FCPA Compliance Report

Welcome to Natural Disasters Expo Houston! For its fifth year, Natural Disasters Expo USA comes back to Houston on October 14–15, 2026, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. And there’s no better place for it. This city knows what it takes to prepare for disasters, respond, and rebuild afterward. For two days, industry leaders, government agencies, first responders, and resilience professionals will come together with one shared goal: helping communities’ weather the next storm stronger than the last. Explore new solutions and technology, learn from experts who have been on the front lines, and meet the partners who will help you turn preparedness into action. Whether you’re here to learn, share, or collaborate, you are part of the effort to build a more resilient nation.

In this speaker series, Tom Fox interviews Dr. Joseph Colaco on Reducing Hurricane Damage in Houston’s Expanding High-Rise Environment. 

Dr. Colaco is a tenured University of Houston architecture professor and president of Dr. Colaco Engineers. He visits with Tom about his upcoming presentation on reducing hurricane damage in Houston’s growing high-rise environment. Dr. Colaco describes assessing building performance during Hurricane Alicia in 1983, including firsthand observations downtown, documentation of facade damage, and visits to the Galleria area and Galveston. He explains that Houston’s increased density and taller buildings create new wind-flow conditions, making some older wind tunnel results less applicable; he notes Houston began wind tunnel and window-wall facade testing in the 1970s to inform design and construction. Dr. Colaco values conferences for networking and for transferring lessons learned across generations, and cites Chicago’s periodic inspection requirements for tall buildings as a model for improving building safety and living conditions in Houston.

Resources:

Natural Disasters Expo USA 

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Conference Agenda

Speakers 2026

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In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Anthony Pugliese, President and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). 

We begin with the IIA’s global footprint with boards in 122 countries, its role in setting internal audit standards, certifications, including the Certified Internal Auditor credential with about 225,000 holders, and education. Pugliese describes how internal audit is shifting from primarily financial controls to a broader focus on non-financial risks, including cybersecurity, AI and disruptive technologies, sustainability reporting, business resilience, and geopolitical risk. He emphasizes internal audit’s growing prospective/advisory role, particularly in assessing whether AI governance is keeping pace with rapid adoption and in communicating complex risks to boards and audit committees. Cybersecurity is cited as chief audit executives’ top concern, increasingly requiring continuous monitoring. Pugliese notes members want more industry-specific guidance and expanded GRC resources relevant to compliance and directs listeners to iia.org and the free annual Risk in Focus report. 

Key Highlights

 ·      What the IIA Does

·      Risk Landscape Shifts

·      From Assurance to Advisory

·      Geopolitical Risk in Practice

·      Cyber Threats and Continuous Auditing

·      Why Compliance Pros Should Join

 Resources

Anthony Pugliese on LinkedIn

Institute of Internal Auditors

Tom Fox

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Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

LinkedIn

My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County Texas which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival and resilience. It is available on the following sites:

 Amazon.com

Stoney Creek Publishing

Barnes and Noble

Texas A&M University Press

Bookshop.org

Google.Books

Walmart

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Welcome to Natural Disasters Expo Houston! For its fifth year, Natural Disasters Expo USA comes back to Houston on October 14–15, 2026, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. And there’s no better place. This city knows what it takes to prepare for disasters, respond, and rebuild afterward.

For two days, industry leaders, government agencies, first responders, and resilience professionals will come together with one shared goal: helping communities weather the next storm stronger than the last. Explore new solutions and technology, learn from experts on the front lines, and meet the partners who will help you turn preparedness into action. Whether you’re here to learn, share, or collaborate, you’re part of the effort to build a more resilient nation.

In this speaker series, Tom Fox interviews James Caron on Lessons from Winter Storm Uri and Business Risk Preparedness.

James Caron is the director of weather operations for North America at Atmospheric G2 and owner of Caron Weather Consultancy. He discusses his upcoming Disaster Expo 2026 presentation in Houston, “Storm Ready: Analyzing Winter Storm Uri and Preparing for Future Winter Hazards.” Caron explains forensic meteorology as expert witness work in litigation involving weather-related incidents, then outlines how a displaced polar vortex during Uri placed all 254 Texas counties under winter storm warnings, drove Dallas–Fort Worth to -2°F, nearly collapsed ERCOT, cut power to about 4.5 million customers, and spiked natural gas prices above 1,000 MMBTU. He will use his financial institution lead-time forecasting experience as a case study and offer practical preparedness guidance for emergency management, grid and energy operators, and businesses, noting that Uri broadened business awareness of winter risk and that a strong El Niño could elevate winter 2026/27 threats.

Resources:

Connect with James Caron on LinkedIn

Natural Disasters Expo USA

Get your Ticket

Conference Agenda

Speakers 2026

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Welcome to Natural Disasters Expo Houston! For its fifth year, Natural Disasters Expo USA comes back to Houston on October 14–15, 2026, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. And there’s no better place. This city knows what it takes to prepare for disasters, respond, and rebuild afterward.

For two days, industry leaders, government agencies, first responders, and resilience professionals will come together with one shared goal: helping communities weather the next storm stronger than the last. Explore new solutions and technology, learn from experts on the front lines, and meet the partners who will help you turn preparedness into action. Whether you’re here to learn, share, or collaborate, you’re part of the effort to build a more resilient nation.

In this speaker series, Tom Fox interviews Atascocita Fire Department Chief Mike Mulligan about Hurricane Harvey Frontline Leadership Lessons.

Chief Mulligan serves the Atascocita Fire Department, which covers a 25-square-mile area with 75,000–90,000 residents in unincorporated northeast Harris County. Mulligan previews his conference panel, “Lessons From the Front Line,” describing Harvey-era preparation and rescue execution, political and resource-prioritization challenges, the unexpected arrival of the Cajun Navy, and an EMS-related “tug-of-war” over a resource that drove extended after-action discussions. He explains that before Harvey, the department had limited high-water exposure, lacked boats and swift-water capability, and then added equipment and planning after prior floods while still maintaining normal EMS call volume during Harvey. Mulligan also discusses attending a broader disaster conference to learn how emergency response affects downstream mitigation and recovery.

Resources:

Connect with Chief Mulligan on LinkedIn

Natural Disasters Expo USA

Get your Ticket

Conference Agenda

Speakers 2026

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Welcome to Natural Disasters Expo Houston! For its fifth year, Natural Disasters Expo USA comes back to Houston on October 14–15, 2026, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. And there's no better place for it. This city knows what it takes to prepare for disasters, respond, and rebuild afterward.

For two days, industry leaders, government agencies, first responders, and resilience professionals will come together with one shared goal: helping communities weather the next storm stronger than the last. Explore new solutions and technology, learn from experts who have been on the front lines, and meet the partners who will help you turn preparedness into action. Whether you're here to learn, share, or collaborate, you're part of the effort to build a more resilient nation.

In this speaker series, Tom Fox interviews Dalton Rice, City Manager of Kerrville, ahead of the Natural Disaster Expo 2026, where Rice will speak on “Leading Through a Disaster: Hill Country Floods 2025.” 

Rice previews a leadership-focused talk on how individuals and organizations navigate disasters, emphasizing immediate mental health support, burnout prevention, and adapting operations while continuing to run cities and departments. He plans to incorporate lessons from Kerrville’s July 4, 2025, flood and a second major flood on July 16, 2026, noting differences between fatality events and devastation-only disasters and how politics, resources, and pace of response affect outcomes. Rice says he values the conference for networking and building a “Rolodex” of peers, and he explains his goal of creating practical guidance for city managers, including challenges such as legislative dynamics, IT issues, hate mail, death threats, and separating disaster response from organizational operations.

Key highlights:

Resources:

Dalton Rice Profile

Natural Disasters Expo USA 

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Conference Agenda

Speakers 2026

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In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Mike Koenig to talk about his career and his recent move back to private practice after a 5-year stint at JBS. Mike is one of the few folks to move from private practice to an in-house CCO role, then back to private practice.

Mike began by reviewing his career, from 25 years in private practice and a 2003 DOJ Fraud Section stint prosecuting corporate fraud to becoming chief compliance officer at JBS in August 2021 amid DOJ and SEC settlement agreements requiring an effective compliance program. He describes learning to operate within business-driven priorities by building relationships, learning the business and culture, “educating not dictating,” and securing C-suite, board, and audit committee buy-in, including CEO-driven training completion. He explains that he uses trusted outside experts and focuses on the specific problem to solve rather than “boiling the ocean.” After JBS completed the settlements and listed on the NYSE in June 2025, he returned to private practice at Friedman Kaplan to advise on investigations and compliance, emphasizing concise, solution-oriented counsel. He warns against de-prioritizing compliance despite reduced enforcement, urges risk assessments (tariffs, export controls, and human rights), and recommends using DOJ compliance guidance to review programs.

Key highlights:

Resources:

Mike Koenig on LinkedIn

Mike Koenig at Friedman Kaplan

Friedman Kaplan

Tom Fox

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My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County, Texas, which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival, and resilience.

It is available on the following sites:

Amazon.com

Stoney Creek Publishing

Barnes and Noble

Texas A&M University Press

Bookshop.org

Google.Books

Walmart

This week only, the Kindle e-book version is available for $0.99 on Amazon.

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In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Jack Moss, CEO & Board Member at Fortem International, to discuss the Natural Disaster Expo series and the upcoming Houston event (October 14–15). Moss explains the expo evolved from a UK Flood Expo launched about 10 years ago and expanded in the U.S. after interest from major agencies and stakeholders, including FEMA, Homeland Security, NASA, and NOAA, first in Miami and later California, then Houston as disasters increased in Texas. The conference brings together government entities, municipalities, first responders, private industry, risk and compliance professionals, reconstruction and construction providers, and funding-related participants to source products and services and learn how to predict, prevent, and manage disasters. Listeners can get a free pass to the event by using the link and code below.

Key highlights:

Resources:

Natural Disaster Expo

Click for Free Pass

Tom Fox

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My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County, Texas, which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival, and resilience.

It is available on the following sites:

Amazon.com

Stoney Creek Publishing

Barnes and Noble

Texas A&M University Press

Bookshop.org

Google.Books

Walmart

This week only, the Kindle e-book version is available for $0.99 on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Michelle Tavares, a former federal government forensic accountant and former USCIS EB-5 compliance officer who helped rewrite the EB-5 statute into the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA).

Tavares explains EB-5 as an investor visa program where foreign nationals invest $1,000,000 (or $800,000 in a TEA) in U.S. projects that must create jobs, and she describes how EB-5 transactions sit at the intersection of immigration, securities, banking/AML, and corporate governance, making consistent documentation and a unified “story” critical for adjudication. She outlines the roles of regional centers, NCEs, and JCEs; the challenges of proving a lawful source of funds; and the importance of third-party oversight, KYC/AML controls, and tone-from-the-top governance. She discusses how RIA added compliance expectations, penalties, and increased scrutiny of regional centers and overseas promoters, and shares why she founded Standard & Proof Investigations to close knowledge gaps in EB-5 compliance.

Key Highlights:

Resources:

Standard & Proof Investigations

Counsel Ready

Michelle Tavares on LinkedIn

Tom Fox

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

LinkedIn

My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County, Texas, which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival, and resilience.

It is available on the following sites:

Amazon.com

Stoney Creek Publishing

Barnes and Noble

Texas A&M University Press

Bookshop.org

Google.Books

Walmart

This week only, the Kindle e-book version is available for $0.99 on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ed. Note-Five years ago, I looked back on 9/11 in a 20 year retrospective. This week is the 25th anniversary of that event. I am rerunning this award winning podcast series so that we never forget. 

On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Tom Fox and guests look back on the tragic event and what it meant for them personally, as well as how it impacted the world of compliance. Today Tom’s guest is John Lee Dumas. John is the host of the award-winning podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire, joins Tom Fox on the last installment of Looking Back at 9/11 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. He tells Tom how his life changed in that pivotal moment, and the big lessons he learned. 

A Time of War

John tells Tom that he was in his final year at Providence College, and in the ROTC cadets, on 9/11. When he saw the towers fall, he knew at once that it would change the trajectory of his career. He and his roommate looked at each other and they knew “that our next four years of active duty army experience went from being in the peacetime army to looking like we were going to war.” Within hours they were called to active duty: “We just became officers in the US army during a time of war,” John recalls.

Leadership Lessons from the Army

Tom asks John what leadership lessons he learned from his time in the army. John outlines three major takeaways that his time in combat taught him:

What Americans Should Remember

John wants Americans to appreciate their freedom, because it was hard won. He tells listeners, “So few people have ever experienced what true lawlessness is. And until you’ve experienced that, it's hard to really appreciate what we do have here. But you know, this is a great country and it is the home of the free because of the brave. And I hope that's just something that we will always remember.”

Resources

John Lee Dumas: ⁠Entrepreneurs on Fire⁠ | ⁠Twitter

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Ed. Note: Five years ago, Tom Fox looked back on 9/11 in a 20-year retrospective. This week is the 25th anniversary of that event. We will be rerunning this award-winning podcast so we never forget.

On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Tom Fox and guests look back on the tragic event and what it meant for them personally, as well as how it impacted the world of compliance. Today, Tom’s guest is Scott Moritz for this episode of Looking Back at 9/11, where Scott talks about how the events of 9/11 impacted the FBI.

⁠How 9/11 Changed The FBI: Structural and Cultural Ambidexterity

9/11 fundamentally changed the FBI overnight. Scott remarks that for a long time after 9/11, the FBI was primarily focused on the attack on the Trade Center. That was the Bureau’s main investigation, and all FBI field offices and virtually every foreign attaché office in the world worked on it. Many scholars, through various organizational studies and surveys, assumed that the FBI would have created simultaneous frontline structures and processes to balance its two competing missions: national security and law enforcement. The scholars also posited that the FBI might engage in cultural ambidexterity by refusing to take on the national security mission altogether. The FBI did something altogether unexpected and tackled both. 

The Benefit of One Agency

“There was this rapid emergence of two clear, but distinct, identities, and eventually, you know, one new unified identity: the FBI, but some changes were that terrorism cases were centralized at headquarters…This was a big departure from the way that the FBI normally operated,” Scott tells Tom. By staying a single agency, the FBI had better access to local law enforcement and could better leverage defendants for information that could advance the national security mission.

A Shift in the Private Sector

Tom asks Scott to talk about any changes in the private sector he was personally involved in. The major post-9/11 change in the private sector, especially for financial institutions, was the enactment of the Patriot Act, which also paved the way for other significant changes. Financial Institutions and broker-dealers had to harden the security of buildings and supply chains across the country’s infrastructure. There was also an explosion of no-fly lists, watch lists, and terrorist watch lists. Banks, building owners, and brokerage companies often had to navigate these systems quickly. Scott was heavily involved in helping these institutions meet their anti-money-laundering and security obligations. 

Looking to the Future

Tom asks Scott to share reflections on 9/11 and the future. Scott remarks that after 9/11, the country was more united and people were more compassionate toward one another. The best of humanity in the form of kindness and outpouring of love was seen not just from Americans to each other, but from the rest of the world to America. He hopes he can see that kind of love and unity again someday. 

Resources:

Scott Moritz | ⁠LinkedIn⁠

⁠Fraud Eats Strategy

Front Office Agents Podcast

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