Compliance Leader of the Year

This award recognises an outstanding compliance leader who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, influence and impact over the past 12–18 months. The winner will have successfully led a compliance function, significant programme of work or strategic organisational initiative while helping their organisation navigate regulatory change, manage risk and strengthen its culture of compliance and integrity. 

Judges will look for evidence of strategic leadership, stakeholder influence, operational excellence and measurable outcomes, alongside a commitment to developing people, shaping organisational culture and driving sustainable improvement. 

Eligibility

  • Open to compliance professionals with responsibility for leading a compliance function, team, project, workstream or key area of compliance. 
  • Entries for this award must be nominated by a manager, stakeholder or colleague – self-nominations will not be accepted.  
  • Entries must reflect achievements within the last 12-18 months. 
  • Nominees must be based in or operating within Europe. 
  • Advisory firms, technology providers, outsourced service providers are not eligible. 

Criteria

  • Your submission needs to respond to the 3 criteria sections: Spirit, Approach and Outcome.
  • You will be awarded a maximum of 10 points per section (30 points in total).
  • Questions are suggested in each criteria section. These are prompts to help you think about the evidence that will help judges to best assess your entry. You do not need to address all questions, please use them as a guide.
  • The 4th criteria section Validation is optional and is your opportunity to provide supporting documents to further demonstrate to judges why your submission should win. You can submit up to 3 supporting documents.  

 

Spirit: Tell us about the leadership context: the individual, their role and environment

You may wish to include:

  • Their role, responsibilities and leadership remit over the last 12-18 months 
  • The size or scope of the team, project or function they support  
  • Significant regulatory, operational or business challenges they have faced  
  • Key priorities, objectives or organisational changes they have helped deliver  
  • Why their leadership has been particularly important during this period  
  • Any notable professional achievements, recognition or development

 

Approach: Demonstrate how the individual has delivered outstanding leadership and contributed to the success of their team, function or organisation

You may wish to include examples of how they have:

  • Led, developed or supported colleagues to achieve strong performance 
  • Created an engaged, collaborative and high-performing team culture 
  • Successfully managed projects, regulatory change programmes or business initiatives 
  • Influenced stakeholders and built effective working relationships across the organisation 
  • Improved compliance processes, controls or ways of working 
  • Demonstrated innovation, problem-solving or continuous improvement 
  • Managed competing priorities while maintaining high standards 
  • Supported a culture of integrity, accountability and sound decision-making 

 

Outcome: Show the outcomes and value created through the individual's leadership

Evidence may include:

  • Improvements in team performance, effectiveness or engagement 
  • Successful delivery of key compliance projects or regulatory initiatives 
  • Positive impacts on compliance outcomes, governance or risk management 
  • Improvements in stakeholder confidence, collaboration or communication 
  • Enhanced efficiency, quality or consistency within compliance processes 
  • Examples of lasting value created for the organisation, team or wider business 
  • Both quantitative and qualitative evidence are welcome.

 

Validation (Optional): Support your submission with additional evidence to help judges understand why this individual deserves recognition

This may include:

  • Up to three testimonials (maximum 100 words each) from managers, colleagues, team members, business partners or other stakeholders  
  • Examples of recognition, endorsements or professional achievements  
  • Supporting documents that provide further evidence of leadership, impact and results  
  • You may submit up to three supporting documents.