C.V.

Déborah Marques Couto is a senior compliance, forensic, and investigations professional with nearly two decades of experience spanning Big Four advisory environments and senior in-house leadership roles across the energy, oil and gas, and consumer goods industries in Brazil and internationally. Her career has been built at the intersection of investigation, governance, and institutional risk, and she now brings that body of work to bear as a trusted advisor to organizations navigating complex fraud, compliance, and integrity challenges. A Certified Fraud Examiner, Déborah is recognized for her ability to lead high-stakes investigations with rigor and discretion, translate complex findings into clear governance recommendations, and design compliance programs that deliver measurable, lasting results.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Déborah recently led fraud prevention and corporate investigations for one of Latin America’s largest consumer goods and beauty conglomerates, overseeing end-to-end investigations arising from whistleblower reports, internal referrals, and KPI-driven monitoring mechanisms. She has conducted more than 30 investigations to date, each resulting in disciplinary measures, remediation actions, or quantifiable financial recoveries. In parallel, she drives the design and implementation of the organization’s corporate fraud governance framework — developing key risk and performance indicators, building early detection mechanisms, and partnering cross-functionally with Legal, Human Resources, Internal Audit, and Security to identify risk trends and strengthen controls enterprise-wide.

In a prior in-house leadership role at a large independent energy company operating in Brazil and internationally, Déborah designed and implemented an enterprise-wide compliance program from the ground up. This included risk assessments, third-party due diligence frameworks, ethics hotline management, and training programs for employees and business partners. She managed several internal investigations during her tenure, achieving a 50% financial recovery rate, and reduced third-party compliance risk by 75% through a structured, risk-based due diligence program. She also supported multiple M&A transactions through compliance due diligence and post-transaction integration.

Earlier, Déborah served as a manager within the global forensic advisory practice of one of the world’s leading professional services firms, where she led her teams across several concurrent investigation engagements for major oil and gas clients. Over that period she delivered more than 20 complex investigations and over 100 streamlined cases covering fraud, corruption, and corporate misconduct — spanning the full investigation lifecycle from planning and evidence gathering through witness interviews, forensic analysis, reporting, and remediation advisory. She also delivered compliance and ethics training to more than 150 professionals and worked closely with client executives to strengthen governance and prevent future violations.

Her professional background further includes leadership of the internal audit function of a diversified holding company, where she oversaw audit activities across multiple business units and industries, ensured SOX compliance, managed an ethics hotline, and delivered annual audit plans aligned with enterprise risk priorities. Foundational experience at two of the Big Four professional services firms — in external and internal audit engagements spanning the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America — grounded her in IFRS, US GAAP, and Canadian GAAP across multinational client environments. She has additionally held an internal controls leadership role within an industrial manufacturing group in South America, where she oversaw financial reporting controls and coordinated external audit processes.

Déborah is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. She is fluent in Portuguese and English, and conversational in Spanish, enabling her to operate effectively across Latin American and international client contexts.