Two members join ACFE Board of Regents for 2023-2024

CFEs elected two new members to ACFE’s Board of Regents for the 2023-2024 term. The new members, Thomas A. Caulfield, CFE, and Natalie S. Lewis, CFE, replaced outgoing Regents Hannibal “Mike” Ware, CFE, and Alexandra Sagaro, CFE, whose terms ended in 2023. Caulfield and Lewis took their oaths of office during the board’s meeting in February.

“It has been a pleasure working with Alex and Mike these past two years,” says Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, president and CEO of the ACFE. “And we look forward to having Natalie and Tom bring their knowledge and experience to the board.”

Thomas A. Caulfield, CFE

Caulfield received the ACFE’s James R. Baker Speaker of the Year Award for 2022 and is chief operating officer of global anticorruption consulting firm Procurement Integrity Consulting Services based in Stafford, Virginia. He’s spent more than 40 years working in both the public and private sectors. His work in the public sector includes service in the U.S. Marine Corps, the CIA and Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. His roles included chief learning officer, inspector general for investigation, procurement integrity officer, polygraph examiner and criminal investigator. Caulfield briefly returned to federal service during the COVID-19 pandemic to build the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery’s Office of Investigations.

Caulfield retired from the federal government in 2015 to co-found Procurement Integrity Consulting Services, which has helped U.S. clients establish anti-fraud procurement protocols, enhance procurement policy compliance, and review ethics and compliance programs and training. Clients include the United Nations, Basel Institute of Governance, and various anticorruption authorities in Africa, Asia and the United Kingdom. Caulfield has also written and co-written several articles for Fraud Magazine. (See “Thwart procurement fraud,” by Sheryl Goodman and Tom Caulfield, CFE, January/February 2023; “Blowing the whistle,” by Sheryl Goodman and Tom Caulfield, CFE, March/April 2022; and “Global governments’ urgent COVID-19 procurements are risks,” by Sheryl Goodman and Tom Caulfield, CFE, September/October 2021.)

Natalie S. Lewis, CFE

Throughout her career, Lewis has conducted fraud investigations across the globe for companies of all sizes, from small, closely held businesses to Fortune 50 companies and governmental organizations. She has worked on internal investigations and cases involving embezzlement, Ponzi schemes, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and asset misappropriation. Lewis earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. She currently leads forensic and litigation support services as a principal for the Atlanta, Georgia-based consulting firm Windham Brannon, LLC.

Lewis has been an active member of the ACFE for 10 years and is a member of its Georgia Chapter. In 2019, she received the AICPA’s Standing Ovation Award for her work in forensic accounting and regularly speaks on topics such as forensic accounting and fraud investigations at universities, law firms and conferences. She has been published in Fraud Magazine (see “Minding your own business: Preventing payroll fraud with internal controls,” by Natalie S. Lewis, CFE, CPA, November/December 2021) and the Journal of Accountancy.

The ACFE Board of Regents

ACFE Board of Regents members oversee admission of new CFEs, determine CFE examination standards and enforce the CFE Code of Professional Ethics. The ACFE holds elections every year to fill vacant positions on its Board of Regents. Nominees are selected by the Board’s nomination committee; anyone who has been a CFE in good standing for three consecutive years can apply or be nominated to join the Board. There will be three open positions when the nomination period for the 2024-2025 ACFE Board of Regents starts June 1, 2023.