Neil Sternthal: Innovation, Collaboration and the Future of AFC

ACAMS Today spoke with Neil Sternthal, CEO of ACAMS, about the rapidly evolving world of financial crime prevention and the strong leadership skills that are essential to navigate the complexities of compliance, as well as regulation and emerging threats. With a career spanning over two decades in legal and financial services, Sternthal has established himself as a visionary leader dedicated to advancing the fight against financial crime.

Under his guidance, ACAMS has expanded its global reach, offering innovative training and certification programs that empower professionals to tackle the increasingly sophisticated methods employed by criminals. Sternthal’s leadership is marked by a deep commitment to innovation, collaboration and a relentless focus on helping to build a stronger, more informed community of anti-financial crime (AFC) specialists.

Sternthal’s journey to becoming CEO of ACAMS reflects his deep commitment to combating financial crime on a global scale and to social responsibility more generally. With a strategic vision that emphasizes community, collaboration and innovation, Sternthal is focused on positioning ACAMS as a leader in navigating the evolving challenges of financial crime. His insights offer a glimpse into how ACAMS plans to leverage emerging technologies and empower AFC professionals worldwide in the fight against illicit activities.

On what drew him to join ACAMS:

Neil Sternthal (NS): What ACAMS does really matters, and that drew me in. It’s a mission/purpose-driven company and a mission/purpose-driven community addressing a global problem. It plays a vital and respected role. It brings the AFC community together, sharing insights and increasing the community’s capabilities to help with ACAMS’ mission and that of the community, which is to help defend against financial crime.

On why the concept of community is important to him:

NS: The AFC problems that we encounter can only be solved by the collective efforts of the global AFC community including ACAMS. There’s an increasing need to share information and best practices and relationships, collaborating across regulated entities and AFC practitioners. There’s also an increased need for collaboration between regulators globally, and between the regulators and the regulated. Much of that collaboration and exchange of ideas happens at our forums and roundtables. It happens at our chapter events. Bringing the different participants from across the AFC community together to jointly pursue a common goal is essential if we are to maximize our effectiveness. It is also extremely motivating and affirming being with like-minded and like-motivated professionals, whether they’re in a government agency, law enforcement (LE), a regulated financial services organization, law firm or accounting firm―you name it. Collaboration is a common theme in this community.

Earlier you asked, “Why ACAMS?” I came from a community that stands united for a common goal. The latter part of my career at an internationally respected news and information company was in the global legal business. While we were providing services, insights and forums for the global legal community, we were also helping lawyers affect the rule of law. It was bigger than the company. ACAMS is bigger than who we are as an organization. We are part of this global community focused on combating and protecting against financial crime and the heinous illicit activities that underpin it, like sex trafficking, labor trafficking, illegal wildlife trade, arms dealing, drug dealing and more.

A former Supreme Court Justice of Canada who I respect tremendously―Rosalie Silberman Abella―once said, “It’s not just what you stand for; it’s what you stand up for.” Those words are a kind of beacon to me. It could just as well speak to the AFC community, where ACAMS sits at the center. What we stand for is what we do at ACAMS every day. It’s what our membership does every day. We are all standing up for something much bigger than any of us―for the many victims of financial crimes.

On how his previous work experiences prepared him for being CEO of ACAMS:

NS: In my previous position, and even going back further as a practicing lawyer in a large Canadian law firm, I worked in an environment where people cared deeply about what they did. They did so because their work was vital to our customers and clients. There’s a sacred trust there which I took from my previous experiences and absolutely brought to ACAMS. It’s our privilege and duty to put our customers and members first and help them succeed at what they do. That belief was instilled in me throughout my career as a lawyer and in my various roles at my previous company and it remains core to my professional values.

In terms of bringing my background from my prior employer to ACAMS, I’m excited about the potential use cases for applying technology to our trusted proprietary content. We have the potential to release the power of that content for the benefit of our end users in new, creative and high-value ways.

We have incredible content assets, collected over the years and growing rapidly. These assets include ACAMS Today and ACAMS moneylaundering.com, our training and educational materials and our thought leadership white papers and reports, as well as information generated by our exclusive roundtables and conferences. We have the opportunity to make all of this information more readily available to our membership in ways that will help them be even more effective as AFC practitioners. This is a really exciting opportunity for ACAMS.

On his strategy for ACAMS for the next couple of years and the goals he would like ACAMS to accomplish under his leadership:

NS: Like any organization today, especially in the knowledge space, we should look for new tools to help us be more productive and effective in delivering higher-value content and services. The obvious ones today are generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, but many others exist. The goal should be to achieve greater output and provide better quality services. The way that I think about it is, what distinguishes us? What makes us unique?

We’re a global mission- and purpose-based membership organization. The financial crime business, unfortunately, is a growing global industry. It’s getting more complex and sophisticated. Like our members, we need to take this head-on, rise to the occasion, and address the most challenging problems of this global threat. We have core strengths that we can leverage―we’re trusted, global, host the largest AFC membership community, and possess domain expertise and insights. Also, we have extraordinary people within ACAMS and we need to attract even more talented individuals who bring new skills and are equally impassioned and ambitious about making a difference. In addition, we need to do more with the information we’ve produced and continue to produce. I also want to do more with the community and provide more value and greater insights to better serve the community. Our sphere of influence extends well beyond the scope of our formal membership. For example, not all conference attendees are members and not all of our training education or training program takers are members. But they’re also part of our broader community. There are many things that we can do when you think about how vast our global reach is with regard to providing new tools and insights to empower the AFC community in combating and protecting against financial crime.

On how he would like ACAMS to leverage AI content in addition to GenAI:

NS: We live in a world where disruptive technologies have increasingly become the norm for good and harmful purposes. It’s not just about applying them to our products and services. It also means understanding how bad actors are using them to be more effective at perpetrating crimes. It means helping our virtuous community of practitioners navigate, understand and adapt to a new world where disruptive technologies are increasingly prevalent.

We need to understand how our customers or members―our community―are using it: how they think about it, what are their challenges of adoption and what are their training needs. We must consider that our community is expanding to include programmers, software engineers, data analysts and technologists. AFC practitioners are being exposed to new technologies. There is a need for AFC practitioners to better understand technology and for technologists to better understand AFC compliance. ACAMS is well positioned to help in this regard.

On the ACAMS Assemblies he has attended throughout the world and what stands out to him about the AFC professionals he has met when traveling to these events:

NS: The common themes that everyone seems to be grappling with are the pace of regulatory change, understanding disruptive technologies, doing more with less, and the need for increased collaboration between regulators, the regulated and LE.

A sense of community is felt at our Assemblies, and it’s an honor to be the host. You just feel good as an ACAMS representative to be given the privilege of bringing the community together, giving the community a platform to be mobilized, energized and informed, and build high-value relationships. It’s where AFC professionals further develop. While the Assemblies have a common esprit de corps, each one has its own vibe. For example, different topics were of primary interest to the financial technology (fintech) industry at the Assembly Fintech and Crypto in Austin compared to the Assembly Europe in Amsterdam or the Assembly APAC in Hong Kong. I can’t wait to feel the pulse of our attendees at our megaconference―the Assembly Las Vegas. I hope our members can attend as many Assemblies as possible to benefit from both the common and exclusive themes that in aggregate reflect the priorities of the entire global community. Our members can learn something from every community aspect, from LE to regulators, financial institutions, professional advisors and more.

On what excites him about the AFC profession:

NS: Three things: passion, conviction and positive impact. What also excites me is the potential to have even greater positive impact, and I’m not talking just about ACAMS. I’m talking about our community and its potential to make the world a safer place for vulnerable individuals. I don’t need to look at the whole globe to see financial crimes occurring. I just need to look in my backyard to see what is happening right under our noses―where, for example, victims fall prey to sex trafficking on a daily basis. As an AFC community we are the first line of defense and must do more, faster. By the way, the discussion on human trafficking prevention was the focus of our final session at the Assembly Europe in Amsterdam in May.

On how ACAMS can continue navigating the challenge of staying ahead of an ever-evolving industry:

NS: We need to protect and reinforce our core strengths and our foundational offerings. But we also need to open our minds to think outside of the box and consider what more we can do to enhance our impact in this global community by helping our members and community at large be more successful. That includes leveraging the unique capabilities and strengths of ACAMS to do even more and be more efficient and effective, which every healthy organization needs to do. It all starts with listening closely to our members and customers and understanding their changing needs. Change is so rapid these days that it is difficult to keep up. Change must be built into our DNA. It must be seen as the constant, but we also need to know where we’re going. Clarity of purpose and direction are paramount.

On his favorite pastime:

NS: I’m a terrible guitar player, but I’ve been playing for years. I love music; it’s my passion. I love discovering new music and sharing it, especially with my daughters. And recently, it’s been all paybacks. Now they’re sharing music with me. I’m also a big foodie and love to travel to new places.

On how he likes to spend his time when he is off the clock:

NS: While I could be more disciplined about physical fitness and well-being, I believe in its importance. What I find I need to do―and I really love to do―is hike and walk, especially in nature. I don’t like walking just for walking’s sake, but I like walking as a means to get to a destination, and COVID introduced me to the “urban hike”―walking for an hour or two to explore different parts of Toronto. As Bob Marley said, “My feet are my only carriage.” I also love cross-country skiing and cycling. That’s my new passion.

Lastly, being around people gives me energy. For some people, being at a conference with 2,000 people, participating in a roundtable with 40 people or even at a dinner table with four people―that could be challenging or draining. It gives me energy. I come back from conferences like our Assemblies tired, but invigorated. I feel motivated and energized. I am really looking forward to being at the Assembly Las Vegas and meeting as many of my ACAMS colleagues and members as possible.