Most compliance officers come up through legal departments or audit functions. Bianca Forde came from the courtroom. She spent five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she investigated, indicted, and tried criminal cases. That background shapes everything about how she approaches compliance.
When you’ve stood in front of juries and had to prove your case beyond reasonable doubt, you develop certain instincts. You learn to read data. You learn what evidence actually shows versus what people assume. You learn that culture determines behavior more than any policy manual ever will.
Forde joined Otis Elevator Company in late 2020 as head of global investigations. Within eight months, she received a promotion to lead ethics and compliance for the Americas—a massive operation serving 69,000 employees.
The Data-Driven Disruptor
Otis, founded in 1853 and headquartered in Connecticut, is the largest elevator and escalator company in the world, servicing about 2.2 million units. The 21-person ethics and compliance team Forde leads is spread throughout the United States, Canada, and Latin America, with some team members working part-time or holding dual commitments.
When Forde assumed her role, the world was still reeling from the pandemic and experiencing social unrest. Her first question wasn’t “What policies do we need?” It was “What does the data tell us?”
She conducted a survey of her team and learned their challenges. Then she dug into company data on terminations for ethics breaches. The data revealed that employees with less than five years at the company showed higher rates of ethical lapses and violations.
That insight changed everything. Leveraging data allows for actions that are inventive and preventive, rather than reactive, Forde explained. The problem wasn’t bad people. It was insufficient onboarding and cultural integration.
Innovation at Scale
The traditional approach to compliance training looks the same everywhere: PowerPoint slides handed to managers, who then struggle to find the right words to convey ethics messaging to their teams. Forde’s team saw the problem and redesigned the entire system.
They created a rebranded “Ethics Moment”—short videos with recorded talking points that managers and branch managers could simply press play to present each month. Managers then lead discussions afterward, which empowers them to be ethics ambassadors. When employees view their supervisors as ethical, they become happier, more productive, and more engaged.
But Forde’s biggest challenge was reaching people who never set foot in offices. A large chunk of the organization—41,000 field-staff employees—was rarely in an office. They’re repairing, installing, and modernizing elevators; they’re on the move.
Forde discovered that the environmental, health, and safety department had direct access to field personnel through a mobile portal and separate training platform. Her team adapted Ethics Moment for mobile devices. When mechanics check in between jobs, they see ethics messaging right on their phones. The goal: reach every corner of the organization.
Many of the field staff are members of the International Union of Elevator Constructors. Rather than seeing the union as an obstacle, Forde reached out to collaborate. For Ethics Week 2022, Forde’s team and the union partnered on messaging about the importance of a harassment-free workplace.
Creating a Pipeline of Ethical Leaders
Forde and her team created and launched a user-friendly, Otis-branded ethics and compliance onboarding guide in April 2022. The guide communicated cultural expectations to new colleagues in easily digestible terms, setting them up for success. The guide has been adopted for global implementation across Otis.
Internal data also showed investigations needed to move along better, so Forde’s team made changes to make them more efficient, benefiting the entire company.
In 2023, Forde was named Compliance Innovator of the Year at the Excellence in Compliance Awards. The recognition came just one year after she took on the Americas leadership role—testament to how quickly thoughtful, data-driven changes can reshape an organization.
The Prosecutor’s Advantage
Before joining Otis, Forde worked as corporate counsel in Dubai for a major law firm client, bringing international experience to her compliance work. Her career also included roles at major law firms including Milbank LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP.
But it’s the prosecutorial background that sets her apart. Forde learned early on in compliance that culture is the most important driver of behavior. You can have as many policies as you want, but if ethics isn’t deeply ingrained in your culture, colleagues won’t feel supported when ethical challenges arise.
By January 2024, Forde had been promoted again to Vice President & Counsel, Global Ethics & Compliance Programs at Otis, expanding her influence worldwide.
The transformation Forde led at Otis proves something important: compliance isn’t about having the right policies in place. It’s about understanding human behavior, using data to identify where systems fail people, and building solutions that meet employees where they actually are, whether that’s in a boardroom or on a construction site 40 floors up.
