In an organization, the CCPO is responsible for ensuring that the organization complies with all applicable laws and regulations across all regions where it operates. This involves working closely with legal and regulatory experts and the business to identify and address compliance risks and implementing policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.
Virginia MacSuibhne, Vice President, Global Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer at Agilent Technologies, Inc, is the ideal team member to have in times of crisis, but her area of expertise is preventing issues from arising within organizations. She has a legal background and begins her career as a litigation attorney in Silicon Valley. Virginia has also worked in-house at a publicly traded software company and a global healthcare organization before joining Agilent two years ago as the global chief compliance officer.
From 2008 to 2012, Virginia was a member of the Board of Directors of Rebuilding Together Peninsula, a non-profit organization. She has a passion for promoting business integrity and transparency and upholding ethical business standards. Virginia has demonstrated a commitment to serving the community and the world throughout her career. She is interested in serving on commercial or non-profit boards, as well as teaching, speaking, and writing on topics such as workplace violence prevention, crisis preparation and management, privacy, cybersecurity, sustainability, unconscious bias, personalized healthcare, compliance, and corporate social responsibility program management.
Leading with Uncompromising Integrity
Agilent is the original unicorn of Silicon Valley, having spun out of Hewlett Packard in 1999 with the then-highest-valued initial public offering ever. While many companies prioritize integrity, Agilent takes it a step further with its core value of “Uncompromising Integrity,” which is distinctive. In addition to this value, Agilent is also guided by Trust, Respect, Teamwork, Focus, Accountability, Innovation, and Speaking Up. The Agilent team is dedicated to living out these values, discussing their practical implications within the company’s worldwide work environment, as well as exploring ways to sustain and strengthen them.
Virginia’s primary objective is to make a positive impact and be of service to others. Agilent’s products make a meaningful difference in the world by detecting contamination in water, air, soil, or food, ensuring that medications contain the correct dosages, and developing cancer diagnostics and research products that assist scientists worldwide in making important scientific discoveries. She is proud to work at a company where the company’s products have a positive impact, and everyone is dedicated to upholding its values in their operations. Additionally, Agilent’s success is attributable to the outstanding and talented individuals located all around the world. It is a privilege to lead in this kind of environment.
In Role of Global Chief Compliance Officer
Virginia is accountable for developing and implementing an effective global compliance program for Agilent. Her team and she strive towards a program vision that aligns with the seven elements of an efficient, risk-based compliance program outlined by the Department of Justice and other regulatory bodies.
On a day-to-day basis, Virginia’s responsibilities vary, ranging from managing and developing her team to ensuring the compliance program’s function, structure, and performance metrics and measurements. She also oversees policy work, helpline systems, communications, and the response to concerns and complaints, implementation of program changes to address new laws, regulations, and business changes, as well as risk management and monitoring of internal and external trends. Ultimately, Virginia strives to shape the perception of compliance within the organization, aiming to be viewed as an enabler and business differentiator rather than as a policing function or the “department of No.” Her focus is on the “why” and “how” of business, setting the tone for risk enablement while maintaining the company’s values.
Interacting with the teams is the highlight of Virginia’s day. She derives immense pleasure from observing her team’s development and growth, as they deliver compliance moments in innovative and impactful ways that are also enjoyable. Virginia feels gratified when the business responds positively to her team and their training sessions, and when they show an interest in modelling the culture of compliance and data protection. It’s particularly rewarding when the sales team compliments her team’s presentation as one of the best at their meeting.
Virginia has a customer-centric approach, and her customers are the employees, partners, and suppliers who are expected to comply with various policies. She believes that her team’s job is to make compliance clear and straightforward. When they make the compliance experience easy and positive, people want to return, and this approach nurtures the company’s values of trust, teamwork, and speaking up.
Key to Grow as Leader
Virginia is an avid reader who enjoys expanding her knowledge base. Transitioning to a new organization after spending over a decade at one company has provided her with unique opportunities for personal growth and development. Additionally, she serves as a mentor to numerous individuals and is an executive sponsor for the LGBTQ+ employee network group. She values these experiences and finds that they contribute to her growth as a professional. Virginia also works with a skilled coach, Veronica Conway, and relies on a trusted group of advisors who challenge, support, and coach her. Virginia is proud to be a female leader and a leader who lives with physical and mental disabilities. However, she is troubled that the term “woman” often seems to qualify the word “leader” rather than merely describing her gender. Virginia has noticed that male leaders are rarely referred to in this gendered way, and she feels that this observation is significant and problematic.
Virginia is continually impressed by each new generation of emerging leaders she encounters. She finds them to be incredibly brave, courageous, self-aware, and powerful. While she acknowledges that they may be more impatient for change, Virginia does not view this as a negative trait. However, she does believe that multi-tasking has become a bad habit that affects all generations. Despite studies indicating that multitasking is ineffective, the modern era of busyness has made it difficult for leaders to focus on one task at a time. Virginia believes that all leaders should take time to reflect on the importance of being present and doing one thing at a time to achieve their greatest potential.
Always in Search of a Dedicated Team Player
Virginia is often described by her colleagues as a dynamic and perceptive individual who possesses a positive and pragmatic outlook. She can decipher intricate information and regulations and convert them into simple, practical compliance action items for organizations and individuals across the globe. As a leader and manager, Virginia strives for exceptional outcomes from herself and her team, and she is committed to ongoing learning and development. Additionally, she is a compelling public speaker and author on a variety of topics, including ethics, compliance, investigations, harassment, analytics, workplace violence prevention, and other relevant subjects.
Virginia is always on the lookout for candidates who possess the appropriate skills for a role, as well as those who can contribute to the team’s success and understand the significance of collaboration. Having organizational intelligence, exceptional communication skills, and the ability to influence and engage individuals in a program is particularly important for managers and senior leaders. Project management and data visualization are also highly valuable skills. She seeks individuals who have a forward-thinking approach and are committed to evaluating why policies are created, what they should be (and not be), and how they can assist individuals in comprehending what to do and not do in challenging circumstances within the organization.
Guiding towards Sustainable Growth
Mike McMullen, the CEO of Agilent, frequently asserts that the company’s best days are yet to come, and Virginia wholeheartedly agrees. With respect to compliance, Virginia envisions that the team will facilitate business growth by proactively engaging with its colleagues and providing them with clear, concise, and practical guidance on what they need to know, when they need to know it, and whom to contact for assistance.
According to Virginia, compliance should be regarded as an open-book examination that requires understanding the reason behind the rules, the objectives they seek to achieve, and the route to achieving them that is consistent with the organizational principles, while also not being hesitant to engage in business activities. Virginia’s aim is for the business teams to feel empowered and enabled to act while being knowledgeable about the boundaries, rather than being hampered by fear. She wants them to know that Compliance is a business partner, not a policing function, and that her role is to assist them in conducting business while also being aware of the rules and regulations that are in place, identifying which signals are “stop” signs, and which are “yield” or “proceed with caution.”
Written by Steve Sanchez.
