Will Vorhees, CAMS
Co-Chair
Silicon Valley Bank

Will is the Manager of the BSA/AML & e-Fraud Investigations Units at SVB Financial Group (SVBFG); a 12 billion dollar, global commercial financial institution with offices in the US, UK, Cayman Islands, India, Israel and China. In this role, Will works with both BSA Compliance and Global Operations. In addition to his role managing the above mentioned two groups, he is also the OFAC Officer for the organization. Last year, Will researched and conducted the enterprise-wide BSA Risk Assessment for the organization as part of the overall BSA Compliance Program. He is currently working with BSA Compliance and all SVBFG lines of business to conduct the enterprise-wide OFAC Risk Assessment and update the OFAC Compliance Program. Will is responsible for all the suspicious activity reports for SVBFG and is the primary contact for all law enforcement inquiries and 314(b) requests for information from other financial institutions.

Prior to joining SVBFG, Will was a municipal law enforcement officer, BSA/AML Consultant at three different banks and a manager in the AML Investigations Unit of a $50B asset bank. He has been involved in Fraud and Anti-money Laundering investigations since 1999. Will is a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialist and holds a Master's degree in Forensic Accounting.

e-mail: WVoorhees@svb.com

John McCarthy, CAMS
Co-Chair
Union Bank

John joined Union Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit in 2007. At Union Bank, he is currently director of the enterprise anti-money laundering (AML) operations program, managing AML account surveillance, technologies and analysis, investigations, quality control, CTR/OFAC operations and risk services. He has worked to build effective AML operational programs and protocols for trade services operations and electronic banking services. John also serves on the Northern California HIFCA Banking Roundtable.

e-mail: John.McCarthy@unionbank.com

Elaine A. Laye, CAMS
Co-Secretary
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Elaine is a Counsel/Senior Litigator in the San Francisco Regional Office and provides legal support to the Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection on compliance and enforcement matters. She began her legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C., in the Corporation Finance Division. After leaving the SEC, she was hired as a Senior Attorney in the Corporate and Securities Division of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Washington, D.C.

In 1989, Elaine joined the FDIC’s Legal Division as a bank closing attorney in the Western Service Center in Irvine, California. In that position, she handled a variety of issues for the Division of Resolutions and Receiverships and served as Counsel-Section Chief of the Real Estate Transactional Section. In 1998, Elaine began working in the San Francisco Regional Office as an open bank attorney.

Elaine is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and received her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California in Berkeley, California. In addition to her banking and regulatory background, Elaine has also served as an FDIC instructor for Advanced Negotiations and Alternate Dispute Resolution courses. She is considered a subject matter expert on Bank Secrecy Act regulations and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS). She has conducted several presentations for DSC on enforcement actions and other regulatory issues.

e-mail: ELaye@FDIC.gov

Margaret S. Silvers, CAMS, CRCM
Treasurer
Wells Fargo

Margaret is currently serving as a Compliance Consultant in Wells Fargo Bank’s Corporate BSA Governance Office where she is responsible for developing corporate BSA/AML policy, training and other associated projects.   From 2003 to 2007 she was the Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance and BSA Officer of Greater Bay Bank, headquartered in Palo Alto California.   In that capacity, she and her staff were responsible for overseeing the bank’s compliance with Federal fair lending, consumer protection, public interest regulations, and the Bank Secrecy Act.    Greater Bay Bank was acquired by Wells Fargo late in 2007. She also worked in the Corporate Compliance Department of Union Bank of California for 4 years and was employed by Bank of America NT & SA for over 20 years.   During her last 10 years at that institution, Margaret served as the lead compliance officer supporting deposit and operations-related regulations, with a special focus in the area of Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering.

Margaret has served on industry taskforces and been a speaker at various industry and law enforcement conferences.  She served as conference chairman for the 2000, 2001, & 2002 West Coast Anti-Money Laundering Forum and was the 2009 recipient of the California Bankers Association’s Distinguished Compliance Professional award.

e-mail: margaret.s.silvers@wellsfargo.com

Jenner Balagot, CAMS
Co-Treasurer
Union Bank

Jenner is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering professional and has been involved in
BSA/AML matters for over seven years.  Currently, he belongs to the Financial Intelligence Unit and manages the CTR and OFAC program.  Previously, he worked at Wells Fargo Bank, where he helped build the Identify Program.  His introduction to the BSA/AML world occurred during an internship with the U.S. State Department, in Manila, Philippines, where he worked with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other foreign governments. 

He has a Bachelor of Science degree, in Information Systems Management, from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  He is also a member of the World Affairs Council, San Francisco Chapter. 

e-mail: Jenner.Balagot@unionbank.com

Lisa Lechner, CAMS
Membership Director
Paypal, Inc.

Lisa is responsible for developing strategies, policies, procedures, training and controls to prevent and detect money laundering and terrorist finance within PayPal's Global Compliance program. She also focuses on designing and implementing a third party case management system to create forensic transaction monitoring, drive efficiencies and automation in various internal investigation flows and developing external reporting to various global Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) where PayPal is regulated. Her NA duties include AML & OFAC programs.

Lisa has been with PayPal Inc for over 6 years in the Compliance department She is CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist). Lisa received her J.D. from the University Of Nebraska College of Law and has B.S. degrees in Political Science & Psychology from Nebraska Wesleyan University.

e-mail: lklechner@paypal.com

Robert "Bob" Kenny
Co-Membership Director
FinCEN

Bob is a Senior Intelligence Research Specialist with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and has been with FinCEN since May 2004 working as a liaison for FinCEN in the Northern California Region and as the FinCEN Representative to the San Francisco High Intensity Financial Crimes Area (HIFCA) Task Force, where his primary duties involve conducting analytic work in support of financial investigations and providing liaison assistance to law enforcement agencies in the Northern California area on FinCEN related issues. Prior to his assignment with FinCEN, Bob spent over fourteen years with the Department of Defense as a Supervisory Intelligence Research Specialist, senior analyst, and operations officer in California, working in support of law enforcement and intelligence community efforts related to criminal investigations and operations. In addition to his role in the Northern California Chapter of ACAMS, Bob is a member of the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts, and received his certification as a Criminal Analyst in 1999 to become a member of the International Society of Certified Criminal Analysts (SCCA).

e-mail: bken01@comcast.net

Perla Ortiz, CAMS
Programming Director
Commonwealth Foreign Exchange

Perla serves as Chief Compliance Officer at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange, a market-leading foreign exchange services firm focused on facilitating currency exchange on behalf of domestic and international corporations. She manages the BSA/AML and OFAC programs and institutes internal controls to ensure compliance with the National Futures Association. Perla is responsible for the development and implementation of the proprietary compliance risk and transaction monitoring software.

Previously, she served as Vice President and BSA Officer for Merchants Bank of California, N.A., where she managed the BSA/AML program for the multi-national retail bank and its Unigram money transmitter service that provides transfers to Mexico and Central and South America. Prior to joining Merchants Bank, Perla was an Education and Training Specialist for ACAMS. She was responsible for the development and planning of anti-money laundering conferences and seminars and conducted marketing studies to promote the growth of ACAMS. Perla received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Minor in International Relations from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and a member of the ACAMS Annual Conference Task Force. Perla is an executive board member of the ACAMS Northern California Chapter and also serves on the Northern California HIFCA Banking Roundtable.

e-mail: portiz@comfex.com

Sandra Copas, CAMS
Communications Director
Copas & Copas, Inc.

Sandra has been conducting financial and fraud investigations since 2007.  As a Private Investigator and Certified Fraud Examiner, she has conducted financial investigations to identify individuals or investigate persons who were suspected of committing fraudulent acts, to determine what types of fraud were committed, and to determine the extent of damages.  Typical cases involve financial institution fraud by bank customers or bank employees, mortgage fraud, loan fraud, financial elder abuse, tax fraud, benefit entitlement fraud, financial statement fraud, and sales-related frauds.

Sandra is the Lieutenant Governor for the San Jose District of the California Association of Licensed Investigators.  Her duties include creating and maintaining membership directories, and developing membership recruitment and retention campaigns.  She is also tasked with finding speakers, appropriate venues, and hosting regular meetings.  She has experience in developing and maintaining websites as well as public and media relations.

e-mail: scopas@copas-inc.com