Mayor RICHARD M. DALEY Co-host of WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF) Event on Compliance Programs with focus on Economic Stimulus Plans

May 12, 2009 (PRLEAP.COM) Politics News
Chicago, IL, 05/12/09 – The CITY OF CHICAGO's Office of Compliance reports that Mayor Richard M. Daley co-hosted a World Economic Forum (WEF) event in Chicago with Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., CEO, PricewaterhouseCoopers International. The event initiated a global partnership in applying best practices from the private to the public sector in corporate compliance and ethics program development.

"Mayor Daley has consistently supported public/private partnerships in all areas of public management,'" said Anthony O. Boswell, Executive Director of Chicago's Office of Compliance. "We believe our new initiative will promote a public/private partnership in the development of best practices globally in municipal compliance and ethics program development in meeting the needs of the various global Economic Stimulus Programs."

In January of 2008, Mayor Daley created the first fully staffed Office of Compliance for a municipality in the world. Mayor Daley thereby was the first to apply best practices in corporate compliance and ethics programming from the private to the public sector.

Boswell reported that Mayor Daley is widely respected among his peers for his innovations in education and the environment. "He is now poised to become the Compliance Mayor," continued Boswell.

According to Dr. Mark E. Meaney, First Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance, the event brought together for the first time the members of two WEF programs. The global Task Force members of the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), a WEF private sector anti-corruption initiative, met jointly with members of SlimCity, a WEF public sector program for municipalities.

"The two-day WEF workshop aimed at a public/private dialogue on how best to establish municipal compliance programs," Dr. Meaney stated, "and to explore whether Mayor Daley's Office of Compliance can serve as a model for other municipalities, world-wide."

Dr. Meaney noted that municipal compliance programs will become increasingly important as municipalities seek to implement the transparency and accountability provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). "In conjunction with the Economic Stimulus Plan funding, municipalities will be responsible for fraud and waste prevention, contract management, and grants compliance," he said. "Cities around the country would do well to apply the Chicago model of municipal compliance in meeting the requirements of ARRA."

Meaney went on to say that, municipalities from around the world would do well to do so, since many countries have enacted economic stimulus programs. "We believe that the components of Mayor Daley's Office of Compliance can serve municipalities on a global scale in implementing the regulatory requirements of their country's economic stimulus programs," he stated.

Boswell added that the Office of Compliance planned a follow up conference for the fall of '09 on the theme of 'The Changing International Regulatory Regime: the Role of Municipal Compliance Programs.'

For additional information on Mayor RICHARD M. DALEY Co-host of WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF) Event on Compliance Programs with focus on Economic Stimulus Plans, contact Dr. Mark E. Meaney, First Deputy Director, Chief Compliance Operations Officer, Office of Compliance, CITY OF CHICAGO.

ABOUT the OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE - The purpose of the City of Chicago=s Compliance Program is to promote a culture of ethical conduct, a city-wide commitment to compliance with the law, and to prevent and detect misconduct. To further this purpose, the City of Chicago has a Compliance Program comprised of an Executive Compliance Committee and an Office of Compliance led by an Executive Director.