Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 36th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference
/On June 22-27, anti-fraud professionals attending the 36th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, in Nashville, TN or virtually, will hear from leading experts in the fraud fighting field. Sharing their insights, here is an introduction to this year’s featured keynote speakers:
Chris Voss
Former FBI Negotiator
Interviewing & Behavioral Intelligence Expert
Chris Voss is a former international FBI hostage negotiator and bestselling author of “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It,” which has sold more than five million copies worldwide, and “The Full Fee Agent: How to Stack the Odds in Your Favor as a Real Estate Professional.” During his 24-year tenure at the FBI, Voss was the Bureau’s lead international kidnapping negotiator, as well as the hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group. He also represented the U.S. government at two international conferences sponsored by the G-8 as an expert in kidnapping. Prior to this, Voss served as the lead crisis negotiator for the FBI’s New York City division. Voss was also a case agent with the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years, working on cases including TERRSTOP (the Blind Sheikh Case – Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman), the TWA Flight 800 catastrophe and he negotiated the surrender of the first hostage taker to surrender in the Chase Manhattan bank robbery.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
World Trade Organization Director-General, Global Finance Expert & Economist
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), making history as the first woman and first African to hold the role. She has more than 40 years of experience as an economist and international development expert. Okonjo-Iweala is also the first woman to serve as Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs and Finance Minister, a position she held for seven years in two terms. As Finance Minister, she oversaw reforms to fight corruption and was instrumental in the Paris Club's $30 billion debt write-off for Nigeria. She has served in leadership roles such as chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2016–2020), the African Union’s African Risk Capacity Group (2014–2020), and co-chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate with Lord Nicholas Stern (2014–2020). She co-chaired the G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing for Pandemic Preparedness and was a key founder of the COVAX Facility. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.
She spent 25 years at the World Bank, rising to Managing Director, Operations and served as a senior advisor at Lazard Ltd. She has been on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank and Twitter Inc. Additionally, she was the African Union and World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Special Envoy in 2020.
Laci Mosley
"Scam Goddess" Podcast Host, Actress, Comedian & Author
Laci Mosley is an actress, comedian and author, as well as host of the award-winning “Scam Goddess” podcast, in which she combines her love of comedy with true crime to create a “podcast dedicated to fraud and all those who practice it.” Comedic guests have included Jameela Jamil, Nicole Byer, Lauren Lapkus, JB Smoove and more. She recently wrapped production on a TV adaptation of the podcast, and Mosley’s book, “Scam Goddess: Lessons from a Life of Cons, Grifts, and Schemes,” was released in September 2024.
Marina Walker Guevara
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Investigative Journalist & Executive Editor, Pulitzer Center
Marina Walker Guevara is executive editor at the Pulitzer Center, an organization that supports in-depth journalism globally. Before joining the Pulitzer Center, Walker Guevara was deputy director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). She managed two of the largest collaborations of reporters in journalism history, The Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, which involved hundreds of journalists using technology to unravel stories of public interest from terabytes of leaked financial data. Walker Guevara was instrumental in developing the model of large-scale media collaboration, persuading reporters who used to compete with one another instead to work together, share resources and amplify their reach and impact.
Walker Guevara’s work as a journalist started in her native Argentina. Her stories on topics ranging from environmental degradation by multinational companies to the global offshore economy have appeared in leading international media, including The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Mother Jones, Le Monde and the BBC.
Richard L. Beasley
FBI Supervisory Special Agent, Retired
Richard L. Beasley is a retired Supervisory Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Before joining the FBI in 1986, he worked for a large accounting firm in Las Vegas. Beasley started his FBI career in El Paso, investigating white collar crime, public corruption and drug cases. In 1989, he was transferred to the Los Angeles Division and assigned to the public corruption squad, then to the Special Operations Group. Beasley was transferred to the Las Vegas Division in 1998, where he investigated violent crimes, and then in 2006, he was appointed as the Supervisory Special Agent of the squad that investigated public corruption, health care fraud and civil rights cases.
After a brief retirement in 2011, Beasley returned to the FBI as a contract forfeiture investigator, assisting in investigations with an emphasis on locating and seizing assets using the federal asset forfeiture statutes. In 2017, Beasley accepted the position of president of Global Intelligence Network, a private investigations firm, a role he held until his retirement in 2023.
Alex Jariv*
Founder, Sage Digital Agency
Alex Jariv is the founder of Sage Digital Agency, a company specializing in custom website design and amplifying websites through social media and Google marketing campaigns. With more than a decade of experience, Jariv works to reimagine brands and deliver exceptional user experiences to his clients through design and marketing solutions. Jariv draws on his unique life experiences to inspire his work and empower those around him.
*The ACFE does not compensate convicted fraudsters.
Tom Devine
Legal Director & Global Advocate, Whistleblower Justice
Tom Devine is the legal director at the Government Accountability Project and has worked at the organization since 1979. Since that time, Devine has formally or informally assisted more than 8,000 whistleblowers in defending themselves against retaliation.
Throughout his career, Devine has led campaigns to pass or defend 38 national or international whistleblower laws, including nearly all in the U.S. federal government enacted over the last two decades. These include the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, 17 breakthrough laws since 2002, the European Union Whistleblower Directive to create free speech rights for all 27 member nations, and major intergovernmental organizations with policies legalizing public freedom of expression for their own whistleblowers.
Devine has also made real differences on behalf of the public, such as shuttering accident-prone nuclear power plants, rebuffing industry ploys to deregulate government meat inspection, instituting a national commercial milk testing program for illegal animal drugs and sparking the withdrawal of dangerous prescription drugs. Devine has not lost a case since 2006 with success in numerous U.S. courts, including the Supreme Court.
John Gill, J.D., CFE
President
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Joining the ACFE in 1995 as its first general counsel, Gill created and directed the research and publications department and later served as Chief Training Officer. He developed the CFE Exam Review Course in 2006, teaching it globally, and has conducted training for Fortune 50 companies and government agencies. Before the ACFE, he practiced law in Austin, Texas, focusing on civil fraud and deceptive trade practices. Gill co-authored the Fraud Examiners Manual and regularly contributes to Fraud Magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Arkansas and a Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Texas School of Law.
John Warren, J.D., CFE
Chief Executive Officer
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
John Warren first joined the ACFE as a member of its legal department in 1996 and in 2004 he was appointed General Counsel, where he was responsible for providing guidance, oversight and direction to management and staff on all legal issues affecting the ACFE. He served in this position until 2022. Warren is also a co-author of the Report to the Nations, the ACFE’s biennial study on the costs and effects of occupational fraud. He serves in an advisory capacity as a representative to the ACFE Research Institute, a multidisciplinary academic research center dedicated to supporting anti-fraud research.
