2025 Speakers

Bradley C. Birkenfeld is the most significant financial whistleblower in history and the author of Lucifer’s Banker UNCENSORED: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy, (September 2020). As an international private banker he exposed how UBS, the world’s largest bank, helped ultra-wealthy Americans commit billions in tax fraud. His bombshell revelations cracked the impenetrable fortress of Swiss banks, proving that offshore financial institutions systematically aided clients’ tax evasion, corruption and terrorist activities. His case triggered monumental changes in banking laws, the federal tax code and international tax treaties.

In 2005, despite a thriving career spanning Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank and UBS, Birkenfeld could no longer keep silent about bank-enabled tax fraud. When UBS rejected his concerns, he turned to the U.S. authorities. Though jailed for 30 months, he was soon vindicated with a record-breaking IRS reward: his work had enabled the U.S. Treasury to recover $30 billion in back taxes, fines and penalties. The case set off a domino effect of international investigations into offshore banking’s secret crimes, including the Panama Papers and much more. Now retired, Birkenfeld is a philanthropist and supports whistleblowing efforts worldwide.

Cynthia Cooper is an internationally recognized speaker, consultant, and best-selling author. In her book Extraordinary Circumstances, she shares her experiences and the lessons she learned during the WorldCom scandal. Cynthia donated all profits from the book to support ethics education for college and high school students. Cynthia speaks globally on topics including ethical leadership, corporate integrity, and how to avoid the pitfalls of organizational failure.

In 2020, Cynthia was included in TIME‘s list of the 100 Women of the Year, highlighting the most influential women of the past century. She was also named one of TIME magazine’s Persons of the Year for her role in uncovering the fraud at WorldCom—one of the largest corporate frauds in history. Cynthia is the first woman inducted into the AICPA Business Hall of Fame. Named one of the 25 Most Influential Working Mothers by Working Mother magazine, she also received the Maria & Sydney E. Rolfe Award for public education in business and finance. In 2022, she received the Internal Audit Beacon Award for thought leadership. She is also an inaugural inductee into the Institute of Internal Auditors’ American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners, and the first woman to receive the American Accounting Association’s Accounting Exemplar Award.

Cynthia has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CFO Magazine, and BusinessWeek. She has shared panels with Anderson Cooper, Donna Brazile, and Grover Norquist, and has appeared on programs on NBC, ABC, PBS, Fox Business, C-SPAN, and CNBC.

Cynthia served on the board of the NASBA Center for the Public Trust, a nonprofit promoting ethical leadership. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and served as Chairman of the Board of Regents for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world’s largest anti-fraud organization with nearly 80,000 members. She also served on the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a nonprofit created by Congress to protect investors through oversight of public company audits. She currently serves on Mississippi State’s College of Business Executive Advisory Board and previously advised the University of Alabama, LSU, and Lehigh University.

She has delivered keynote presentations and training around the world to government agencies including the FBI, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Labor, and the Ontario Securities Commission; leading universities such as Harvard, Cornell, and Western University’s Ivey Business School; intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations; public companies including Dell, France Telecom, Raytheon, Walmart, and Vanguard; and professional associations including the National Association of Corporate Directors, Network of Executive Women, Ethics and Compliance Officers Association, and the Washington D.C. Trial Lawyers Association.

Cynthia began her career in public accounting and previously worked in Atlanta for Deloitte & Touche and Price Waterhouse. Following the WorldCom scandal, she served as Chief Audit Executive at MCI, where she and her team helped guide the company through its emergence from bankruptcy. Cynthia holds a Master of Professional Accountancy from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Accountancy from Mississippi State University.

Cynthia Lie is the Acting Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office. Cynthia served for 15 years at the Department of Justice (DOJ) as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, serving in units including the Fraud and Financial Crimes Unit, the Major Crimes Unit, and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. After her time at DOJ, Cynthia served as Deputy Counsel and then Division Chief for 6 years at the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General (OIG). She handled and oversaw sensitive investigations, including False Claims Act and other complex financial fraud cases. During her time with the OIG, Cynthia also ran two federal whistleblower programs.

Daniel Kokotajlo is the Executive Director of AI Futures Project, a nonprofit research group that forecasts the future of AI. Prior to his role as Executive Director, he worked as a governance researcher at OpenAI on scenario planning. In 2024, Kokotajlo resigned from OpenAI and refused to sign the company’s non-disparagement clause which forbade employees from criticizing the company. When he left OpenAI, he called for better transparency of top AI companies. He, along with other OpenAI and Google DeepMind employees, signed a letter calling for the “right to warn” about the dangers of AI without fear of reprisal. Kokotajlo was listed on Time100 Most Influential People in AI 2024.

Dr. Aaron J. Westrick is presently a professor at Lake Superior State University instructing justice related studies including ethics. He served as a Michigan Law Enforcement Officer from 1981-2023. Dr. Westrick is the former research director for America’s largest body armor company, Second Chance Body Armor, blew the whistle on the production and sale of defective vests that were sold to police officers and military. Whistleblower attorneys supported by NWC represented Dr. Westrick in a False Claims Act qui tam complaint filed against the manufacturers of the vests and the manufacturers of the Zylon fiber within the vests. After a 14-year legal battle, a conclusion was reached with all defendants eventually paying to settle allegations of a False Claims Act violation.

Dr. Tommie “Toni” Savage is an Army Corps of Engineers whistleblower who spoke out against government contracting fraud in the “Ranges Program.” While working as an awarded and highly esteemed Contracting Officer at the agency’s Huntsville, Alabama Contracting Division, Toni discovered millions of dollars in fraudulent contracts. Toni overcame severe, debilitating retaliation for speaking out, despite her allegations being confirmed by multiple internal and external audits.

Toni secured a landmark victory when the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”) ruled in her favor, setting the precedent that federal whistleblowers can raise hostile work environment claims. Toni sacrificed her career and her health to speak truth to power. Her strength, determination, and perseverance are an inspiration, but also a stark reminder of how whistleblowers urgently need stronger protections.

Toni has served as an advisory member to National Whistleblower Center’s National Whistleblower Day committee. In 2017, Toni spoke at NWC’s National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill, sharing her story.  She spoke again in 2023 after she and attorney, Michael Kohn, successfully negotiated a settlement.

In 2025, Toni joined NWC’s Board of Directors. She is also the President and Founder of Daughter of Zion Ministries, Inc.

Gary Shapley is the Deputy Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation. He is responsible for overseeing a worldwide staff of 3,200 CI employees, including approximately 2,200 special agents in 20 Field Offices and 14 foreign countries, who investigate crimes involving tax, money laundering, public corruption, cyber, ID theft, narcotics and terrorist-financing.

Shapley joined the IRS in 2009 as an IRS-CI special agent and has significant experience investigating international cases that involve foreign financial institutions and high-net worth individuals with complex financial assets. He was recently selected to serve as a senior advisor to Secretary Scott Bessent at the Department of Treasury.

Prior to his selection as Deputy Chief, Shapley served as a supervisory special agent for IRS-CI’s International Tax and Financial Crime group, an elite team of special agents who investigate fraudulent activity involving offshore tax holdings, financial institutions and foreign bank accounts. Shapley also served as the assistant special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Office from December 2021 to November 2022 and as the acting assistant special agent in charge of the New York Field Office from April 2021 to September 2021.

From 2013 to 2018, Shapley investigated foreign financial institutions that violated of U.S. law as part of the Department of Justice and IRS’ Swiss Bank Program. He also served as a task force officer on two of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces where he pursued national security threats.

Shapley began his federal government career at the National Security Agency working in the Office of the Inspector General.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore.

Jane Turner was a highly decorated, 25-year veteran Special Agent with the FBI. She served in the most difficult investigatory positions and was the first woman named as the head of an FBI resident agency.

She led the FBI’s highly successful programs combating crimes against women and child sex crime victims on North Dakota Indian Reservations. In retaliation for exposing FBI failures within its child crime program, Turner was removed from senior resident agent position. Turner successfully fought her removal and won a historic victory for all FBI whistleblowers before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She challenged her retaliation in federal court, and won a unanimous jury verdict in her favor, obtaining the largest compensatory damage award permitted under the law for federal employees.

Jane also exposed criminal theft of property at the 9/11 crime scene by a handful of FBI agents. She was harshly retaliated against for reporting these violations to the Department of Justice, Inspector General. After a ten-year battle, she prevailed, becoming only one of a small handful of FBI agents to win her cases under the FBI Whistleblower Protection Act.

Joseph Ziegler is a Special Agent / Senior Analyst for the Criminal Investigation division of the IRS having been the primary case agent on the Hunter Biden Investigation. He joined the IRS in 2010 as an IRS-CI special agent having worked a variety of complex tax and money laundering investigations. He also served for a period of time as a Public Information Officer for the Atlanta Field Office serving as a spokesperson for that field office. He was recently selected as a senior advisor to Secretary Scott Bessent at the Department of Treasury. As a senior advisor, he and Gary Shapley are working on reformation plan, which includes Whistleblower related activities, for the IRS.

In 2018 Ziegler was selected to join the IRS-CI’s International Tax and Financial Crime group. Often called the “Seal Team 6 of the IRS”, this elite group of Special Agents investigate high-level tax fraud and financial crimes worldwide. When joining the group, he initiated the tax investigation of Hunter Biden, the son of the Former Vice President, Joseph Biden. While working that investigation, Ziegler through his leadership chain, made protected disclosures for years about misconduct he observed during the investigation. He eventually became a whistleblower and testified in front of the House Oversight Committee and House Ways & Means Committee. After he and his supervisor Gary Shapley made protected disclosures, they both faced significant retaliation from the Department of Justice and the IRS.

Ziegler grew up in Kirtland, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio University in 2007 with a B.S. in Accounting. He worked as an external auditor at Ernst & Young LLP, handling clients like the Cleveland Clinic and Lincoln Electric, while earning his MBA from John Carroll University in 2009.

Kayla is an Associate at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, where she provides direct representation to whistleblowers under securities fraud, anti-money laundering, and foreign bribery laws. Kayla’s practice focuses on trial and appellate litigation on behalf of whistleblower clients in federal court.

Kayla received her J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 2020, and clerked for Judge Robert Salerno on the District of Columbia Superior Court prior to joining the firm. While in law school, Kayla interned with the DOJ Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, participated in Georgetown’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and served as the Executive Notes Editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy.

Margaux Ewen is the Whistleblower Protection Program Director at The Signals Network, a US-based non profit working to support those who reveal wrongdoing and hold power to account.

TSN’s end-to-end support for whistleblowers includes empowering workers to stand up to power and speak out about wrongdoing, protecting whistleblowers who contribute to published reports of wrongdoing, supporting journalists to investigate wrongdoing, and advocating for lasting change as a result of whistleblower revelations. 

Margaux was most recently the Director of Freedom House’s Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners, a major new project to support journalists, human rights defenders, and prodemocracy activists who are detained in retaliation for their heroic work.

Prior to Freedom House, Margaux served as the executive director of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, where she led advocacy efforts to release Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad, promote safety for freelance journalists, and support detainees’ families through engagement with government bodies and nongovernmental experts.

Ewen also led the foundation’s work with congressional cosponsors of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act and the launch of the Congressional Task Force on American Hostages and Americans Wrongfully Detained Abroad.

Prior to leading the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Ewen served as the North America director of Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontieres (RSF). In this role, she led US-based advocacy, communications, and development for the organization and served as its US spokesperson, appearing on American and international media to discuss press freedom and RSF’s work.

Ewen holds a master of laws degree in international and comparative law from the George Washington University Law School and a master’s degree in international law from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is barred in New York.

Chuck Grassley was first elected to the Iowa state legislature in 1958 and served there until Iowans sent him to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974. In 1980, Grassley was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he has developed a reputation for bipartisanship and pragmatism. This approach to legislating consistently earns Grassley high marks as one of the Senate’s most effective and collaborative lawmakers. In each post, serving Iowans has always been Grassley’s guiding light and primary objective. Over the course of his time in Congress, Senator Grassley has led the effort to protect and empower whistleblowers through strong legislation meant to encourage whistleblowing and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. He is also a founding member and current Chairman of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus.

Ron Wyden began his political career in Congress in 1981 as a representative and became Senator in a 1996 special election. He serves on the Committees on Finance, Budget, Intelligence, and Energy & Natural Resources. He is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He is a founding member and Co-Chair of the Senate Whistleblower Caucus. Wyden has shown strong support for whistleblowers throughout his time as a legislator.

Sophie Luskin is a researcher with Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy studying the regulation, issues, and impacts around generative AI for companionship, social and peer media platforms, age assurance, and consumer privacy to protect users and promote responsible deployment. Luskin began her career as a fellow with Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP and continues to engage as a senior tech policy analyst. 

She received her bachelor’s from the University of California, Davis, where she graduated with honors. Her research has been conducted across policy, legal, journalistic, and communications spaces. Her writing on these topics has appeared in a variety of outlets, including Corporate Compliance Insights, National Law Review,Lexology, Whistleblower Network News, Tech Policy Press and CITP’s blog.

Stephen M. Kohn is one of the nation’s leading whistleblower attorneys. A founding director of the National Whistleblower Center, he is the author of eight books on whistleblower law, including The New Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself. He is a practicing whistleblower attorney and serves pro bono as the Chairman of the Board of the National Whistleblower Center. Stephen is a partner in the whistleblower law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto. His primary litigation focus includes representing international whistleblowers under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax fraud whistleblowers, qui tam reward laws, the False Claims Act, SEC whistleblowers, and IRS whistleblowers. In 2012, the firm obtained the largest qui tam whistleblower reward given to a single individual in history ($104 million to UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld), and he represents Danske Bank Whistleblower Howard Wilkinson.