Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm your host, Sheila Slick.
And today, my special guest is Devreen Dixon.
Devreen is a JD and CAMS certified financial
crime risk consultant with over 20 years of experience
in legal services and financial crime risk management.
Devreen is also the host of the Compliance Times
podcast, a show that explores real -world financial
crime cases, delivering compliance insights for
anti -financial crime professionals while engaging
true crime listeners through narrative -driven
storytelling. Welcome to the show, Devreen. Thank
you so much for having me, Sheila. I got a little
bit tongue -twisted there, but that sounds fascinating,
the Compliance Times podcast. But before I ask
you about that, I'd love to learn a little bit.
more about you and that pivotal moment that shifted
your career from legal services into financial
crime compliance. How did that transition shape
your perspective on protecting institutions?
Wow, that's a great question. Reflecting on that,
for me, I started out as a paralegal early in
my career. and did that for about nine years.
And there's something about the law. It's all
about ultimately compliance with different rules
and regulations and things. So when I was working
as a paralegal in a global law firm, I realized
that that was the next step for me and the next
logical step for me that I was very interested
in doing was attending law school. So I applied,
got into law school. I actually didn't officially
discover anti -financial crime as being a potential
career until my third and final year in law school.
And that's when I took a couple of white -collar
crime class and a class that specifically dealt
with the Bank Secrecy Act, which is the primary
law that regulates financial crime compliance.
So I had the opportunity to, as part of that
class, to interview what they call Bank Secrecy
Act officers or BSA officers at a regional financial
institution and I believe it was a community
bank. And as they began to share with me their
career and what they do to protect the bank,
I grew incredibly fascinated with this career
option. And so I knew that by the time I graduated,
that that was what I wanted to do. So I appreciate
my couple of law school professors there who
introduced me to that, to this industry. And
I think basically that's what really shaped my
decision to get into this career, because the
field specifically involves protecting financial
institutions, at least in my career path, protecting
them from any sort of financial crime, reputational
risk, and just complying with the Bank Secrecy
Act regulations. And so all that. between law
school and having been a paralegal before that
and just taking these, having the opportunity
to interview folks in the field before I even
got in the field really shaped my interest and
desire to protect financial institutions from
financial crime and reputational risks. So it's
financial institutions. Do you ever help small
businesses? Not in my career path. As part of
my career path, I have mainly worked at a community
bank and a global investment firm. But there
are... certainly other types of businesses that
fall under that financial institutions category,
such as insurance companies, which are regulated
in part by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,
which oversees financial crime compliance. But
there are, let's see, like fintech companies
or financial technology companies. Those are
also regulated. But in my experience, I've worked
with a couple of financial institutions, more
so than small businesses and things. So I'm not
a banker and I don't have a financial institution,
but I'd love one key lesson from your 20 plus
years in financial crime compliance and being
a paralegal that every person should understand
about either protecting themselves or their business
or organization, even if we don't work in finance.
What would that be? Wow, just one. That's great
to narrow that down. I would say. I think for
me, having the through line throughout my career
is really connecting yourself with folks who
have significant experience in the industry and
who can help guide you along the way. I remember
just having people in my field as a paralegal
and even being in the financial crime compliance
and risk management industry, people who... were
very knowledgeable about the field when I was
at my very early stages and who helped me to
learn how to become very detail -oriented about
how to protect financial institutions or to help,
when I was a paralegal, to help with banking
and finance transaction closings and that sort
of thing. So I think having mentors is very helpful.
It's only one. The other thing, as far as protecting
yourself, I think the key is just to stay informed.
You know, I think about it in terms of of fraud.
You know, you and I were talking a little bit
about AI earlier. And I think that coupled with
fraudulent schemes, coupled with AI, I think
it's critically important to help both people
in my industry as well as non -financial crime
professionals to understand how to protect themselves,
to be aware of the different types of crimes
that are out there and how criminals are unfortunately
using that to perpetrate crimes even faster.
than what we even can imagine, right? So definitely
making sure to be aware to do what you can to
protect yourself. And that's helped me being
in the financial crime space and even in my personal
life as well. Are there specific websites or
newsletters or is this something you're doing
in your podcast, which we're going to get to
in a second? Oh my goodness, yes. That's actually
something that I'm going to be incorporating
into my podcast. But otherwise, there are certainly
websites that consumers can use to protect themselves,
whether it is the FBI .gov. They have an area
of their website where if you've been a victim
of fraud, then you can file a report through
what's called the IC3 website. So FBI websites,
Homeland Security, they often have red flags
that consumers can review and just... rely on
to protect themselves. I will say AARP is another
good site for fraud prevention because they have,
I believe it's called Fraud Watch, but that's
something they are really just pushing forward
because of the amount of fraud that's perpetrated
against the elderly primarily and really just
anyone to help protect themselves. So I would
recommend sites like those. And if you really
want to get... nerdy about it. I mean, there's
certainly sites like the Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network, but I think people who are not in the
industry may or may not find that kind of boring,
but I find it very interesting and I appreciate
the information they put out as well. Now, even
when I travel, I love going into the state departments
that learn the risks when you're traveling so
that you're at least aware and you feel up to
date. So I think those are three great places,
even though, you know, sending me over to the
FBI is a bit intimidating. Right. It is. It is.
It's a resource. I mean, you know, it's definitely
a resource. And it may not be one that people
would readily think about, you know. But nonetheless,
just having been in the industry for as long
as I have, I've come across these sites and I
found them to be very helpful. That if I didn't,
if I wasn't in this industry, I would direct
someone to them. Well, that's great. So now let's
talk about the Compliance Times podcast. What's
the podcast about? And I know you've been talking
about revamping it. So what does that look like?
So, wow, the podcast was really born out of a
wonderful idea from Chris Kramitzos, who runs
PodFest. And he gave me the idea based on the
industry that I work in to do a podcast about
it instead of what I had thought about doing,
doing a podcast about real estate initially.
But when he found out that I was into anti -financial
crimes compliance, he was like, oh, my gosh,
that's. that's exciting. You should do a podcast
about that. I was like, well, I never really
thought about that. I don't know the first thing
about podcasting, but he held my hand, you know,
in being the expert that he is and held my hand
in, you know, walking me through how to start
a podcast. And I love it. I look forward to continuing.
So thank you very much, Chris Kavitsos. Well,
the Compliance Times podcast, the full name is
the Compliance Times, a deep dive into anti -money
laundering one case at a time. Very SEO rich
indeed. So it is essentially a single host audio
podcast that I started back in 2018. And the
focus is examining true financial crime cases
and providing compliance insights to. folks in
my industry like myself, anti -financial crime
professionals, while also attracting and engaging
true crime enthusiasts. As you can imagine, financial
crime cases that are true, a true crime, would
be very interesting for folks who are interested
in the true crime genre. It's a different take
on it, on the true crime genre. I set it up in
a way that the show is structured so that it
always asks the same three questions. Essentially,
you know, what happened in the case, how it was
uncovered. And what can, I say, AFC professionals,
meaning anti -financial crime professionals,
learn from the case? You know, what they can
take away from the case to go back and protect
their organizations for financial crime that
was described in the true crime piece of the
podcast. But I started it because this just goes
to show you how, I guess, I don't know too many
people that start a podcast based on something
they love doing as their full -time job. It was
something that I thought was fun. It gave me
the ability to just to unleash the creative side
of what I could do in this anti -financial crime
space. And my next steps are continuing the podcast
in the format that it's in. But rather than selecting
random cases to discuss, I'm looking at doing
seasonal arcs similar to television shows. that
focus on a specific area or specific type of
financial crime and just providing compliance
insights to folks like myself who are in the
anti -financial crimes compliance industry and
continuing to engage true crime listeners. So
between that and creating some maybe some short
form content for folks in my industry that help
them do fight the good fight financial crimes
compliance. Those are some of the things on the
horizon for me at this point. So more to come,
more to come. Now, do you offer consulting or
do you have any ways that people can work one
-on -one with you or in a group setting? Yes,
consulting is part of that lineup to create.
The goal is to put out these different assets,
you know, the podcast episodes and some industry
insights and for compliance professionals like
myself and to do. one consulting for their institutions,
or perhaps even on an individual basis. Whichever
works, I want to help the industry help fight
this good fight of anti -financial crimes compliance.
Are you changing the name? Are you keeping the
same title? And if so, can you repeat it so that
we know what to look for in the podcast platforms?
Sure. Thank you for asking. Yes, I am making
a slight change to the subtitle. It's currently
called The Compliance Times, A Deep Dive into
Anti -Money Laundering, One Case at a Time. But
I wanted to expand the show to go beyond simply
money laundering cases. The revamped title will
be The Compliance Times, A Deep Dive into Anti
-Financial Crimes, One Case at a Time. That's
more all -encompassing beyond money laundering
because there's also fraud and there's sanctions
violations. So, yeah, I want to limit myself
just to money laundering. I want to see how I
can help other people to combat this stuff, whether
you're in the industry or a consumer. I'm staying
tuned for your updates. Well, thank you for joining
me today, Davreen. Absolutely. I appreciate the
invitation. And thank you so much. And thank
you all for tuning in to another episode of Milestone
Moments in Business and Leadership. Until next
time.