Who are we?
The CEO of ECMC is Geert Vermeulen. His goals are to help organizations conduct business in an ethical and compliant way and make the world a slightly better place.
Geert is a seasoned compliance professional, with almost 15 years of compliance experience in various industries like insurance, logistics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, wholesalers, marine & energy and public sector companies. He is experienced in establishing and improving international ethics and compliance programs in general and anti-corruption and trade sanctions programs in specific. Other specialties include corporate governance, compliance risk assessments, whistleblowing systems and procedures and US legislation and prosecution practices.
On January 1 2016 Geert started his own company, Ethics & Compliance Management & Consulting (ECMC). Through ECMC he provides interim compliance management services, ethics and compliance consulting and compliance education and training.
Before starting ECMC Geert worked as a Director of the Netherlands Compliance Institute (NCI). This institute is specialized in providing compliance education, training and compliance consultancy services. As compliance officers now became his clients, Geert stepped down as the president of the Dutch Compliance Officer Association.
Geert obtained most of his experience in-house. As Global Head of Compliance for Damco, the freight forwarding arm of the AP Möller-Maersk Group, he was responsible for the compliance activities in 90 countries, focusing mainly on anti-bribery and corruption and trade restrictions, with a team of 10 compliance officers. As Chief Compliance Officer Aon EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) he coordinated compliance efforts in some 60 countries with a team of 30 people.
Following inquiries from regulators Aon started its anti-corruption program in 2007. Geert coordinated this program in the EMEA region from the start. According to the US and UK authorities Aon developed a best practice model other firms may wish to adopt. Geert has been a frequent speaker at international compliance events ever since.
What does ECMC do?
Holland Amerika Lijn

The old building in the middle used to be the head office of the Holland-Amerika Lijn (HAL) in Rotterdam and is close to the office of ECMC. In the past many ships of the HAL filled with European migrants left here on their way to New York in the United States, amongst which many Dutch people. Nowadays it houses a popular hotel and restaurant called Hotel New York. We like the symbolism of this place. In the past many Dutchmen left here to build a new life in the United States. Nowadays an increasing number of Dutch and European companies face the rule of US law. If you have a US client, if you buy US (origin) products, if you are noted on a US stock exchange, if you work for the US government directly or indirectly or if you make payments in US dollars or through a US bank, there is a fair chance that US legislation applies to you. And that means that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the International Traffic In Arms Regulations (ITAR), False Claims Act (FCA), Federal Acquisitions Regulation (FAR), etcetera may apply to you. If you break these laws, you may have to pay huge fines, you may be blacklisted or possibly be extradited to the US to go to jail. Are you familiar with these laws? Are you sure that you comply with them? Ask ECMC for advice. With its knowledge and expertise ECMC represents a new type of Holland-America Line.