Program Speakers
Freya Page
Head of Guidance, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI)
Freya is a founding member of OFSI, having worked in sanctions and illicit finance within HM Treasury since 2015. Since joining as a Compliance Officer, Freya has worked both nationally and internationally on all OFSI’s guidance and engagement work both before and after EU Exit, working across all implemented country regimes and helping to ensure sanctions are properly enforced, implemented and understood in the UK.
Jessica Medhurst
HM Treasury, Sanctions and Illicit Finance Unit
Jess Medhurst is an experienced policy practitioner in financial regulation and supervision, working both at the Bank of England and at HM Treasury. She now sits with HMT’s Sanctions and Illicit Finance Unit, delivering technical assistance to ODA-eligible countries to improve adherence to Financial Action Task Force standards, currently with a particular focus on Eastern and Southern Africa. The Financial Action Task Force recommendations include global standards for customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and asset forfeiture which are critical tools in preventing and detecting sanctions evasion.
Abigail Culank
Deputy Director, Sanctions Directorate Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Abigail Culank is Deputy Director for Strategy, Legislation and Engagement within the FCDO's Sanctions Directorate. She is responsible fora number of external-facing elements of the UK's sanctions policy.
Abi has been a civil servant for over 20 years and has worked in the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice as well as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Prior to joining government, Abi was a solicitor in private practice, specialized in civil litigation.
Linda Minsker
Director, Office of Enforcement Analysis, Bureau of Industry and Security
U.S. Department of Commerce
Linda Minsker serves as the Director of the Office of Enforcement Analysis (OEA) in the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). OEA monitors and evaluates export transactions to ensure compliance with the EAR by conducting end-use checks, analyzing export transactions to develop investigative leads and support enforcement cases, and liaising with the Intelligence Community to provide intelligence support during review of license and related export transactions.
Previously, Ms. Minsker managed the OEA Export Control Officer (ECO) program, covering 67 countries, and served as the Senior ECO in Beijing, China. She received BIS’s Bronze Medal Award for Personal and Professional Excellence, the Department of State’s Meritorious Honor Award, and the Women in Federal Law Enforcement President’s Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Seattle University, and a Master of Science from the National Defense University, Eisenhower School.
Lauren Sun
Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Department of Treasury, OFAC
As the Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Lauren manages a team of sanctions regulations advisors responsible for the implementation of OFAC’s sanctions programs through regulations, web general licenses, and other regulatory documents. Previously, she served as the Deputy Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs at OFAC from 2020 to 2021, and as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of the Chief Counsel, Foreign Assets Control from 2015 to 2020. She also served as a Senior Advisor to the General Counsel of the Department of Commerce from 2016 to 2017.
Lauren is a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford Law School. Following law school, she worked at the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, clerked for the Honorable Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and worked in private practice at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
Co-Moderators
Paige Berges
Counsel, Ropes & Gray International LLP
Paige Berges is US- and UK-qualified with broad cross-border experience conducting internal investigations, enforcement and defence. She focuses on advising clients to ensure compliance with economic sanctions, export controls, anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing, and anti-corruption regulations. In addition to US, UK and pan-European practices, Paige brings significant experience helping clients build compliance programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region. Paige advises clients on the full spectrum of white collar and defence matters, from proactive advice on compliance and due diligence to investigations of suspected violations of economic sanctions, anti-bribery and corruption, export controls, anti-money laundering and anti-bribery and corruption laws, and preparation of license applications and disclosures. Prior to joining Ropes & Gray, she worked at British International Investment (fka CDC Group Plc), the UK’s Development Finance Institution, and Barclays Investment Bank, where she was responsible for financial crime compliance and sanctions across business lines.
Britt Mosman
Partner and Vice-Chair of Global Trade & Investment Practice Group, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Britt Mosman is a Partner and Vice-Chair of the Global Trade & Investment Practice Group in Washington and advises clients on a wide range of international transactional, compliance, and enforcement issues. Her experience includes advising global financial institutions and leading multinational companies on anti-money laundering (AML), economic sanctions, and export controls laws, as well as other national security-related issues. Britt has deep experience with economic sanctions laws and regulations, having served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the Chief Counsel (Foreign Assets Control) advising the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Many thanks to the annual WWCDA Sponsors that help WWCDA hold this reception as well as other events, programming and WWCDA initiatives throughout the year.