September’s ACAMS AML Professional of the Month  was awarded to John Larson. Larson was recognized for his experience and leadership in the anti-money laundering (AML) field. Larson is an AML compliance expert with more than 20 years of leadership experience in the financial services industry. He is currently the SVP/director of AML operations at Western Alliance Bank in Phoenix, Arizona and is responsible for the oversight of all currency transaction reports, AML investigations and suspicious activity report filings, and Office of Foreign Assets Control and sanctions compliance through the administration of the global sanctions department. Larson has worked extensively with data disambiguation and machine learning in developing methods for enhancing data used in AML transaction monitoring and fraud detection.

Prior to joining Western Alliance, Larson served as chief AML officer for Discover Financial and held roles as director of analytics and technology at Northern Trust and JPMorgan Chase in Chicago. He started his career in financial services in customer-facing retail areas of the industry before moving to compliance. He has concentrated and devoted his focus to AML and counter--terrorist financing since 9/11.

Do you have a mentor who has actively influenced your anti-money laundering (AML) career path in a positive way? Does someone in your network exemplify excellence in AML? Recognize their commitment: Nominate them for ACAMS AML Professional of the Month.