Michael J. Hershman,
President and CEO, The Fairfax Group
Mr. Hershman is an internationally recognized expert on matters relating to transparency, accountability, governance and security. The Fairfax Group founded in 1983 has been retained by Governments, Corporations and International Financial Institutions to assist on matters relating to misconduct of senior level officials or entities which they do business with.
Fairfax has assisted Governments from India to Chile on corruption investigations of senior level officials and has served as the appointed Monitor of Companies which have violated laws, rules or regulations.
Mr. Hershman began his career in intelligence and investigations in Europe during the late 1960's as a Special Agent with U.S. Military Intelligence, specializing in counter-terrorism. After leaving the military, he moved to investigations of government corruption and financial fraud for the New York State Attorney General's Office and the Office of the Mayor of New York City.
Later, he served as a Senior Staff Investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee and as Chief Investigator for a joint Presidential and Congressional commission reviewing state and federal laws on wiretapping and electronic surveillance. After the wiretap commission hearings, Mr. Hershman joined the Federal Election Commission, where as Chief Investigator and Director of Security he was responsible for audits and investigations of candidates and their campaign committees.
Mr. Hershman then served as Deputy Staff Director for the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the U.S. House of Representatives, which was responsible for legislation and oversight relating to international banks and other U.S. supported international organizations, such as the United Nations.
Immediately prior to founding The Fairfax Group, Mr. Hershman served as Deputy Auditor General for the Foreign Assistance Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), where he led investigations and audits of major U.S. funded projects overseas, and was responsible for worldwide security at all foreign AID missions. Mr. Hershman was awarded the Superior Honor Medal for his service at AID.
In 1993 along with Peter Eigen, Mr. Hershman co-founded Transparency International, the largest independent, not-for-profit coalition promoting transparency and accountability in business and in government. For the past six years he has served Interpol as a Member of the International Group of Experts on Corruption and for the past 12 years on the Board of the International Anti-Corruption Conference Committee.
Mr. Hershman is a Member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and advises the Chamber on corporate compliance issues. For the past 6 years he has served on the Audit Oversight Committee for Fairfax County, Virginia which has an annual budget of over $5 billion and 12,000 employees. He also serves on the Financial Coalition against Child Pornography a project of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Michael Hershman is Chairman of the Advisory Board of InfraGard a private/public sector partnership created and managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist in the exchange of information regarding threats to the Nation’s critical infrastructure. Hershman is also on the Board of Advisors of the non-profit Site Institute a leading analytical center for Terrorist research. He serves on the Advisory Council of the George Mason University School of Information Technology and Engineering.
Michael Hershman has given hundreds of speeches throughout the world on issues related to transparency and accountability and has provided commentary for numerous television shows on ABC,CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and the Fox News Channel in addition to countless national radio shows. For five years he was the co-host of the Public Radio Law Show. He has been quoted and published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Financial Times the National Law Journal and other print media