Notable Experience

Michelle is active in the Atlanta business and legal community as a frequent speaker and thought leader.

Learn more about her experience below.

Notable Experience

A proven leader on your side

Learn more about Michelle’s experience below. 

  • Led an internal investigation at a top five largest public university where executive level leadership in the finance and facilities departments misappropriated over $100m in funds earmarked for educational purposes.
  • Led an investigation at an equipment rental company to understand how an employee embezzled and altered financial records to cover up the sale of over $4m of inventory through a third-party auction house.
  • Investigated a US-based global food services company’s significant budget overruns at multiple production plant sites in Europe.  
  • Investigated an asset misappropriation scheme at a renewable energy company where the former controller embezzled over $2m of cash through the company’s purchasing card (“pcard”) activity.
  • Investigated a former executive’s influence on revenue recognition, accounting for earn out provisions, manipulation of accruals, and accounting for the sale of software licenses at a global software company.
  • Advised PwC’s external audit practice in audit “shadow” investigations in accordance with Section 10A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
  • Assisted PwC cyber experts in multiple high-profile cybercrime/data breach investigations.  
  • Led in-house internal investigations at Cox Communications, Inc. related to claims of bribery, kickbacks, commission manipulation schemes, and inappropriate employee conduct. Evaluated transaction patterns and outliers and determine next steps in investigation, remediation, and ongoing monitoring.
  • Assessed internal investigation processes across Cox Enterprises, Inc. and developed roadmap for optimization with cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Evaluated and designed new methodology at Cox Enterprises, Inc. to draw better root cause insights from ethics hotline data.  
  • Conducted a compliance program assessment for a large social services non-profit organization. Understood and evaluated existing compliance program elements, benchmarked existing program elements against industry best practices and authoritative guidance, identified opportunities for program optimization, and provided next steps to achieve program goals.
  • Conducted an anti-bribery, anti-corruption fraud risk assessment for a global retailer’s operations in Central America and Asia. Leveraged compliance management technology to automate transaction testing in alignment with the company’s long-term digital growth strategy.
  • Planned national and local corporate client training programs and facilitated sessions at national PwC conferences.  Drafted scripts, produced, and acted in educational videos. Converted training programs to virtual platforms.
  • Led in-house compliance program optimization efforts at Cox Communications, Inc. for areas of highest inherent risk. Worked with the first line of defense to understand unique challenges. Enhanced data and record retention programs, assessed training gaps, and advised on legal and compliance risk.
  • Led change management efforts at all three Cox divisions in various stages of maturity in adopting a new regulatory risk assessment program. Provided advanced training to “power users” and developed and presented virtual training sessions to over 100 business leaders. Also developed an interactive eLearn platform for program participants to take at their own pace. 
  • Designed and launched a data-driven risk assessment program at Cox Communications, Inc. to identify areas of highest regulatory risk to the business (e.g., antitrust, privacy, anti-corruption, health & safety, etc.). Rebuilt CCI’s regulatory risk register, created new governance structures, improved processes, launched the new program, analyzed results, and reported results to executive leadership. CCI’s new risk register included regulatory risk areas for the core internet business as well as product offerings in healthcare and cloud technology.
  • Analyzed high volumes of general ledger and invoice data for fraud risk indicators from suspicious third parties for a public utility company.  
  • Analyzed financial system data for fraud risk indicators at an industrial products company that identified a suspicious relationship and potential kickback scheme with a vendor during a site audit.
  • Led remediation efforts at a global financial institution that was issued Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) and Matters Requiring Immediate Attention (MRIAs) from an international regulator. Developed a comprehensive and dynamic template to track past and upcoming regulatory disclosure obligations, streamline communications, present a consistent message, and avoid missing regulatory deadlines.
  • Executed a data-intensive collection management exercise required when a large financial institution closed almost 600 banking locations during the financial crisis.  Co-developed the records management system and executed the process for communicating with collection teams to verify completeness and accuracy (100% document recovery rate).
  • Led a complex data analytics project designed to assist a credit lender in calculating potential over and under payments from customers entering into line of credit arrangements under terms different than those entered into the system.
  • Assisted an international auto auction house with collecting and analyzing relevant data fields from multiple data sources in order to respond to a government subpoena.
  • Prepared an expert witness report ahead of arbitration between a healthcare software company and a hospital alleging breach of contract in the software implementation process. Commissioned subject-matter experts from PwC’s healthcare practice to understand the unique nuances of the healthcare revenue billing cycle.
  • Analyzed financial data and contract terms and drafted an arbitration report in a post-acquisition net working capital dispute between two global industrial products companies.
  • Led teams and program strategy in quantifying economic damages in connection with the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent environmental disaster recovery (over 250 resources in 10 PwC offices at program’s peak).  Directly responsible for teams in Atlanta and Tampa (20+ full time resources).
  • Prepared return on investment (ROI) analyses for material assets purchased and operated at a public hospital system and Level I trauma center.
  • JOIS Investment LLC vs. Alfreda Cochran & Robin Cochran; Financial damages expert witness (Dec. 2017)
  • Yuanita Q. Arrington vs. Team Realty, et al.; Financial damages expert witness (July 2017)
  • RKW Management LLC v. Melody Benton; Financial damages expert witness (March 2017)
  • Panelist, “Chasing the ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Card: Positioning Your Company to Minimize Enforcement Risk” at National Retail Law Conference (Oct. 2023)
  • Moderator, “AI Ready for Launch: Leveraging Innovation. Safeguarding Information.” at the Atlanta Compliance & Ethics Roundtable Best Practices Workshop (Oct. 2023)
  • Lead Presenter, “Reducing Fraud & Building Trust: The Role of Internal Investigations with Georgia Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (Oct. 2023)
  • Lead Presenter, “Defeating Analysis Paralysis: The Art and Science of Risk Assessments” with Ethico (Sep. 2023)
  • Panelist, “Unique Careers in Compliance”, Compliance Week’s National Women in Compliance Summit (June 2023)
  • Panelist, “Overcoming Imposter Syndrome”, Compliance Week’s National Women in Compliance Summit (June 2023)
  • Moderator, “Operationalizing Data Privacy” with the Atlanta Compliance & Ethics Roundtable (Mar. 2023)
  • Panelist, “Technology in Compliance” at the Atlanta Compliance & Ethics Best Practices Workshop (Sep. 2022)
  • Lead Presenter, PwC’s “Global Economic Crime Survey” findings with a focus on customer fraud (Dec. 2020)
  • Lead Presenter, “Investigations Best Practices” at the Atlanta Compliance & Ethics Best Practices Workshop (May 2018)
  • Lead Facilitator of PwC’s live investigation simulation program (multiple sessions 2018 – 2019)
  • Lead Presenter, “Driving Analytics into Action: How to Enable Business Decisions with Data and Analytics” (Nov. 2018)
  • Moderator, “Financial Statement Acumen for In-house Counsel” (July 2017)
  • Panelist, “Business Operations Through the Lens of the Profit and Loss Statement” (May 2017)
  • Panelist, “Revenue and Capital Allocation” (May 2017)
  • Panelist, “Investment and Capital Allocation” (Feb. 2017)
  • Presenter, “Insights from PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey” (July 2016)
  • Panelist, “Financial Acumen for In-house Counsel” (June 2015)
  • B.S. Accounting, University of Florida
  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA), State of Georgia
  • Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP)
  • Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) 
  • Board Member (2023 – Present), Atlanta Compliance and Ethics Roundtable
  • Corporate Leadership Council Member, Fernbank Museum (2019 – Present) and co-chair of 2023’s “A Timeless Affair” gala
  • President, Atlanta Public Elementary School Foundation Board (2020 – Present)
  • Executive Committee, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) Leadership Council (2015 – 2021)
  • Leadership Georgia Alumnus (c/o 2022)
  • Leadership Buckhead Alumnus (c/o 2019)
  •  LEAD Atlanta Alumnus (c/o 2013)
  • Board Member, Kilifi Kids, Inc. (2014 – 2020)
Personal

A little more about Michelle ...

Michelle is a proud wife and mother of two children and one sweet puppy. She loves tennis, yoga, and any excuse to be out on the water.

Michelle’s children will tell anyone who will listen that the company name “Artemis” was their idea – thanks to inspiration from Greek mythology book characters and NASA’s Artemis space program. Obviously they were very convincing!