Amber Vitale, JD, CSS
Amber is recognized for her expertise in guiding organizations through regulatory scrutiny, conducting investigations and large-scale remediation projects, serving as an expert witness in high-profile litigation, and strengthening compliance cultures through collaborative, actionable strategies. Currently an independent consultant, Amber focuses on assessing and enhancing economic sanctions and AML programs for clients across industries. Her work involves stakeholder interviews, diagnosing compliance challenges, tailoring solutions to organizational risk profiles, and supporting implementation. She brings a unique blend of government insight, legal expertise, and practical operational experience to help boards, regulators, and senior executives navigate complex compliance landscapes while aligning programs with long-term business objectives. Amber’s professional journey began with a bachelor’s degree in film and cinema, followed by early roles in retail sales, merchandising and production. She later earned her JD from Georgetown University Law Center and transitioned into sanctions and AML work, combining legal knowledge with her prior experiences to build deep regulatory and operational expertise. She is a Certified Sanctions Specialist (CSS), a member of multiple professional organizations, and actively engages in volunteer and community initiatives, bringing the same rigor and collaborative spirit to both her professional and personal pursuits.
Representative projects Amber has planned, managed and delivered include:
- Overseeing up to eight workstreams and the project management office (PMO) for an independent review of a bank's global sanctions compliance program, conducted pursuant to Consent Order by a banking regulator. This included coordinating project plans, leading weekly team meetings, ensuring delivery timelines were met and preparing reports for the bank and regulator. In addition, I led a workstream focused on assessing the governance over the global sanctions program, including the apparent involvement of senior management in approving of key elements of the program, staying apprised of the condition of the program, and allocating sufficient resources to maintain the program. Further, I led a workstream analyzing the bank's cross-functional committee developed to oversee planning, tracking and approving remediation conducted pursuant to the Consent Order.
- Drafting and revising a multinational finance and insurance corporation's global compliance policies for OFAC sanctions, AML, export controls, and antiboycott laws.
- Interviewing bank employees across various teams and functions to analyze all movements of assets (e.g., funds, securities, etc.) happening throughout a bank to document whether the transactions were sanctions screened in order to make recommendations about whether additional screening was needed or screening was duplicative/could be unnecessary based on other risk-mitigating measures in place.
- Assisting a bank with the implementation of a new sanctions screening system for transactions by: developing a business requirements document (BRD) to ensure that the system satisfied the regulatory expectations, bank policies and acceptable risk levels; analyzing each transaction message type received by the bank and making risk-based recommendations about whether and why to screen or not screen each; reviewing the system algorithms and making risk-based recommendations with corresponding rationale about whether and why to turn algorithms on or off; and developing test cases for Functional Performance and User Acceptance Testing of the system.
- Conducting investigations for financial services and import-export companies in order to determine whether apparent or potential violations of sanctions occurred and drafting disclosure documents and, where appropriate, corresponding license applications for submission to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
- Preparing targeted sanctions training for employees in a bank's Funds Transfer Operations team and in business lines managing relationships with private wealth management clients. The training focused on understanding economic sanctions generally, identifying red flags of potential sanctions concerns that employees may see in the course of their specific duties, the processes for escalating concerns, and examples of activity similar to their duties which resulted in enforcement action against other banks to highlight potential pitfalls and the impact of sanctions violations.
• Certified Sanctions Specialist
• Admitted to the New York State Bar
• Georgetown Law- J.D.
• Ithaca College- B.S.
• Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists
• Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists
• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
• Order of Malta
• Order of Malta
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to embracing each career transition with curiosity, resilience, and a commitment to excellence. From my early years in film and fashion to law school and government service, I’ve relied on collaboration, analytical rigor, and the ability to translate complex challenges into practical solutions—skills that continue to guide my work in sanctions and AML compliance today.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to approach every task—big or small—with your absolute best effort. This principle has guided me through every stage of my career, reinforcing the importance of respect, diligence, and integrity in all that I do.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering this field is to look at each role as an opportunity to excel, master something new, and gather more tools to serve you in your career. I have found that being reliable, doing a great job, and bringing your ideas to the table will allow you to expand into new areas which increases exposure, skills, and achievements. Also, know that your career is in your hands. If you find that a particular person, position or environment is holding you back or not taking you in a desirable direction, it is never too late to pivot your career. Approach big transitions with a clear strategy, purpose, and planning—fear is natural, but with an action plan and intentional focus on each step, even daunting changes become achievable.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The anti-financial crime space is constantly changing and growing: there is no shortage of fraudsters out there, bad actors are always looking for new ways to avoid sanctions or launder money, and the regulatory environment is evolving to keep up with new technologies and services, as well as evolving economic and trade sanctions. Therefore, there are many entry-level opportunities in this field and the work has many facets which can be interesting, including conducting investigations to identify potential money laundering or fraud schemes, performing data analytics and using technology to support compliance work, and monitoring for changing laws or other developments. However, because this landscape has been heavily impacted in the past few years by global affairs, the swift development of digital assets and online financial services, and changes in U.S. foreign policy, it has been difficult to keep up with the intensive pace and increasing regulatory expectations for identifying bad actors and transactions that may contravene U.S. laws. These challenges can make this a stressful field at times.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are doing my best work, treating others with respect, and seeking solutions with integrity—both in my professional and personal life. I strive to contribute meaningfully, lead thoughtfully, and support causes that serve others, such as my work with the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists and the Order of Malta.