Patty Hernandez

Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI)

The Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) empowers organizations to build and sustain High Quality Ethics & Compliance Programs (HQPs). ECI provides leading ethics and compliance research and best practices, networking opportunities and certification to its membership, which represents more than 450 organizations across all industries. ECI is comprised of three nonprofit organizations: the Ethics Research Center, the Ethics & Compliance Association and the Ethics & Compliance Certification Institute. RESEARCH: Founded in 1922, the Ethics Research Center (ERC) is the research arm of ECI. It is America's oldest non-profit organization devoted to independent research to advance high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions. Recognized as the industry's leading research group, ERC analyzes current and emerging issues to produce new ideas and benchmarks. COMMUNITY: The Ethics & Compliance Association (ECA) is the membership community of ECI. This community provides learning through the exchange of ideas and the sharing of best practice in ethics and compliance programs. The association connects global practitioners, thought-leaders, academicians and partners. CERTIFICATION: The Ethics & Compliance Certification Institute (ECCI) is the certification arm of ECI. It represents a strong rigor in education and certification for ethics and compliance practitioners and represents the evolution of the certification program (formerly conducted by the ECA's Foundation). Certification helps prepare practitioners to deliver a new level of excellence to their organizations.