ACAMS Update
I have just completed my third year as executive vice president of this tremendous organization and I remain constantly amazed on the vast array of experts within the membership. You have been generous with your time, whether it is for conferences, seminars or drafting articles for ACAMS Today. The value you bring to your peers and colleagues cannot be overstated so, once again, thanks for your commitment to improving the AML community.
Initial CAMS-Audit class a great success!
In late January, the first of the two inaugural classes for the CAMS-Audit advanced certification was held outside of Washington D.C. The students, CAMS-certified members of ACAMS with many years of experience in the AML field, were extremely interactive with our tremendous faculty and as they begin the process of producing white papers to attain their certification, I know our membership will benefit from their insight and expertise.
ACAMS commitment to Europe
In keeping with our development of additional membership benefits throughout the world, ACAMS is excited to bring on Grahame White as head of ACAMS for Europe. As we were able to do with Hue Dang, head of ACAMS for Asia, Grahame will give us the local contact and AML/Financial Crime subject-matter expertise for the ever growing membership in this important region. More importantly, Grahame’s career experience with an important constituency of ACAMS — law enforcement — will enhance our outreach and support of this essential part of the membership. For those who weren’t aware, Grahame is a recognized expert in counter-terrorist financing and has financially investigated every major AQ cell in the United Kingdom since 2002. He previously served with the National Terrorist Financing Investigation Unit at New Scotland Yard and was head of the NTFIU International Training Team. As you can see, Grahame’s background will be invaluable in keeping ACAMS up-to-date with government and private sector challenges.
Please make it a point to reach out to Grahame and, of course, Hue for information and assistance on ACAMS regional issues.
Chapter membership dramatically increasing
It is particularly rewarding to see the growth of ACAMS membership during the past several years. As we approach mid-year of 2013, chapters throughout the ACAMS community have created frequent learning events, networking for information sharing and an ongoing forum for private-public sector partnerships. Please go to the web site for more information on chapter activities and how to join or form your own chapter. Mike Rodriguez is your primary contact for chapter activities and he can put you in touch with existing chapters for ideas on best practices and various ways of connecting with other ACAMS members. He can be reached at mrodriguez@acams.org.
Use of social media and new technologies to stay current
Similar to many other trade associations, ACAMS continues to expand our ability to reach out to you on key issues impacting the AML professional. For example, we have started a podcast series called AML Now which is found on ACAMSToday.org, increased our use of Twitter and made ACAMS Today available via a mobile application. At the date of publication, the ACAMS Today app has been downloaded by over 2,000 members in 71 countries.
If you haven’t already viewed or heard these new delivery channels, please do so today. We guarantee a value added experience.
John J. Byrne, CAMS,
executive vice president
