For universities and research institutions, the world of export compliance comes with high risk. Violating EAR, ITAR or OFAC regulations can incur heavy fines, and government agencies and lawsuits continue to increase enforcement for higher education compliance. In countless instances, staff and educators are unknowingly violating trade laws that break compliance and put their organizations at risk.

The spotlight this week is shining on a woman who has always soared to new heights and raised the bar for those who came after her. Laura Langton, the Export Control Manager & Research Compliance Specialist at Washington University of St. Louis, has a passion for everything she puts her mind to, especially when it comes to export compliance and deemed export issues. Her specialty is adopting a bird’s eye view of compliance, taking in every issue that could arise and developing contingency plans to keep the University on track while preventing any issues that may affect current or future research. This dedication is why we’ve decided Laura Langton is a great fit for our Compliance Professional Spotlight.

This week’s compliance professional spotlight is on fire! We’d like to announce Barbara Hawley as our next Captain of Compliance.  Barbara has a fiery passion for every aspect of supply chain management but has a sweet spot for managing and maintaining compliance. As the Compliance & Logistics Manager at PEI-Genesis, she has revolutionized her company’s compliance processes. She’s taken her fire and passion for compliance and automated PEI-Genesis’s processes with Amber Road’s Export On-Demand. 

We are happy to announce that Kelly Wols is our Compliance Professional Spotlight this week! Kelly shows her passion for trade compliance in everything she does, from her ISO Certification to her Degree in Business Management. Kelly is a Compliance Superhero whose special power is understanding all things in regards to customs compliance!

She currently works at Osterman & Company as their Customs Compliance Manager where she has encouraged her team to automate their compliance procedures by leveraging Amber Road Export On-Demand. Over the past two years, she helped upgrade their compliance efforts to maintain current in today’s turbulent economy and to increase the overall efficiency of the team.

Ah, the classic 'Wizard of Oz'. A movie, rich in lessons learned, by a young girl named Dorothy from Kansas. In the state of Kansas, learning and education is revered- one in three Kansas residents over 25 has at least a bachelor’s degree, and 74,000 students are attending one of the many state universities.

In honor of National Compliance Officer Day, Amber Road will be recognizing one compliance officer weekly from October 3^rd through November 4^th. With all of the changes in trade agreements, product testing and ethical sourcing standards, maintaining compliance in any part of your supply chain is becoming increasingly more difficult. We believe in the magic that compliance professionals bring to their company. Therefore, we are spotlighting Bethany Nelson, the Export Control Coordinator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bethany is a self-proclaimed “nerd” when it comes to compliance! Over the past 5 years, she’s helped UW-Madison’s Export Control Office grow into a more robust program, through dedicated outreach and education programs. Bethany has done this under the leadership of Tom Demke, the UW-Madison’s Export Control Officer. They ensure the University’s compliance with relevant federal regulations through hard work and dedicated effort.

Before she helped build UW-Madison’s Export Control Program, she earned a B.S. in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee but decided that quantum mechanics and black holes were just too pedestrian a field and got a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Universities and research institutions are required to comply with the same import and export regulations as companies that conduct global trade. In many instances, the staff and educators are unknowingly violating trade laws that could result in heavy fines or imprisonment.

Last month, Amber Road hosted the University Compliance Survey Results: Screening is Up! webinar. This webinar explored The Annual University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey results of 70+ universities and research institutions along with the methodology, observations and considerations pertinent to compliance. The presenters included:

• Bethany Nelson, Export Control Coordinator and survey author at the Univ. of Wisconsin
• Gary Barraco, Global Product Marketing Director At Amber Road

We will be sharing the webinar recording soon, but in the meantime both of our presenters answered several important questions from viewers. Here is a preview into the Q&A portion of the webinar:

Being an export compliance officer for a major research program is not easy. Increased enforcement from various government agencies coupled with constant talk (..and action) of regulatory changes and updates to restricted party lists will keep you on your toes. Add to that the fact that being the compliance captain isn’t always a fun task (unless you are Captain Compliance that is…)

There are multiple factors involved in creating and maintaining an export compliance program in a research setting. Do you screen purchases before, after, a mix of both? Does that vary based on the purchase type? Do you screen all visitors, or just those coming for a conference?

The WTO-ICC Small Business Champions Initiative has been created by the World Trade Organization and International Chamber of Commerce in order to encourage companies to propose innovative, but practical ideas for mid-market enterprises to engage in more international trade. This initiative was specifically designed to provide a platform for smaller businesses to become aware of their potential global markets and further use this knowledge to gain resources and technology that will help them trade internationally. The WTO-ICC Small Business Champions Initiative is asking for large enterprises and private-sector organizations to design proposals that will help level out the playing field between mid-market and larger, more established companies, as well as highlight various success stories and sharpen international trading skills.

Navigating the rules of global trade management is just plain tough nowadays. We have entered an era of constantly changing regulations, discussion of (more) tariff wars, decentralized data across a number of providers, and of (too) many manual processes to manage our businesses. As a business owner, you need to export your products to grow your market - but all of this complexity and change increases your export compliance risk profile. 

So the question is… at what point should you leverage technology to handle your global trade processes? Furthermore, where can you find technology that is “right-sized” for your level of exporting as a growing business?