Welcome back to In Good Companies! This season, we’re connecting you with the hottest trends in business. So we start with a big question: in a fast digital world, how can we keep our companies safe and secure? In 2023, 40% of all US organizations experienced security violations; so what can we do to catch fraud at the door? Cassi Chandler has her idea.

Cassi has been in criminal intelligence for nearly four decades. She spent 24 years in the FBI, working with white-collar crime, financial crime, and government fraud. She was also the first African American woman to hold an Assistant Director role in the agency. After she retired from the FBI, she joined Bank of America, to design innovative security strategies and identify cyber and fraud risks. Now, she is the founder and CEO of Vigeo Alliances, a company that advises businesses on leadership and talent risk management. So who better to help us tackle fraud prevention?

Today, Cassi discusses the latest cyber criminality and fraud trends, to help us join the dots, and spot the risks at play inside our companies. From monitoring the information flowing in our systems to communicating inside and outside our teams, and becoming technologically-minded… Cassi shares the “intelligence mindset” that can keep us all safe and sound.

Join Patrick and Cassi today to get ahead of the digital security game. And remember: fraud is everyone’s business.

Highlights:

• Identifying different types of fraud (2:53)
• Why technology makes your business fragile (4:15)
• First steps to fraud prevention: team communication (5:40)
• Paying attention to what’s coming in (6:35)
• How other organizations handle your information (7:41)
• When data is no longer in our control (8:50)
• Practical ways to make our digital space more secure (10:05)
• Defining the intelligence mindset (11:35)
• Technology development through Star Trek (13:31)
• Thinking like a fraudster: “looking for the possibilities” (15:01)
• Building an intelligence into corporate culture (16:00)
• Tackling fraud prevention at the industry level (17:12)
• Why regulating and reporting fraud matters (18:45)
• Culture is the first risk (20:39)

Links:

• Cadence Bank Website
• Cadence Bank X (Twitter)
• Cadence Bank LinkedIn
• Cassi Chandler X (Twitter)
• Cassi Chandler LinkedIn
• Vigeo Alliances Website
• Article - How pervasive is corporate fraud?
• Article - The Importance of Safeguarding Businesses from Data Privacy and Security Risks

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].

Read the full show transcript.

Meet the Host

Patrick Pacheco, Executive Vice President, President of Cadence Asset Management & Trust, has more than 25 years’ experience in wealth management, in addition to the designing and implementation of tax and related planning strategies.

Pacheco’s background includes years of legal practice and multiple degrees, including an LLM* Taxation from University of Houston, a JD from Southern Methodist University, and both an MBA and BS in Economics from University of Texas at Arlington.

He is also board certified in Estate Planning and Probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Meet the Speaker

Cassi Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many “firsts” across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI’s first African American female special agent assistant director, as well as the Bureau’s first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. The founder, president, and CEO of Vigeo Alliance – a leadership and talent risk management partnering with organizations to elevate their cultures of belonging – Chandler is dedicated to helping organizations position themselves for success by building more diverse and inclusive cultures that thrive.

Prior to Vigeo Alliance, Chandler was senior vice president for business operations at Bank of America, where she led enterprise-wide teams and developed integrated frameworks for identifying and addressing consumer and compliance risks, cybercrimes, and fraud trends. She also led the bank’s compliance relationships with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and served under the CEO’s leadership on the corporation’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council. Before Bank of America, she spent 23 years with the FBI, where she directed white collar crimes, financial crimes, terrorism, and cybercrimes investigations and foreign intelligence activities, while also leading the evolution of healthcare fraud and criminal and domestic terrorism intelligence programs.

Chandler continues to drive organizational change serving as a former adjunct professor on intelligence and terrorism at Pace University in New York, an instructor at the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington in Seattle, and an independent federal monitor with the NYPD, a monitor with the City of Aurora Police and Fire Departments, and a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Red Team, which monitored the Corps’ assessment of expanding infantry officer roles to women. She chaired the Nomination and Governance Committee while a member of the Board of Directors of Leafly Holdings, Inc and served on the Audit Committee.

Chandler’s groundbreaking accomplishments have been recognized through numerous awards, including the Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive under President George W. Bush, the National Center for Women & Policing’s “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” award, and the Norfolk NAACP Trailblazer Award. In 2023, she was named one of World’s Leaders Magazine’s “World’s Trailblazing Females Making a Mark in Business.” She earned her B.A. from Louisiana State University, where she served on the board of the alumni association, and her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, where she later became a member of the Board of Trustees.

This podcast is provided as a free service to you and is for general informational purposes only. Cadence Bank and its affiliates make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content in the podcast. The podcast is not intended to provide legal, accounting or tax advice and should not be relied upon for such purposes.

To the extent that this podcast includes predictions about the economy, these predictions are subject to a number of variables and you should confer with your legal, accounting and tax advisors for their input regarding the possible outcomes of any economic subject matter discussed herein. Predictions are forward-looking statements that reflect current views with respect to, among other things, future events. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond the control of any person or entity. Accordingly, please be aware that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to predict.

The views and opinions expressed by the host and guests in this podcast are solely their own current opinions regarding the subject matter discussed in the podcast and are based on their own perspectives. Such views, perspectives and opinions do not reflect those of Cadence Bank or any of its affiliates, or the companies with which any guest is, or may be, affiliated. The production and presentation of this podcast by Cadence Bank does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of Cadence Bank or any of its affiliates.