company emerged from bankruptcy. He later held similar roles at Freddie Mac and Altegrity before joining FTI Consulting. Pachman characterized the role of a chief ethics officer as akin to a "burglar alarm" salesperson, working with management to identify and mitigate risks, while maintaining the ability to report issues to the board if necessary. In the interview, Pachman identified privacy issues as a major current risk, citing rapidly changing laws in Europe and the United States. He also discussed corporate social responsibility (CSR), stating that while it may not always fall under the ethics officer's purview, a strong CSR program can positively influence corporate culture. Pachman emphasized the importance of learning from the history of the ethics profession and cautioned against its "commoditization," noting that the role requires a shift from a lawyer's mindset to a programmatic, problem-solving approach.
“It was at that point that the company came to me and asked me if I could start an ethics program at the company as it emerged and tried to reform itself.”
“To be a strong ethics and compliance officer, you need to be able to make that shift from thinking like a lawyer to thinking like someone who is responsible for a program, someone who is trying to achieve something from a programmatic perspective.”
“The typical lawyer is like the policeman on South Park who says, hey, nothing to see here, everybody go away, there's nothing here. Whereas the compliance officer and the ethics officer have to say, okay, let's find the problems, let's shine light on the problems, let's let everybody know what those problems are so tha...”
“You absolutely need to be in a position to stand up and say, I see something that's wrong here that needs to be fixed. And if you have to, take that all the way up to the top of the organization.”
Matt Pachman, J.D., is the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at FTI Consulting. Mr. Pachman is responsible for overseeing the ...
Matt Pachman, J.D., is the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at FTI Consulting. Mr. Pachman is responsible for overseeing the ...
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