What does a successful career in ethics and compliance look like?
Turns out, there’s no single path, and that can be a very good thing.
That was one of the big takeaways from a career-development panel at the 27th Annual Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Ethics and Compliance Congress, moderated by Dan O’Connor, Senior Vice President, NXLevel Compliance. Dan was joined by Terra Buckley, JD, Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb; Christie Camelio, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Insmed; and Daryl Kreml, JD, Head of Ethics & Compliance, Global Oncology, Takeda.
Together, the panel explored compliance career paths, professional development, business partnerships, networking, mentorships, and the qualities that can help compliance professionals grow. A common thread throughout the conversation was that career development is less about following a carefully planned ladder and more about collecting experiences, building relationships, staying curious, and being willing to try something new.
Understand the business to influence it.
Knowing the rules is important. Understanding the people who must apply those rules is just as important. The panel discussed the value of learning how the business actually works: what employees are trying to accomplish, what pressures they face, and what their day-to-day environment looks like. One example involved participating in a full operational training program rather than simply showing up to deliver an hour-long compliance segment. That broader experience ultimately made the compliance training itself better.
It’s an important principle for training design, too. The most effective compliance training doesn’t simply explain what employees can and can’t do. It puts those expectations into the context of the real decisions employees face.
The same applies when delivering difficult compliance guidance. Starting with curiosity and treating an issue as a shared business challenge can make compliance feel more like a partner and less like the department that simply says “no.”
Think lattice, not ladder.
The panelists’ own career journeys reinforced that point. Their backgrounds included sales, sales training, branding, marketing, operations, legal, and other business roles before and during their moves into compliance. Those varied experiences proved to be an advantage, giving the panelists an opportunity to look at policies, processes, and training through the eyes of the people who actually have to use them.
Instead of thinking only about climbing the next rung of the career ladder, the panel encouraged attendees to consider a “lattice” approach. A lateral move into business advising, investigations, policy, training, analytics, or international compliance may not come with an immediate title change, but it can build breadth and help prepare someone for future opportunities.
Sometimes a good idea just needs the right home.
One story from the discussion captured that idea especially well. Years ago, one of the panelists proposed using a graphic novel style for compliance training. The idea was rejected. The organization simply wasn’t comfortable presenting compliance training in a “comic book” format, he explained. But the idea didn’t disappear. At a later company, the concept came up again, this time in a conversation with NXLevel. The result was a series that proved so engaging that employees looked forward to new episodes of the training. Further, the graphic novel style permeated many elements of the company’s compliance program, including new hire onboarding, the written code of conduct, and periodic compliance reinforcement.
This is a great reminder that an idea that doesn’t work in one organization or at one point in your career can thrive somewhere else. Whether you’re thinking about your career or your approach to compliance training, “no” doesn’t always mean it was a bad idea. Sometimes it just means it wasn’t the right fit at the right time.
Follow the work that gives you energy.
Another practical takeaway: pay attention to the work you genuinely enjoy. Compliance offers plenty of directions to explore, including investigations, monitoring, policy, training, analytics, systems, business advising, and emerging areas such as AI. Becoming a Chief Compliance Officer doesn’t have to be everyone’s end goal. Building deep expertise in an area that interests you can be just as rewarding.
That same curiosity is useful when thinking about training. The compliance field and learning strategies continue to change. Staying open to new formats, technologies, and ideas can create opportunities to make training more relevant and memorable.
Finally, career development doesn’t happen in isolation.
Hybrid and remote work mean the informal interactions that once happened in hallways or over lunch may need to be more intentional. Coffee chats, virtual conversations, conferences, and professional networks can all create opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from people with different perspectives. And those relationships don’t have to stay inside your own organization. The compliance community can be an incredibly valuable source of ideas, introductions, mentorship, and encouragement.
The biggest takeaways from the discussion were to stay curious, understand the business, invest in relationships, and don’t be afraid of a career move, or a creative compliance idea, simply because it doesn’t follow the expected path.
Sometimes the most interesting opportunities happen when you stop looking for a straight line.
Thanks for reading!
-NXLevel Compliance
