Global Compliance Company History

Global Compliance has been focused on helping its clients achieve their ethics and compliance goals for nearly three decades and has grown from developing the world’s first employee hotline to now being the global leader in comprehensive ethics and compliance solutions.

1981: Global Compliance introduces the first ethics and compliance hotline…and helps create an industry

• Long before government guidelines and regulations mandated "effective" ethics and compliance programs, Global Compliance introduced the first anonymous employee hotline to report misconduct and non-compliance.  The original hotline was targeted to defense contractors who wanted to disclose fraud and other forms of wrongdoing.  

1987: The market grows for Global Compliance

• The introduction of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines spurred demand for our service.    

1992: Pinkerton acquires the company

• A series of acquisitions ensued, the most significant of which was our acquisition by acclaimed security specialist, Pinkerton  

Mid-1990s: Global Compliance expands its product and service line

• During the mid 1990s, we introduced additional product and service lines including Evaluation and Validation as well as Employee Communications campaigns and Employee Training, all of which complemented our original core hotline business.  This time period also saw the introduction of additional federal regulations specific to certain key industries.

Early 2000s: Ethics and compliance issues take center stage

• The spotlight continued to shine on ethics and compliance issues as a result of numerous highly publicized and costly corporate scandals.  Congress introduced legislation, most specifically the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which governed how public companies and accounting firms must deal with corporate governance, financial disclosure and the practice of public accounting.  Amendments to the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines followed, and spelled out in greater detail, the components of an "effective" ethics and compliance program, as well as penalties for non-compliance.   Not only did we help our clients respond to the revised Guidelines, but our on-staff expert advisors at the Ethical Leadership Group (ELG) also played an integral role in developing and writing them.

2003: Global Compliance launches as an independent entity

• Recognizing untapped potential for growth, we completed a successful management buyout from Pinkerton, Inc. and launched as an independent entity, Global Compliance Services, in September 2003.  

 2007: Global Compliance acquires Brightline Compliance

• In May, Global Compliance strengthened its Training and Education offerings when it acquired Brightline Compliance, a provider of online and instructor-led training for more than one million employees across more than 500 organizations, including numerous Fortune 500 companies.  Founded and led by former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys, our training curriculum includes topics such as code of conduct, sexual harassment training, workplace violence, and dozens of other ethics and compliance topics.

2008: Global Compliance acquires Ethical Leadership Group

• In January, Global Compliance acquired Ethical Leadership Group, the leading global ethics and compliance consulting firm.  Ethical Leadership Group’s areas of expertise encompass assessment, strategy, communications, and training.  

2009: Global Compliance acquires SilentWhistle

• In June, to further strengthen its issue management lines of business, Global Compliance acquired Allegiance’s ethics and compliance reporting business marketed under the brand SilentWhistle.  

2010: Global Compliance launched:

• Global Compliance Complete, the industry’s first integrated, end-to-end ethics and compliance solution.
• AlertLine Mobile, the industry’s first mobile application for report intake and case management.
• IntegriLink Portal, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based solution that brings together our proven and field-tested ethics and compliance services.
• Virtual 360 Creative Platform for Online Training, featuring course customizations unique to your employee settings and organizational culture.
• Social Media Online Training Course.
• Global Compliance Complete - UK Bribery Act Suite, a customized, integrated ethics and compliance solution designed for compliance with the UK Bribery Act 2010.  

2011: Global Compliance launched:

• Third Party Risk Solutions, a complete solution for managing third party compliance, including Pre-Screening Due Diligence, Risk Assessment, Risk Mitigation and Ongoing Oversight and Monitoring.
• Dodd-Frank SEC Whistleblower Program Optimizer, an integrated ethics and compliance solution designed to address training, whistleblower hotline and other compliance requirements – all optimized for the new regulatory environment.

Now The Only End-to-End Provider of Ethics and Compliance Solutions

As a result of our acquisitions and ongoing product development, Global Compliance is now the only provider in our industry to offer a comprehensive and integrated solution like Global Compliance Complete.  Never before have we—or anyone else—offered more tools to help clients avoid costly and potentially devastating ethics and compliance issues.

Today, many organizations around the world recognize that they can enhance their core business, along with mitigating risk and liability, by implementing a comprehensive ethics and compliance program.  As the global leader in providing these programs, Global Compliance serves greater than 4,000 clients and offers the most extensive portfolio of products and services in the ethics and compliance industry.  But we aren’t resting on our laurels . . .

Looking to the future, we will continue to embrace new technology, committing financial and human resources to further enhance our products and services, which enable us to meet and exceed client expectations.  We will also continue to look for like-minded business partners and complementary businesses to acquire in order to remain the most comprehensive service provider in the industry, ensuring our clients can protect themselves from financial, legal, and reputational harm.  Finally, we will continue to embrace a holistic approach to ethics and compliance, drawing insight from all areas of our industry in order to ensure our clients enjoy the most comprehensive, integrated, and effective programs possible.