The financial sector is grappling with an unprecedented challenge: the urgent need for effective compliance and risk management amidst a rapidly evolving landscape. Traditional methods are increasingly inadequate, particularly in the realm of digital assets, where regulatory frameworks are still being defined. This gap has left many businesses vulnerable to compliance failures that could tarnish reputations and undermine trust.
Meet Cara Hennessy, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Provenance. With over 20 years of experience in accounting, audit, and compliance, Hennessy is at the forefront of addressing these pressing issues. Her innovative approach leverages progressive technologies, including blockchain, to create solutions that not only meet regulatory requirements but also enhance operational efficiency.
Cara’s journey from a finance background at KPMG to leading a compliance revolution in the digital asset space is a testament to her adaptability and foresight. At Provenance, she focuses on providing tailored compliance services to investment funds and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), ensuring they navigate the complex regulatory landscape effectively.
By incorporating blockchain into its processes for compliance, Provenance marries full transparency with the ability to analyze data in a way that will give enterprise the ability to lead the management of risk. For all innovation, in accordance with her beliefs, she takes the lead in trying to forge a future for compliance in financial regimes by bridging the old practice from whence current Old Practice and the demand of this decentralized world takes her to. Under the leadership of Cara and the team at Provenance, challenges are redefined for compliance in the age of digitization.
Let’s Explore Her Journey Ahead!
Leading Compliance in the Changing Financial Environment
With over two decades of experience working with the financial services industry, offering accounting, audit, risk, and compliance services, Cara’s entire career has been spent developing compelling compliance and risk management solutions for the traditional industries as well as the emerging virtual asset space that includes funds, managers, service providers, and others.
With a profound enthusiasm for this forceful sector, Cara believes in the transformative potential of emerging technologies, particularly blockchain, to empower compliance analysts. As the financial model shifts towards digitalization, she recognizes the critical need for robust compliance frameworks that not only protect investors but also encourage innovation.
Inspired by the complexities of regulatory environments, Cara is motivated to contribute positively by developing comprehensive compliance strategies that balance security and growth. Her assurance to safeguarding against illicit activities while promoting a forward-thinking approach underscores her role as a leader in piloting the future of finance.
Taking the Lead in Compliance with Virtual Assets
Provenance was proven to address the increasing demand for specialized compliance services within the virtual assets industry. Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Cara has identified a significant challenge: many industry veterans often lack practical insights into how regulators evaluate virtual asset services and may not possess the in-house expertise needed to effectively assess and manage associated perils.
To bridge this gap, Provenance has created comprehensive service lines encompassing compliance, internal audit, risk management, and advisory services. Their focus is on developing fitted compliance frameworks and risk management solutions specifically for virtual asset funds, managers, service providers, and other stakeholders in this rapidly evolving sector.
With a collective experience of over 75 years in traditional legal, accounting, and compliance services, Provenance collaborates with recognized leaders to craft innovative solutions for virtual asset ventures worldwide. Under her leadership, the firm is dedicated to empowering clients to steer the complexities of this model with confidence and integrity.
Promoting a Culture of Transformation in the Workplace
Cara embodies an entrepreneurial mindset, driven by a desire to lead a business that is positive, transformative, and innovative. Her objective is to create an environment where employees feel valued and fulfilled, a vision realized through Provenance’s remote-first model.
She takes pride in empowering team members to reach their full potential through mentorship programs, educational initiatives, and career development guidance. Entrusted to promoting open communication, Cara actively listens to employees, strengthening relationships with clients and facilitating constructive interactions with regulatory bodies.
Under her leadership, Provenance aims to make a meaningful impact in the virtual asset industry. Cara believes that her diverse experiences have shaped her strategic approach to improving operations, with each role she has held contributing to her development as a leader.
Knowledge of VASP Regulation Adherence
She has played an important role in assisting Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in navigating the complexities of the new legislative and regulatory frameworks. At Provenance, she has supported digital asset enterprises in transitioning their operations to align with specific regulatory requirements. Through her work, Cara has conducted regulatory reviews of clients’ Compliance Frameworks, establishing need precedents and benchmarks for newly launching VASPs.
As a strong advocate for electronic verification in KYC processes, Cara oversaw the vendor assessment and selection process to boost a regulated entity’s client due diligence. By transitioning from the cumbersome method of requiring certified copies of all documents—which introduced significant delays, consumed extensive human resources, and created customer friction—to a more efficient electronic process, she significantly improved operational efficiency.
This transformation allowed compliance analysts to focus on value-added analysis and a deeper understanding of the business, ultimately increasing the overall compliance era.
Entire Success Plan
Cara adopts a widespread strategy that encompasses continuous learning, data analysis, and proactive stakeholder engagement. She stays updated on emerging trends through active participation in industry conferences, webinars, and networking events. Additionally, Cara is fortunate to learn significantly from her incredibly innovative clients, gaining valuable insights from leaders and innovators within the virtual asset sector.
Furthermore, she promotes a society of open communication. By encouraging feedback from employees at all levels, she gathers a range of perspectives that inform her business strategies. This atmosphere not only augments employee satisfaction but also advances stronger relationships with clients and regulatory bodies. Lastly, Cara is dedicated to innovation, incorporating new technologies into her operations. This includes the adoption of advanced compliance tools and software that streamline processes and improve service offerings, assuring her competitiveness in an eternally growing reform.
Vision for Organizational Transformation
Cara believes that innovation is necessary for transforming organizations by driving growth, improving efficiency, and enabling adaptability to evolving market conditions. She emphasizes that it empowers companies to develop new products and services with business models that meet changing customer needs.
By promoting a culture of innovation, she aims to maintain competitiveness and establish her organization as an industry leader. She advocates for open statement, educational enrichment, empowerment, and cross-functional collaboration, while also recognizing and rewarding employee contributions.
Under her leadership, the environment encourages team members to share ideas and provide feedback. She invests in training programs that keep employees informed about industry trends and promotes collaboration across service lines to leverage diverse perspectives, ultimately leading to innovative solutions.
With integrating innovation into the core business strategy, Cara effectively positions her organization to respond to market changes and develop overall performance.
Balancing Vision
Cara and her co-founders understand the importance of balancing short-term performance metrics with a long-term strategic vision to achieve sustainable business transformation. They establish explicit objectives that integrate current operational goals with overarching strategic aims.
Through emphasizing speedy gains, they adopt organizational momentum and heighten stakeholder engagement, while safeguarding that significant transformational changes are prioritized to address both short-term requirements and long-term growth aspirations.
Recognizing the need to treat short- and medium-/long-term objectives differently, Cara and her team intentionally avoid being overwhelmed by daily operations. They carve out dedicated time to focus on growth strategies, exploring new markets, technologies, team capacities, and growing client needs. To support this strategic focus, they rely on a strong team of managers and support staff to effectively manage operational short-term targets.
As well, she values the refinement of strategies based on stakeholder feedback, which guarantees agility in a fluctuating market environment. This ample framework positions her company for sustained success while simultaneously addressing immediate operational challenges.
At the core of everything we do at Provenance are our values: support, transparency, integrity, and resilience. When hiring new members, these are the number one attributes we look for.
The Importance of Attitude in Hiring
The organization has consistently emphasized that while skills can be acquired, the personality and character of a potential hire are crucial. They prioritize candidates with a positive attitude, particularly those who exhibit a “can-do” or “can-try” mindset.
Attributes such as passion, ambition, confidence, and compatibility with the team are needed for their hiring process. The company promotes skill development through educational initiatives and certifications, while also maintaining open communication channels, including mentorship opportunities, to support employee growth.
Metrics of Performance for Strategic Achievement
Cara’s organization prioritizes key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with their strategic objectives. Key metrics include revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and likewise operational efficiency. They assess financial performance through indicators such as profit margins and cost savings to determine the return on investment associated with their transformation initiatives.
Customer-focused metrics, including retention rates and engagement levels, enable the team to gauge their effectiveness in meeting client needs. Furthermore, they monitor operational efficiency using metrics such as cycle time and resource utilization to identify potential areas for enrichment.
Using consistently analyzing these metrics, Cara’s organization can refine its strategies and make sure that transformation initiatives produce meaningful and sustainable outcomes.
Definite Governance
Piloting tough decisions in a startup can feel overwhelming, but Cara, an experienced entrepreneur, offers invaluable lessons to approach decision-making with confidence. She emphasizes the importance of trusting your instincts, as they often drive you toward your entrepreneurial journey in the first place.
She features a detailed lesson: don’t linger on decisions, gather and understand the facts and if there is still subjectivity, be guided by your instincts. Don’t be afraid to be authoritative. Decisions have two outcomes, right or wrong, most will be right but it’s in the wrong decisions that you learn the lasting lessons. Cara’s approach blends instinct, structure, and action, permitting entrepreneurs to travel through challenges with resilience.
Building a Transparent and Collaborative Culture
At Provenance, transparency is a core value. The company provides regular updates on transformation initiatives and encourages feedback from all team members through frequent meetings, allowing employees to express their ideas and concerns.
To promote cross-department collaboration, Provenance forms cross-functional project teams, using diverse perspectives to tackle challenges. Client feedback is also prioritized, driving continuous service improvement.
Provenance understands that human error can happen and forwards a safe space for reporting issues. Trusting their team, they emphasize that how mistakes are handled matters most, taking swift action to address and prevent future occurrences.
By creating an environment where everyone feels valued and heard, Provenance increases teamwork and resilience, confirming smoother transitions during change.
Transforming Organizations
For business leaders on a transformation journey, she features the importance of proving a clear vision and communicating it effectively. Engaging teams’ early nurtures collaboration and sets a positive tone. Flexibility is fundamental, as adaptability in strategy is often required.
Endless learning is crucial; leaders should stay informed about industry trends to improve decision-making. Building a trustworthy team through careful recruitment confirms alignment with company values and integrity.
Cara emphasizes resilience, noting that setbacks offer valuable learning opportunities. A strong company culture rooted in trust and open communication increases transformation efforts. Finally, recognizing and celebrating small achievements helps maintain momentum and keeps the team motivated, reinforcing their obligation to the vision. Through these insights, Cara provides a roadmap for navigating organizational transformation.
