The Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers (BACO) has chosen its Compliance Officer of the Year. **Vanessa Longley, Associate Director of Compliance at CIBC Trust Company (Bahamas) Ltd.** was declared the winner, becoming the fifth person to receive the annual award.
Mrs. Longley has been working in the Banking Industry for over 15 years, but it was in 1999 when she began her career in Compliance at Fidelity Merchant Bank & Trust. In 2001, she joined CIBC Trust as Assistant Compliance Officer and within six months was promoted to Associate Director of Compliance. Mrs. Longley has been a member of BACO for over five years, serving two of those years on the Executive Board.
In addition to recognition as the compliance professional of the year, Mrs. Longley has been given the choice of a scholarship for enrolment in the International Diploma Course in Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance introduced by BACO in collaboration with the International Compliance Association (ICA), Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, and the Bahamas Institute of Financial Services (BIFS) – or a cash prize towards an International Compliance or Anti-Money Laundering Conference during 2005.