Sofia is the founder of Compliantly and an international consultant with broad exposure to emerging & high-risk markets.
Sofia provides sharp insight into cross-border transactions and how companies looking to expand their operations into foreign markets may mitigate their trading risks and avoid expensive oversights.
Sofia is a resourceful, solutions-driven legal & compliance leader with over 14 years of operational and consultancy practice in the Middle East & Africa.
She strives to support firms attain a competitive advantage through designing robust, & values-based compliance programs and through enhancing their anti-financial crime and export control defenses while retaining commercial efficiency.
Sofia is an accredited trainer by the Global Compliance Institute, a visiting faculty at the Paris Sorbonne School of Law (Compliance & Business Ethics program) and a motivational speaker that delivers tailor-made presentations to organizations, compliance institutes & academies, and conferences providers.
An avid jurisprudence researcher, she focuses her training sessions on enforcement and real-life examples tailored to the industry and region, that inform and excite audiences.
As a volunteer and mentor, Sofia concentrates her time on women's empowerment in compliance, with a particular care for the empowerment of women from the Least Developed Nations.
Before founding Compliantly, Sofia worked as a legal, compliance, and business conduct director for global firms– in aviation, airlines, defense, and automotive industries, and had exposure to over 60+ markets.
Her areas of expertise include:
• Anti-Bribery/Anti-corruption (FCPA, UKBA, Sapin II, OECD, World Bank, ISO 37001)
• International Trade Sanctions (Boycotts, OFAC, EU, UK, UN)
• Export Controls (ITAR, EAR)
• AML/CFT
Sofia has a BA in Legal Studies & International Law, has been certified as a CFE, as a CCEP-I, and has served as an executive board member for the ACFCS (MENA chapter)
Sofia is the creator and author of TheComplianceLady.com, an independent blog that provides tactical guidance and insight to the international legal, compliance, ethics, risk, and governance community.
Her articles and commentary have been featured in international magazines & compliance publications.