Maria Fernanda Gallo

I am an attorney from Colombia, South America, where I received my JD after completing five years of law school. I came to the United States, learned English, and then did my LLM, my Master's in Law at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. From there, I've been in the field working on investigations. My big curve of learning was working at the SEC, at the FCPA unit, for 13 years, where I really learned everything that I am applying right now in my professional life. I worked on internal investigations and compliance, leading Latin American Investigations. Now at TransPerfect, I am the Global Director of Compliance and Internal Investigations, and I handle Latin America. I have been working specifically in compliance and anti-bribery for about 17 to 20 years. Every day in my position can be different. I travel 60% of my time globally - last week I was in New York, the week before in Mexico, next week traveling to London. The majority of these trips are either for appearances at conferences and speeches that I'm giving, meetings with law firms, or one-on-one with clients that we are giving support. I particularly give support globally in everything related to how to conduct an investigation, especially in the anti-bribery world, and to keep our clients up to date on which technology is best to be used in specific areas. In my day-to-day in the office, I give support to all of the group of sales with their clients, understanding their cases and what is the best way to expedite and support the client. I also speak often, put together events, and make sure that we are writing documents or publishing blogs in my field. For the past 3 years, I love the speaking positions - it's one of the parts that I have grown in my company. I love trying to tell people and exchange with people knowledge on the U.S. laws on anti-corruption, explain how they apply in Latin America, and that mix of sharing information in all of the conferences that I participate. I do love the one-on-one with people and to see how to resolve and support situations that they need. I am a Latina, and it hasn't been easy for me to get where I am in a very male-led environment as the legal and technology, and sales, and consulting. I never imagined it was that hard, but I have made it.