Description

 Complaint Management and Whistleblower Protection

 Presentation Title or Panel Name:  Complaint Management and Whistleblower Protection

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:

Learn about the federal Whistleblower Protection Act, what it does and doesn’t do
Reiterate the reporting requirements whistleblowers must follow to be protected
Identify the specific individuals to who a federal whistleblower must report to be protected
Understand the difference between Whistleblower Protection and Witness Protection
Identify the risks associated with whistle-blowing
Reiterate the difference between complaints and whistleblower management
Understand the importance of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act
Explain how its expansion impacts the private sector and non-profit organizations
Describe the steps for developing a complaints management program
Describe the steps for developing a whistleblower management program
Obtain research demonstrating the benefits of a complaints program
Understand the difference between complaints and whistle-blowing
Obtain   research demonstrating the losses for failure to establish a system for whistleblower intake reports
Determine the top 4 reasons why employees fail to report misconduct
Identify the resolution steps for customer complaints
Identify the resolution steps for whistleblower reports
Determine the advantages and disadvantages of using in-house and outside counsel
Obtain a sample complaints intake form
Identify the major components of a complaint intake form
Explain the steps of storage and tracking of customer complaints
Learn about the different types of investigations
Describe the different forms of auditing
Explain and describe the key elements (data analytics, root cause analysis, benefit/cost analysis,  quality control reviews, future strategic planning) of a complaint and whistleblower information that can be used for quality enhancement
Identify the components of each element

 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.