Kristofer Swanson serves as the practice leader for Charles River Associates’ global forensic services practice, helping boards respond to allegations of fraud, misconduct, and noncompliance - often in moments of crisis - while reaffirming their commitment to integrity and exquisite corporate governance. These allegations span a broad range of matters, such as accounting irregularities, money laundering, cybercrime, US export controls and sanctions compliance violations, False Claims Act violations, anti-bribery and corruption and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, #MeToo, and more.

Under his leadership, the practice - including its state-of-the art digital forensics, e-discovery, and cyber incident response lab - has been certified under International Organization for Standardization 27001:2013 requirements as part of its industry-leading commitment to its clients and their information security. The practice was recognized by the National Law Journal for being one of the top three Forensic Accounting Providers in America and by Global Investigations Review as one of the leading investigative consultancies from around the world for handling sophisticated cross-border, government-driven, and internal investigations. Chambers awarded rankings in recognition of its deep litigation support and crisis and risk management competencies.

Swanson is particularly sought after to lead complex investigations - requiring deep industry knowledge, multiple technical competencies, thorny jurisdictional and ethical issues, and challenging reporting and disclosure obligations - and he has testified on both economic damages and liability. From a geographic perspective, his assignments have extended to Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, North America, and South America. He regularly serves as a monitor under various settlement and deferred prosecution agreements.

Swanson serves on the board of trustees of the Baird Fund Corp., the US Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society, and the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; on the civic leadership committee of the Better Government Association; on the planning committee of the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime (as well as on faculty) and for Northwestern University’s Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute; on the board of Big Shoulders Fund; and on the advisory board of Georgetown University’s Ignatian Family Circle. He is past chair of the membership commission of The Chicago Club and of membership committee V of the Economic Club of Chicago. He is a frequent speaker and author on forensic matters, and he has guest lectured at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and at various law schools and conferences.

Swanson is a certified public accountant, a certified fraud examiner, a certified anti-money laundering specialist, and he is certified in financial forensics. He is a member of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors, the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, and the Private Directors Association. He earned his master of business administration in international business and economics, with honors, from the Chicago Booth; his master of science in accountancy, with distinction, from DePaul University; and his bachelor of arts from Lawrence University.

Swanson previously served as the head of PwC’s forensics practice in the Midwest, where he led forensic assignments and conducted shadow investigations for audit clients. In this capacity, he led PwC’s Midwest forensics practice to the highest utilization of any of PwC’s forensic offices in the United States and similarly raised its global people survey engagement scores to the highest of any US forensic office. Prior to that, he served as the national solution leader for forensic investigations at Navigant Consulting (n/k/a Ankura) while also founding its privacy and cyber incident response practice.