Description

Setting up an Administrative Investigations Program

 Presentation Title or Panel Name:  Setting up an Administrative Investigations Program

Speaker Name, Title: Tonya Mead, PhD, CFE, CHFI, PI, MBA, MA, Educational Psychologist

Organization: Shared Knowledge, LLC
Website: https://ishareknowledge.com
Email address: tonya@ishareknowledge.com

Lesson Time: 2.0 hours

HR PHR and SPHR Learning Objectives

Functional Area 01: Business Management and Strategy
Functional Area 05: Employee and Labor Relations
Functional Area 06: Risk Management

Specific Learning Objectives:

Understand the purpose of the investigative process
Explain the situations in which an investigation is necessary
Identify the characteristics (basis, goal, nature, common methods, sequence, report,  and confidentiality)  that distinguish an audit from an investigation
Explain why accusations, ridicule, assumptions, and prejudgments must be avoided
Reiterate the difference between audits and investigations
Learn about the different types of investigations
Learn how to establish an internal administrative investigations program
Reiterate the top 5 human resources risks
Explain how to conduct a needs assessment
Receive information on the most common risky employee behaviors
Review a sample employee assessment by function, daily tasks for each and inappropriate behaviors and misconduct associated with each
Obtain information on the average budget for investigations,  the average cost per investigation, and the time from conception to closure
Learn about the critical positions used to staff an investigations program
Obtain information on developing a strategic plan, establish a framework, standardize the investigation process and ensure due process
Describe the elements of an investigation report
Determine the advantages and disadvantages of using in-house and outside counsel
Identify when it is best to seek outside counsel
Obtain information on the recommended knowledge, skills and abilities of the Chief Investigator , Forensic Investigator,  and Data Analyst
Learn about the different types of legal privileges
Learn about the different phases of the Investigative Process (rapid response, document review, interview, storing evidence, and report writing)
Explain the specific components of each phase
Learn the reason why investigations must be unbiased

 Presenter Biography

Ms. Mead has more than 30 years advising executive leadership in state government, small business owners and nonprofits in the analysis of resource management, senior leadership, training and compliance, business practices for the identification of deficiencies and operational effectiveness. She is particularly adept at handling complex issues requiring sound judgment and discretion. As a recognized expert, she provided background counsel to the Assistant District Attorney, Georgia on the historical case in which 11 educators were convicted of racketeering.  Ms. Mead  transformed the District of Columbia’s reputation for systemic educator misconduct reported in USA Today, Esquire,  Washington Post, NPR, and The Atlantic  to national leader for state turnaround strategies.

She is the president of Shared Knowledge a certified small, minority women-owned firm specializing in cyber security and private investigations and a recipient of the 2014 Cafritz Foundation Award for Excellence in Government and Public Service for combating fraud and innovative performance management design utilizing information technology.  She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator and serves on the Advisory Council, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and is a member of the Cooperative Forecasting and Data Subcommittee for the Washington, DC Metropolitan Council of Governments.  She has served as the Executive Director, Minority Business Development Center for the New England Region where she facilitated financing and procurement contracts for her clients. She was also the Technical Advisor to small and minority subs contracted with primes to build the $13.0 Central Tunnel Artery Project in Massachusetts which was the largest infrastructure project in the World.

Selected National Presentations and Articles:

“Fraud in Education: Implications for National Security,” Fraud Magazine, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, ACFE, Austin, TX. Expected date of publication, September/October 2017.
                “The Exploitation of Minors to Gain Confidential Information,” National Institute of Standards and Technology for FISSEA, The Federal Information Systems Security Educators Association, Gaithersburg, MD, March 2017.

                “The Need for Cyber Security Training for Educators and Administrators,” NICE Conference, Nashville, TN, Accepted Proposal for Presentation, December 4-5, 2017.
“The Risk of Fraud in Education,” National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, to be presented in Phoenix, AZ, October 2017.
                “Establishing Test Security Systems: In coordination with states and local districts,” Conference on Test Security, Topeka, KS October 2016.
“The Educator Fraud Prism,” The North American International Academic Forum, Providence, RI, September 2014.
                “Discouraging Cheating with Detection, Deterrence and Investigative Systems,” International Center for Academic Integrity, Jacksonville, FL, February 2014.
                “Clever Spousal Support: Initiatives Protect the Expatriate Investment,” Employee Relocation Council (ERC) Mobility, pgs. 49-54, November 2002.

“The Global Workforce: An Elusive Participant Group.” European Conference on Research Methodologies for Management and Business Studies, University of Reading, England, April 2002.
“Awaken from Your Slumbers and Rise on Your Wings,” Minerva Press, England, November 1998.
“The First Annual Report to Include Policy Implications and Recommendations: The Status of Girls in Massachusetts” State of Massachusetts Printing Office, 23 pgs. Catalogued in the U.S. Library of Congress, July 1995.
“A Proposed Solution to the Learned Helplessness Phenomenon Created and Nurtured by the National Welfare System,” National Society of Educators and Scholars, Beaumont, Texas, August 1989.