Welcome to the Compliance Cohort. We are a group of compliance professionals working to make compliance easier. Our goal is to take complex compliance concepts and put them in simple terms that apply to the real world. We are glad you have found us and look forward to collaborating in the future.
If you haven't done so already, make sure you sign up for our free membership where you get access to many member-only videos, articles, and other resources.
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Adam Witmer - President & CEO
My name is Adam Witmer and I want to personally welcome you to the Compliance Cohort and invite you to join us as a free, Basic Member. I have created the Compliance Cohort as a resource for compliance professionals in banks, credit unions, and any of the other trenches where compliance folks dwell. Having taught hundreds of live seminars to thousands of bankers throughout the US, I personally recognize the importance of easy to understand compliance resources. Not to mention, being able to easily access the information you need, when you need it.
In creating this site, I’ve done a number of things I hope will make your life easier as a compliance professional. First, I’ve chosen to take a "virtual classroom" approach to training where each video published includes both a visual of the instructor as well as slides that help lead you through the topic being discussed. The idea is to bring the feel of a live seminar to your office. (If you haven’t watched the video below, this will show you exactly what I mean!)
In addition to our virtual classroom videos, I teach in a method I call the 3E approach: to educate, to empower, and to entertain. Over the years, I have found that this strategic combination helps others to learn better while also making it more enjoyable for me as the instructor. To accomplish this, you will find that I try to focus on the most relevant and important topics, talk about how a topic actually applies to you, and try to have a bit of fun while doing this.
Finally, I have worked to ensure that a number of resources are available for free to compliance professionals like you. Having been in your shoes, I completely understand limited resources/support and how valuable good free resources are. While our public blog contains a few articles and a few select videos, we have a much better free resource for you: our Basic Membership is absolutely free. Now, our premium classes (in our store here) do provide an even better resource, but our Basic Membership provides many free training videos (webinars) and articles that will benefit any compliance professional and many other employees in your financial institution.
Thanks for stopping by the Compliance Cohort and I look forward to seeing you in our Basic Membership.
-Adam Witmer- President & CEO of Compliance Cohort
“The Compliance Cohort should be in every Compliance Officer’s “library of information”. I use the articles for training purposes at least once a month if not more frequently. Every article is written in a manner that is easily understood, sometimes with humor that makes it enjoyable to read. Compliance enjoyable? It can be with the right tools. Don’t hesitate to sign up. You won’t regret it.
-Crystal Barnes, Eclipse Bank- ”
“I found the Compliance Cohort accidentally while poking around on the internet. I felt like I discovered a hidden treasure! The site is full of well written, easy to read and understand articles concerning a wide variety of compliance topics all of which are supported by regulatory citations. In addition, there are videos with the same solid content. And... the articles and videos are free! The bonus hiding in this treasure is Adam’s ability to remind us that, though we’re dealing with a serious subject, it’s okay to have fun and enjoy learning while we work! I found Compliance Cohort when it was brand new and I’ll keep it in my favorites until I retire!
-Member #1, Compliance Officer-”
There is no cost for basic membership and Cohort Members receive a number of great benefits:
Weekly Friday Newsletter
Member Compliance Clips (Videos)
Member Articles
Member Offers, Discounts, & Giveaways
Special Email Alerts
First, members will be automatically enrolled to receive regular email summaries. Provided once a week, these updates will ensure members are up-to-date on the happenings going on at the Compliance Cohort. Our goal is to help keep members in the know of our recent postings as well as any compliance changes that take place.
Our "Compliance Clips" have proven to be the best benefit of Basic Membership. These short, on-demand (free) bank training videos provide an amazing value to members as they are presented in a "virtual classroom" approach that provides bite-sized learning. Members find this approach significantly helps with comprehension of the material being taught. Typically lasting 3 to 5 minutes, we present applicable topics as we see fit, but generally include existing regulations as well as a "heads up" on upcoming changes. While a few Compliance Clips are available to non-members, Basic Membership provides access to many more videos than what are available to the public. Access to our Compliance Clips is often cited as the main reason for becoming a new member.
The third benefit of our Basic Membership is a number of member-only articles. These articles are presented in a "layman's terms" approach where we do our best explain complex rules in a way that anyone could understand. While some articles are available to the public through our blog, members enjoy a number of articles available only through membership.
When logged into their dashboard, members have access to a "topic catalog" where articles and videos are organized by topic. This is beneficial for members who may only be responsible for a specific area of compliance such as lending compliance, deposit compliance, or BSA.
Another benefit of our free Basic Membership is that members get a variety of discounts and member-only offers. For example, we offer “early bird” discounts to basic members for many of our classes available in our store. Other sales and discounts are also provided to basic members.
Finally, Basic members benefit from receiving certain special compliance alerts. These occasional alerts vary in volume based on the need, and may include things like new regulations or a reminder of needed compliance action.
“The Compliance Cohort makes a difficult subject easier to understand and remember by using stories that tie into various subject matter. Adam is very knowledgeable and friendly. Web-based classes are going to be a great help in time management since there are never enough hours in the day!
-Theresa Z., VP/Compliance Officer-”
All of our online training programs utilize a “virtual classroom” approach where we have an instructor in front of a slide presentation, just like you would see at one of our live programs. In fact, it is our goal to bring the training to you. As you can see in the following welcome video, we do just that.
“I receive the Compliance Cohort’s periodic compliance updates and they are very beneficial in keeping us up with changes or clarifications in the Compliance World. I attended a HMDA Class and it helped the bank work through the requirements in a timely manner. I think banks with limited resources will benefit greatly from this service.
-Brent G., CRCM, CAMS, CCBIA-”
The Compliance Cohort is an online education site designed to assist compliance professionals in the world of regulatory compliance. Using our "virtual classroom" approach, we deliver quality compliance training videos in an on-demand format. While our site contains many public videos, articles, regulatory updates and a few other tools, compliance professionals get an even greater value when they become a Cohort Member.
The name “Compliance Cohort” came out of our desire to create a platform that focuses on helping compliance professionals. You see, a “cohort” is a group of people banded together and working for the same cause. In banking, regulatory compliance is often a challenging and lonely job as many compliance professionals working in community banks or credit unions feel on their own when it comes to internal support and resources.
Our vision for Compliance Cohort is to create a place where compliance professionals can get the support they need. An alliance of sorts. A place where questions can be asked and explanations can be given in layman's terms.
Our Cohort instructors have one main goal: to make life easier for compliance professionals. This means that we do everything we can to provide simple explanations and application to the complex world of regulatory compliance.
We truly hope that you will become a member of our cohort of compliance professionals just like you.
“I definitely would recommend the Compliance Cohort to anyone that has a need to know compliance information. The weekly summaries are great...they are not real lengthy but to the point and always include the citation from the regulations or commentary to support what is being discussed. Also, Adam is very knowledgeable and does an EXCELLENT job of explaining the information and putting it in language that is easy to understand. I look forward to my weekly summary every Friday!
-Anonymous, Compliance Officer-”
Early on as a compliance seminar speaker, Adam quickly realized that compliance can become quite boring. In fact, there probably isn't a more mundane topic than regulatory compliance. Yet, Adam likes to have fun and even enjoys a bit of comedy now and then. So when attendees were falling asleep in his very first seminar years ago, he knew he had to do something different.
Today, Adam takes a three part approach to compliance instruction: to educate, to empower, and to entertain. This is achieved by focusing on relevant topics, speaking in simple to understand, layman's terms, and by keeping it light and humorous whenever possible. Adam has found that this "3-E" approach allow students to learn as quickly and effectively as possible. And, it adds a little bit of fun to an otherwise dreadful topic.
A seasoned compliance professional, Adam has experience in all areas of regulatory compliance including BSA, fair lending, deposit compliance, risk management, the SAFE Act.
As a speaker and former Senior Consultant for a regional consulting firm, Adam has conducted hundreds of training seminars and educational events primarily through his work with many different state banking associations, community banks, and credit unions throughout the Midwest. Adam teaches on all areas of consumer compliance including BSA, mortgage lending, HMDA, deposit operations, loan operations, CRA, flood insurance, fair lending, hot topics, and advanced compliance management and BSA management.
A featured speaker at several state banking association conferences in states such as West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Montana, Adam has presented hundreds of seminars to thousands of bankers in many different states throughout the US. In addition to this, Adam is a former faculty member of the Community Bankers School and has been a regular guest lecturer at Indiana University- Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW).
As a consultant, Adam has conducted compliance reviews in all areas of consumer compliance and has helped to establish efficient and effective compliance programs in many community banks. One of his specialties is effective management of a compliance program, including developing compliance programs through the utilization of compliance councils, efficient processes, and formalized systems.
Adam's experience includes developing and managing the Compliance Management System (CMS) for several different banks, providing key note speeches, building and coaching compliance teams, working with senior management and boards of directors, conducting multi-day seminars, evaluating and redesigning compliance programs, mentoring compliance staff, and conducting compliance audits.
Most recently, Adam was an executive at a small community bank in Northern Indiana where he oversaw bank’s risk management, BSA, compliance, and audit programs. He has also held positions as an AVP and Director of Compliance for a regional multi-bank holding company, a banker at a large national bank, and a loan originator at a mortgage subsidiarity of a regional community bank. A Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) through the American Bankers Association, Adam earned his bachelors degree at Taylor University and his MBA at Indiana Tech. He currently resides in Northern Indiana with his wife, three teenage children and their dog, Queso.
“Our bank’s compliance officer found out about Compliance Cohort from working with Adam Witmer, the founder, in the past. There are very few people who stand out to me with which I have worked with in compliance. Adam has always been one I could relate to who was always incredibly informative. He had a history of always helping us with any questions we had and always could do so in a way that was easier than just reading the regulation and trying to sort it out for yourself. Compliance Cohort fills a great gap in the need for real world Compliance understanding. I recommend a membership based on all of the knowledge that is provided here, not to mention it will be a great place to stay up to date!
-Sarah F., Loan Operations Officer-”
“I was so excited when I heard that Adam developed Compliance Cohort because I knew that I would be receiving top of the line information when it came to regulatory compliance issues. Signing up for the free membership has been extremely beneficial, not only for me, but for my institution, as I am able to search relevant compliance articles and even find short understandable videos that provide me with the information I am looking for. It’s a great resource for anyone wanting to stay on top of the compliance world!
-Anonymous, Compliance Officer-”
““Adam makes the world of Compliance easy to understand. If you are new to compliance or just need a refresher, Adam is a breath of fresh air in the manner in which he presents! The webinars are packed full of information, but he takes complex topics and breaks them into bite-size pieces. His real-life examples often make me chuckle, but they are relevant to the point he is making. Highlights for me are the depth of information, the manner in which he presents makes complex topics easy to understand, and to top it all off, he makes it enjoyable to watch! Highly recommend!”
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“I fully support and recommend the Compliance Cohort website and training program. Everything about this organization is amazing. The website is easy to use with a great free membership option that supports all aspects of regulations. The training programs are easy to understand and walk away with 100% confidence that you have understood the presentation.”
