Principled

Generative AI is on the agenda of most every company right now. Business leaders are grappling with how to use it in products, services, and in workflows. Managers and their teams are wondering if artificial intelligence is coming for their jobs. Regulators are trying to wrap their arms around it as its potential for misuse is high. If you’re concerned about corporate ethics, culture, and compliance, what is your role in the responsible development and deployment of AI-oriented business initiatives? On the Principled Podcast, host Jen Üner talks about responsible AI with Dr. Seth Dobrin, Ph.D. and President of the Responsible AI Institute. Listen in as the two unpack what “responsible AI” means and how business leaders can move forward in this rapidly changing landscape that is surely as monumental a shift as the invention of the Internet.  

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Visit the Articles page at LRN.com for more thought leadership on ethical AI and machine learning.

Dr. Seth Dobrin is a globally recognized leading expert in AI. He is the former president and current executive board member of the Responsible AI Institute. Previously, he was IBM's global chief AI officer, where he led the company's AI strategy.

Dr. Dobrin is also a sought-after speaker and advisor on AI. He believes that AI has the potential to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, but that it is important to use AI responsibly. He advocates for the development of ethical AI guidelines and for the responsible use of AI by governments and businesses.

Jen Üner was the Strategic Communications Director for LRN, where she captained programs for both internal and external audiences. She has an insatiable curiosity and an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong which she challenges each day through her study of ethics, compliance, and the value of values-based behavior in corporate governance. Prior to joining LRN, Jen led marketing communications for innovative technology companies operating in Europe and the US, and for media and marketplaces in California. She has won recognition for her work in brand development and experiential design, earned placements in leading news publications, and hosted a closing bell ceremony of the NASDAQ in honor of the California fashion industry as founder of the LA Fashion Awards. Jen holds a B.A. degree from Claremont McKenna College.

Building a winning culture of ethics and compliance requires efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of a program—including training, communications, and a code and conduct. But how do you ensure these elements all work together to create a meaningful and intentional learning experience? While also contributing to desired business outcomes? In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Carolyn Grace explores why a deep understanding of curriculum design is essential to developing an effective program. Listen in as she speaks with Erick Sawyer, the chief ethics and compliance officer of Inhabit, (recently rebranded from Inhabit IQ), and Damien DeBarra, the leader of Curriculum Design and Communication Strategy in LRN’s Advisory group, about the learning curriculum they created by leveraging Inhabit’s code of conduct. 

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Visit the Advisory page at LRN.com for more information on our curriculum design and communication strategy services.

As Inhabit’s chief ethics and compliance officer, Erick Sawyer leads the company’s day-to-day compliance operations to ensure Inhabit is in compliance with various regulatory requirements and employees are in adherence with internal procedures and policies. Erick creates strategic programs that are paired with tactical plans to positively impact customers and employees across the software ecosystem. Prior to joining Inhabit, Erick held various roles in legal, compliance, quality, and learning and development in the financial services industry. He has focused his career on bridging the gap between people and process to drive a culture of ethics and compliance, protecting the brand and reputation of leading organizations.

Damien DeBarra brings more than 20 years’ experience to the instructional design and strategic workforce planning spaces.  As the Leader in Curriculum Design and Communication Strategy at LRN, he focuses on creating training solutions that ensure business buy-in and connect hiring practices to day-one learning roll-outs. In the last few years, Damien has helped organizations such as United Airlines, Sun Life Financial, SITEL, Astellas, MFS Investments, and SAP create 90-day action plans for their solutions and develop supporting communication strategies. He has worked with over 200 clients in areas ranging from retail to pharmaceuticals, call centers to nuclear plant manufacturing. Prior to LRN, Damien spent more than nine years as the Learning Solutions Director and Head of Instructional Design at Interactive Services. He has also worked as an instructional designer at NCALT, Electric Paper, and Epic. Damien received his BA from Maynooth University.

Carolyn Grace is a content writer on LRN's global marketing team and co-producer of the Principled Podcast. She specializes in writing compelling stories about ethics and compliance that resonate across business segments, industries, and personas while hitting critical KPIs for traffic and engagement. Topics she frequently covers include ESG, data privacy and protection, DEI, the role of boards of directors and leadership, corporate training and e-learning, and ethical corporate culture. Prior to joining LRN, Carolyn was a writer and content strategist at Thinkso Creative, a boutique creative agency in New York City. At Thinkso, she wrote internal and external communications for clients in technology, nonprofit, law, logistics, and financial services sectors. Before that, Carolyn conducted trend research and cultural strategy at Horizon Media, specializing in entertainment, travel, media and technology, health and wellness, and food and beverage categories. Carolyn graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in American History and French Studies and a minor in Journalism.

Engagement is a hot topic in the ethics and compliance space—it impacts training, communications, and overall program effectiveness. But driving engagement gets tricky when you have a global presence or employee populations with different working conditions and technologies. How can E&C professionals foster engagement in a way that resonates with everyone—and even makes it fun? In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Dave Hansen talks with Kerry Ferwerda, the ethics and compliance manager for Europe at NSG Group, about how to plan a successful corporate ethics and compliance week. Listen in as the two discuss ideas and best practices around event content, communication, and participation. 

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Want to connect with your E&C peers? Apply here to join LRN co:lab, our award-winning community of ethics, compliance, legal, HR, and L&D professionals.

Kerry Ferwerda is the ethics and compliance manager for Europe at NSG Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass and glazing products for architectural and automotive. it is also a leading supplier of technical glass products within its Creative Technology division. NSG has principal operations around the world with sales in over 100 countries.  A passionate advocate for doing business the right way, Kerry has worked within ethics and compliance for the past 10 years. During this time, Kerry has led E&C education initiatives across the group, operating across the business lines to develop and implement education programs that deliver value and embed a strong company culture.  Prior to joining ethics and compliance, Kerry worked within the group’s Automotive Glass Replacement business unit for 12 years, gaining a wealth of experience in roles across multiple departments and functional disciplines—including Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, IS, and Customer Service.   Kerry holds a BSc (Hons) in Information Technology for Business from Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

Dave Hansen is the global advocacy marketing director at LRN, an organization focused on ethics and compliance solutions that help people around the world do the right thing. His team drives LRN's customer obsession by building community, deepening customer engagement, and finding meaningful opportunities for collaboration. Dave is passionate about learning, having spent most of his career within higher education or training. He loves sharing customer stories and best practices in the name of continuous improvement. Dave is a proud dad, coffee enthusiast, drummer, and scuba diver. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and reading!

Ethics and compliance practitioners are often thinking about ways to engage their employees and motivate them to live their values, rather than doing the minimum required by the rules. But how can you make engagement real on a global scale when you’re dealing with a truly global workforce? In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Susan Divers discusses how E&C professionals can make their international programs resonate through localization with John Toy, the chief of ethics and sustainability at GlobalFoundries. Listen in as the two talk about John’s approach to this problem, which can be summed up in two words: enterprise engagement. 

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Download LRN's 2023 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report for more best practices.

John Toy is the chief ethics and sustainability officer at GlobalFoundries (GF), a global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing. In this role, John leads the company’s ethics and compliance program, which he designed and implemented, in addition to GF’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) functions.  Previously, John held various positions in human resource (HR) leadership for the company, including global talent acquisition and global learning and organizational development leader.   

Prior to GF, John was employed by medical device maker Boston Scientific Corporation. His professional experience includes leading all aspects of HR at an ~800 employee operations facility; leading a global initiative to transform HR service delivery to include creation of service support centers in Hungary and Canada; and the creation and leadership of an internal HR Service Excellence function. John also led training and development for Global Operations, where he established the function and an integrated network of training representatives from each of the company’s manufacturing facilities in the US, Costa Rica, Ireland, and the Netherlands. 

Before his corporate roles, John was previously engaged in private legal practice with a focus on labor and employment matters. John has appeared before state and federal courts and several administrative bodies, including the NY Division of Human Rights and the National Labor Relations Board. He is a graduate of Albany Law School of Union University, and of the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied Industrial and Labor Relations. 

Susan Divers is the director of thought leadership and best practices with LRN Corporation. She brings 30+ years’ accomplishments and experience in the ethics and compliance arena to LRN clients and colleagues. This expertise includes building state-of-the-art compliance programs infused with values, designing user-friendly means of engaging and informing employees, fostering an embedded culture of compliance, and sharing substantial subject matter expertise in anti-corruption, export controls, sanctions, and other key areas of compliance. Prior to joining LRN, Mrs. Divers served as AECOM’s Assistant General for Global Ethics & Compliance and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer. Under her leadership, AECOM’s ethics and compliance program garnered six external awards in recognition of its effectiveness and Mrs. Divers’ thought leadership in the ethics field. In 2011, Mrs. Divers received the AECOM CEO Award of Excellence, which recognized her work in advancing the company’s ethics and compliance program. Before joining AECOM, she worked at SAIC and Lockheed Martin in the international compliance area. Prior to that, she was a partner with the DC office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. She also spent four years in London and is qualified as a Solicitor to the High Court of England and Wales, practicing in the international arena with the law firms of Theodore Goddard & Co. and Herbert Smith & Co. She also served as an attorney in the Office of the Legal Advisor at the Department of State and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN working on the first anti-corruption multilateral treaty initiative.  Mrs. Divers is a member of the DC Bar and a graduate of Trinity College, Washington D.C. and of the National Law Center of George Washington University. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Ethisphere Magazine listed her as one the “Attorneys Who Matter” in the ethics & compliance area. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Rutgers University Center for Ethical Behavior and served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Practical Training from 2005-2008. She resides in Northern Virginia and is a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on ethics and compliance topics.

Does learning actually occur as a result of ethics and compliance training, or are employees just paying lip service when they take courses? How can you tell the difference? Today, the E&C community is focused on program impact and effectiveness rather than checking boxes—in part because regulators have made it clear that E&C programs must show impact from their activities. On the season 9 finale of the Principled Podcast, Susan Divers discusses how compliance teams can ensure they’re getting the right insights to improve their programs with Kristi Kevern, the senior managing director at Dell Technologies. Listen in as Kristi shares how her team collects and analyzes data to better manage and enhance Dell’s E&C program—particularly in the training area. 

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Kristi Kevern is an innovative thought leader with 20+ years of experience in internal controls design, implementation, management, and assurance. At Dell Technologies, Kristi drives enterprise-wide risk management and governance activities, conceptualizes and implements global programs aimed at mitigating FCPA, AML, SOX, ESG and other key risks, turns findings into fixes with post-investigation remediation, and experiments with AI/ML for further prevention and insights using data. Prior to Dell, Kristi served as a founding member of the Coca-Cola Company’s Ethics Office, where she investigated allegations of fraud and served as ethics advisor to the credit union. As a former Big 4 manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Kristi led assurance and attestation engagements for Fortune 500+ clients. Kristi is a recipient of TRACE International's Innovation Award, and she has led Dell Technologies to an Ethisphere World’s Most Ethical Company designation 10 times. She is membership chair of the Conference Board’s Global Business Conduct Council and a frequent speaker at conferences and universities. Kristi graduated with honors from Auburn University and is a Certified Public Accountant residing in Austin, Texas.

Susan Divers is a senior advisor with LRN Corporation. In that capacity, Ms. Divers brings her 30+ years’ accomplishments and experience in the ethics and compliance area to LRN partners and colleagues. This expertise includes building state-of-the-art compliance programs infused with values, designing user-friendly means of engaging and informing employees, fostering an embedded culture of compliance and substantial subject matter expertise in anti-corruption, export controls, sanctions, and other key areas of compliance. Prior to joining LRN, Mrs. Divers served as AECOM’s Assistant General for Global Ethics & Compliance and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer. Under her leadership, AECOM’s ethics and compliance program garnered six external awards in recognition of its effectiveness and Mrs. Divers’ thought leadership in the ethics field. In 2011, Mrs. Divers received the AECOM CEO Award of Excellence, which recognized her work in advancing the company’s ethics and compliance program. Mrs. Divers’ background includes more than thirty years’ experience practicing law in these areas. Before joining AECOM, she worked at SAIC and Lockheed Martin in the international compliance area. Prior to that, she was a partner with the DC office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. She also spent four years in London and is qualified as a Solicitor to the High Court of England and Wales, practicing in the international arena with the law firms of Theodore Goddard & Co. and Herbert Smith & Co. She also served as an attorney in the Office of the Legal Advisor at the Department of State and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN working on the first anti-corruption multilateral treaty initiative. Mrs. Divers is a member of the DC Bar and a graduate of Trinity College, Washington D.C. and of the National Law Center of George Washington University. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Ethisphere Magazine listed her as one the “Attorneys Who Matter” in the ethics & compliance area. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Rutgers University Center for Ethical Behavior and served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Practical Training from 2005-2008. She resides in Northern Virginia and is a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on ethics and compliance topics. Mrs. Divers’ most recent publication is “Balancing Best Practices and Reality in Compliance,” published by Compliance Week in February 2015. In her spare time, she mentors veteran and university students and enjoys outdoor activities.

As the regulatory environment continues to evolve and organizations adapt, it is becoming increasingly important for ethics and compliance professionals to break down department silos.  But how do you do that effectively when there are so many stakeholders involved? How do you develop a stronger network of assurance partners inside your organization? On this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Dave Hansen talks about the impact of cross-functional collaboration on program effectiveness with Tony Tocco, the chief ethics and compliance officer and assistant corporate secretary of DT Midstream.

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Anthony M. Tocco (Tony) is the chief ethics and compliance officer and assistant corporate secretary at DT Midstream. He is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of effective programs and processes to promote an ethical culture and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. He also provides board governance and support responsibilities as the assistant corporate secretary.  

Tony joined DT Midstream as part of the business unit spin from DTE where he began as the manager of Audit Services in 2001 as a result of the merger with MCN Energy Group.  In 2002, he was promoted to assistant general auditor and subsequently performed as interim general auditor for a period. During this time, Tony directed the development and implementation of the independent centralized testing center for Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance and supporting corporate governance policies and procedures. 

Prior to joining DTE Energy, Tony held leadership positions in the MCN Energy Internal Audit department and Michigan Consolidated Gas Company’s Corporate Security & Investigations department. In total, Tony has approximately 30 years of compliance related experience in the utility and energy industry. Tony also has four additional years of compliance experience working for the Department of Defense in reviewing and auditing defense contracts and also established the internal audit department for a major Michigan public university. 

Tony earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Detroit College of Business, an MBA from Wayne State University, and a Master of Science degree in security administration from the University of Detroit-Mercy. Tony is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP), a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).   

Tony is a member of the Ethics and Compliance Institute (ECI), the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE), the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and the Society for Corporate Governance.   

Tony also has lectured for the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics, the Compliance and Ethics Officer Association, Compliance Week and the University of Detroit-Mercy. Tony is a former chairperson for the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association Utility Industry Group, which is comprised of approximately 70 utility companies. Tony serves on the CCEP Exam Writing Committee and is on the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit as development committee chair. 

Dave Hansen is the global advocacy marketing director at LRN, an organization focused on ethics and compliance solutions that help people around the world do the right thing. His team drives LRN's customer obsession by building community, deepening customer engagement, and finding meaningful opportunities for collaboration. Dave is passionate about learning, having spent most of his career within higher education or training. He loves sharing customer stories and best practices in the name of continuous improvement. Dave is a proud dad, coffee enthusiast, drummer, and scuba diver. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and reading!

Modern slavery is on the rise, and criminal organizations are becoming more sophisticated about it. According to the International Labor Organization more than 28 million people experienced forced labor in 2021. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Australia. What can be done about it? How can ethics and compliance professionals make a difference? In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, LRN Global Head of Segments, Matt Plass, talks with Jacob Sims from the International Justice Mission in Cambodia, who has been working actively to address modern slavery in southeast Asia. Listen in as the two discuss how Jake’s work as county director combines investigators, lawyers, social workers, and programmatic and operational staff in the fight against violent labor exploitation. 

For a transcript of this podcast, visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Jacob Sims has worked on human rights and development challenges facing Southeast Asia for over a decade—spanning issues from governance in the Philippines to internal displacement in Northern Myanmar to labor rights in Cambodia. He currently serves as country director of International Justice Mission (IJM) Cambodia where he leads a team of investigators, lawyers, social workers, programmatic and operational staff in the fight against violent labor exploitation. Concurrently with his role at IJM, he serves as a non-resident fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute, a leading research center working to understand and address real-world ethical challenges facing individuals, organizations, and societies worldwide. Sims’ team at IJM mounted one of the earliest programmatic responses to the human trafficking epidemic emerging within scamming compounds in Cambodia and have helped facilitate the rescue of over 100 individuals to date. In recent months, analysis from Sims on the emerging global phenomenon has featured in The Economist, The Guardian, LA Times, Al Jazeera, VICE World News, Sydney Morning Herald, ProPublica, Channel News Asia, amongst many others.

Matt Plass is the global head of segments at LRN. He was formerly chief executive officer with Interactive Services, where he led the executive team responsible for bringing Interactive Services’ award-winning integrity, ethics, and compliance learning solution to market. Matt has an extensive background in e-learning, blended learning, classroom education and learning design for adult audiences and has engaged with numerous Fortune 500 organizations in the design of learning solutions for global audiences. He provides advanced learning expertise to partners, and is a regular speaker at learning and development conferences. Matt led Interactive Services through its acquisition by LRN in 2020. He lives in Devon, England.

There are certain people you meet in your professional career that continue to have an impact on you and your industry, long after that initial meeting. For Principled Podcast host Meredith Hunt, that person is Mary Shirley, the former head of Integrity and Compliance Education at Fresenius Medical Care (now head of compliance for Masimo) and co-host of the Great Women in Compliance podcast. On this episode, the two discuss how ethics and compliance professionals can better amplify their peers and build community, using guidance from Mary’s book Sending the Elevator Back Down. They also explore themes from Mary’s upcoming book on how E&C leaders can make the most impact on their programs with limited resources. 

For a transcription of this podcast, please visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Mary Shirley is a New Zealand-qualified lawyer with 18 years of ethics and compliance experience that includes working for data privacy and antitrust regulators, in-house and private practice/consultancy across five countries and four regions of the world.  

Mary co-hosts the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, which aims to create a platform for the outstanding achievements of women in the field and sharing ideas and provide learning opportunities for everyone in compliance. 

She co-authored the book Sending the Elevator Back Down: What We’ve Learned from Great Women in Compliance (CCI Press, 2020) and has a second book highlighting trailblazing and innovative ideas to level up compliance programs, coming out later in 2023.  

She has been bestowed the honor of being named a Compliance Week Top Mind 2019, Trust Across America 2020 Top Thought Leader in Trust, and Excellence in Compliance Awards 2022 Mentor of the Year. 

Meredith Hunt came to LRN in early 2023 as a formidable compliance generalist, with experience in quality management, project management, regulatory compliance, policy drafting, and compliance program implementation and management. As a self-proclaimed compliance “nerd,” Meredith works as an ethics and compliance specialist on LRN’s Advisory team. In this capacity, she leads LRN’s code of conduct assessment and benchmarking practice and advises clients on how to incorporate code of conduct best practices. Meredith also manages client projects across a range of industries, including code of conduct development and E&C program evaluations. 

Generative AI is on the agenda of most every company right now. Business leaders are grappling with how to use it in products, services, and in workflows. Managers and their teams are wondering if artificial intelligence is coming for their jobs. Regulators are trying to wrap their arms around it as its potential for misuse is high. If you’re concerned about corporate ethics, culture, and compliance, what is your role in the responsible development and deployment of AI-oriented business initiatives? On the Principled Podcast, host Jen Üner talks about responsible AI with Dr. Seth Dobrin, PhD and President of the Responsible AI Institute. Listen in as the two unpack what “responsible AI” means and how business leaders can move forward in this rapidly changing landscape that is surely as monumental a shift as the invention of the Internet. 

For a transcription of this podcast, please visit the episode page at LRN.com.

Dr. Seth Dobrin is a globally recognized leading expert in AI. He is currently the president of the Responsible AI Institute. Previously, he was IBM's global chief AI officer, where he led the company's AI strategy. 

Dr. Dobrin is also a sought-after speaker and advisor on AI. He believes that AI has the potential to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, but that it is important to use AI responsibly. He advocates for the development of ethical AI guidelines and for the responsible use of AI by governments and businesses. 

Jen Üner is the Strategic Communications Director for LRN, where she captains programs for both internal and external audiences. She has an insatiable curiosity and an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong which she challenges each day through her study of ethics, compliance, and the value of values-based behavior in corporate governance. Prior to joining LRN, Jen led marketing communications for innovative technology companies operating in Europe and the US, and for media and marketplaces in California. She has won recognition for her work in brand development and experiential design, earned placements in leading news publications, and hosted a closing bell ceremony of the NASDAQ in honor of the California fashion industry as founder of the LA Fashion Awards. Jen holds a B.A. degree from Claremont McKenna College.

Building a winning culture of ethics and compliance requires efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of a program—including training, communications, and a code and conduct. But how do you ensure these elements all work together to create a meaningful and intentional learning experience? While also contributing to desired business outcomes? In this episode of LRN’s Principled Podcast, host Carolyn Grace explores why a deep understanding of curriculum design is essential to developing an effective program. Listen in as she speaks with Erick Sawyer, the chief ethics and compliance officer of Inhabit, (recently rebranded from Inhabit IQ), and Damien DeBarra, the leader of Curriculum Design and Communication Strategy in LRN’s Advisory group, about the learning curriculum they created by leveraging Inhabit’s code of conduct. 

For a transcription of this podcast, please visit the episode page at LRN.com.

As Inhabit’s chief ethics and compliance officer, Erick Sawyer leads the company’s day-to-day compliance operations to ensure Inhabit is in compliance with various regulatory requirements and employees are in adherence with internal procedures and policies. Erick creates strategic programs that are paired with tactical plans to positively impact customers and employees across the software ecosystem. Prior to joining Inhabit, Erick held various roles in legal, compliance, quality, and learning and development in the financial services industry. He has focused his career on bridging the gap between people and process to drive a culture of ethics and compliance, protecting the brand and reputation of leading organizations.

Damien DeBarra brings more than 20 years’ experience to the instructional design and strategic workforce planning spaces.  As the Leader in Curriculum Design and Communication Strategy at LRN, he focuses on creating training solutions that ensure business buy-in and connect hiring practices to day-one learning roll-outs. In the last few years, Damien has helped organizations such as United Airlines, Sun Life Financial, SITEL, Astellas, MFS Investments, and SAP create 90-day action plans for their solutions and develop supporting communication strategies. He has worked with over 200 clients in areas ranging from retail to pharmaceuticals, call centers to nuclear plant manufacturing. Prior to LRN, Damien spent more than nine years as the Learning Solutions Director and Head of Instructional Design at Interactive Services. He has also worked as an instructional designer at NCALT, Electric Paper, and Epic. Damien received his BA from Maynooth University.

Carolyn Grace is a content writer on LRN's global marketing team and co-producer of the Principled Podcast. She specializes in writing compelling stories about ethics and compliance that resonate across business segments, industries, and personas while hitting critical KPIs for traffic and engagement. Topics she frequently covers include ESG, data privacy and protection, DEI, the role of boards of directors and leadership, corporate training and e-learning, and ethical corporate culture. Prior to joining LRN, Carolyn was a writer and content strategist at Thinkso Creative, a boutique creative agency in New York City. At Thinkso, she wrote internal and external communications for clients in technology, nonprofit, law, logistics, and financial services sectors. Before that, Carolyn conducted trend research and cultural strategy at Horizon Media, specializing in entertainment, travel, media and technology, health and wellness, and food and beverage categories. Carolyn graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in American History and French Studies and a minor in Journalism.