Karis McLarty

Global Head of Corporate Compliance and Business Ethics Advisory. Senior, award-winning governance, economic crime and privacy lawyer (ex-Clifford Chance, ex-Debevoise with clients from startups to governments and international institutions), I set up the compliance and privacy functions at TUI AG, the EU travel B2C conglomerate, and the US B2B media giant Clear Channel Outdoor.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I accommodate our clients’ multidimensional risk lens, with:

1. innovative, commercial ESG, AI, privacy, ethics, human rights and compliance programs;
2. C suite risk tolerance, gap analysis and strategy articulation
3. cross-border multi-skilled governance utilising Kroll cyber, AI, DD, forensic, construction, valuations, and transactions teams
4. crisis management, lapses and breaches.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Leading a brilliant international and multi-functional team at Kroll with experience in law, accountancy, cyber, AI, psychology and ethics. Our team can design cross-functional cultural transformations over a broad remit anywhere in the world – in economic crime and sanctions, sustainability/decarbonization, social, human and labor rights, anti-slavery, governance, cyber/data protection, AI, supply chain analysis, business ethics and governance and antitrust/competition issues. That’s not easy to do well, but this team manages it.
2. Leading the award-winning Compliance and ESG functions at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc, the U.S. listed media owner where we reduced control gaps by 98% in five years, achieved ISS Prime ESG Rating and CDP A minus, and helped achieve a DOJ declination on a complex investigation.
3. Raising two kind and dynamic children.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Joining Kroll. I knew there was a gap in the market for holistic, practical, international risk advice that pulls in skillsets from psychology to legal to cyber – but would Kroll’s clients also be persuaded? Turns out, they are – I have some of the best clients I could have imagined, and it was a great risk to take.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I used to live in China and be a singer-songwriter in an indie band. I am a reasonable rifle shot, and paint really dreadful portraits.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Courage. But also, the ability to spot patterns, interpret regulation for lay people (including the principles behind it), and understand how to actually implement the advice they give.