On Thursday March 27th approximately 50 local BSA/AML/Compliance/HR professionals gathered at the Wells Fargo Penthouse Board Room in San Francisco to attend the Career Paths in AML: Managing your AML Career learning event. The diverse panel was comprised of individuals from the financial and human resources industries. The panel members were: Peter Deragon (Stanton Chase), Ryan Hodge (Dwolla/ACAMS N. CA Chapter Secretary) Bob Kenny (FinCEN/ACAMS N. CA Chapter Membership Director), John McCarthy (AirBNB), Sandy Merein (K-force).
Jenner Balagot (ACAMS N. CA Chapter Co-Chair) introduced the panel and served as the moderator for the session. The panelists discussed various career paths available within the AML field, as well as how they have managed to translate AML skills into other opportunities and careers. The panelists participated in a moderated question and answer session and then concluded with a breakout session.
The panelists produced some notable takeaways from the panel discussions. Among the valuable concepts that were presented, it was stated that being flexible and taking experiences from other areas was important when building your overall professional skillset. Other panelists state that it is important to be nimble and prepared to make changes to your normal routine to make yourself a more valuable member of your organization. Another item that was emphasized was the expertise that can be gained by forging partnerships with members of the public sector.
Panelists mentioned that when looking towards outside opportunities that it is valuable to use traditional outlets in addition to social media and web-based searches. It was conveyed that it is important to keep in touch with your professional network and reach out two degrees outside of your established network. The panelists agreed that the CAMS certification and colleagues within the ACAMS organization were indispensable in an individual's professional development.
The audience used the full hour at the end to network, and to speak with the panelists. The event was a great success and provided a wealth of information via the panel and networking session. The consensus opinion was that the event was relevant and valuable. Many attendees mentioned that they are looking forward to upcoming N. CA Chapter events. Once again, a big thank you to our event sponsor: Kforce Inc, a professional staffing and solutions firm.
