Laura K. Kennedy

Laura Kennedy has over four decades of experience in government contracts, half in private practice and half as a corporate executive in large government contractors. She spent the first half of her career specializing in government contract law at Seyfarth Shaw, Holland and Knight, and Jenner and Block, managing bid protests, False Claims Act cases, and investigations. She spent the past two decades at Honeywell, SAIC, and Emergent BioSolutions, as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer leading ethics, global compliance and enterprise risk management programs. She has resolved corporate crises involving complex fraud investigations and whistleblower complaints and has a strong track record of successfully settling disputes with government enforcement officials. Her experience has given her a keen sense of what it takes to protect companies against existing and emerging internal and external threats. She has pioneered strategies to integrate risk management into compliance programs using technology, root cause analyses, and other innovative techniques. She has extensive experience in the Boardroom and has participated in well over 100 Board of Director meetings at her companies and with outside Boards.

Education

• Cornell Law School, J.D., May 1979
• Oberlin College, B.A. Government, Phi Beta Kappa, June 1976

Board Memberships

• American Red Cross, National Capital Region Board of Directors, Vice Chair, 2017-2022.
• FM Global, Advisory Board, 2018-2021.

Bar Memberships

• District of Columbia; Virginia Corporate Counsel

• Global compliance
• Enterprise risk management
• investigations and mandatory disclosures
• Corporate executive, Chief Compliance and Risk Officer, experienced Board member
• FCPA, False Claims Act, bid protests

• Chair, Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII) Working Group, 2014-2016; 2008-2010.
• May 2016, “Key Issues in Developing and Maintaining an Effective Compliance Program: Taking Your Program to the Next Level”, Procurement Law Institute FCPA.
• March 2016, “Navigating the Government’s Coordination of Fraud Remedies in Today’s FCA Environment”, Federal Procurement Institute.
• Selected as a 2015 “Attorney Who Matters” for Compliance by Ethisphere Institute.
• March 2015, Conference Co-Chair “Women in Defense and Aerospace Compliance”.
• November 2015, “What to Do When a Whistleblower Sounds the Alarm”; “Best Practices in Ethics and Compliance”, ABA Suspension & Debarment.
• 2004, Advisory Board Member, “The International Government Contractor”.
• 1996-1997, President, Board of Contract Appeals Bar Association.
• 1997, “The Government Contract Compliance Handbook”, Federal Publications.