As the president for compliance, Bill Riley leads the Financial Institutions and Immigration and Border Services practices. He is also a member of the Monitoring and National Security practices in the Washington, D.C. office of Guidepost Solutions. He oversees engagements relating to bank monitorships/remediation, advisorships, immigration compliance, and export and trade controls. Over the past ten years, Mr. Riley has worked on numerous international engagements for clients in more than 20 countries.

Carl is a Partner in Fragomen’s Washington, DC office, where he focuses on immigration compliance counseling and enforcement defense (both civil and criminal), federal court litigation of civil immigration disputes, legislative and regulatory representation on key immigration policy issues, and management of complex immigration cases—including alien investor visa programs, agency allegations of petitioner fraud and serious allegations of inadmissibility. A veteran of major law firms, Carl regularly teams with lawyers specializing in white-collar investigations, civil litigation, corporate compliance projects, corporate transactions and complex immigration proceedings to achieve client goals.

Carl has been at the forefront of immigration reform and agency policy since 1983. He began his career as counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, and helped draft and negotiate both the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Immigration Act of 1990. In private practice, Carl worked to amend the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act to narrow the strict liability elements of the Special Counsel’s statute and to create electronic employment verification options for industries targeted for immigration enforcement. Carl has remained active in advocating for immigrant and employer rights as legislation and enforcement schemes have changed over the years. He also has extensive knowledge and experience related to preventing and responding to ICE enforcement actions.

Carl has represented parents and families pro bono in litigation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as numerous organizations and individuals seeking to protect the rights of foreign nationals in U.S. immigration proceedings.

As one of the firm’s go-to lawyers when a client needs a courtroom attorney, Eddie’s practice focuses on cross-border investigations, U.S. immigration disputes and programmatic immigration advice. He has spent more than a decade counseling individuals and companies in highly regulated communities, such as securities, healthcare, tax, federal contracting and technology.

Eddie has walked both corporate and individual clients through all stages of regulatory and criminal enforcement investigations. These matters have included mandatory and voluntary disclosures of wrongdoing, vicarious corporate liability, forfeiture allegations and criminal investigations. He represents some of the largest users of U.S. business immigration programs and other publicly traded companies in immigration-related government enforcement investigations, ranging from administrative enforcement proceedings to grand jury investigations and asset forfeiture cases. Eddie has also conducted dozens of internal investigations and due diligence audits for companies into criminal and other serious allegations, such as employment of unauthorized workers, visa fraud, identity theft and visa misuse and abuse.

He advises some of the world’s largest and most valuable companies on complex areas of global mobility, including how to navigate some of the most complex questions of immigration program management. Eddie also provides wide-angle, risk-based advice for clients who find themselves at the intersection of significant events or complex regulatory schemes. Examples include COVID-19 responses, evaluating how changing educational trends will affect immigration program management and how the broader economic outlook shifts clients’ risk profiles. Eddie has also defended numerous I-9 and Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) investigations and defended companies before Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) in immigration-related employment discrimination cases.

Eddie’s boardroom experience includes serving as the Legal Counsel to the Maryland Republican Party. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington College Alumni Association, where he was previously the Secretary and is currently Chair-Elect. Eddie is also a member of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and serves on GBTA’s Government Relations Committee.

Prior to joining Fragomen, Eddie spent six years representing companies and individuals in complex civil litigation and enforcement proceedings, including federal criminal jury trials. Eddie previously worked at an Am Law 100 firm and a boutique white collar defense firm. He served as a Legal Intern at the New York County District Attorney’s Office in 2010.

John G. Connolly brings a distinguished three-decade tenure with the U.S. government to his role as Senior Managing Director at Guidepost. He provides invaluable guidance to clients worldwide, navigating the complexities of U.S. customs, immigration, and visa processes. Mr. Connolly has played a pivotal part in high-profile projects, including serving on the monitoring team for a leading global financial institution and participating in a trade compliance audit for a prominent international corporation.

Mr. Connolly’s expertise extends to advising multinational corporations on adherence to federal immigration laws, focusing on nonimmigrant visa regulatory compliance and reviews and remediations of Employment Eligibility Verification forms and the E-Verify processes, including identity fraud assessments and fraud detection training. He has also worked with firms in conducting due diligence investigations as well as providing subject matter expertise in support of litigation.

Mr. Connolly’s government service included various executive positions, notably as the Deputy Executive Associate Director for the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). In this capacity, Mr. Connolly directed a broad spectrum of management operations, overseeing complex investigations into money laundering, intellectual property rights infringements, and customs and immigration violations.

His leadership extended to the development and implementation of policies and procedures, steering the strategic course for over 9,000 personnel across 185 domestic facilities and 67 international offices spanning 48 countries. Mr. Connolly is credited for promoting and reinforcing strong and transparent communications, both internally and externally with other law enforcement entities, other federal agencies and organizations, and senior government leaders.

Julie Myers Wood has 30 years of experience in the public and private sector working on regulatory and enforcement issues from many perspectives, including as federal prosecutor, defense counsel, government investigator and compliance consultant. She is currently the chief executive officer at Guidepost Solutions, a leading investigations, compliance, monitoring, and security firm with offices throughout the United States, as well as England, Colombia, Mexico, and Singapore.

At Guidepost, Ms. Wood focuses on regulatory compliance and investigative work and frequently assists in a proactive matter with compliance, internal controls, culture and process changes across a wide range of global organizations and industries. This includes providing unmatched immigration compliance expertise across verticals and visa types.

Before joining the private sector, Ms. Wood held several high-level positions with the U.S. government including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as the White House. During her tenure with DHS, she led 15,000 special agents, lawyers and officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative component and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government. The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division at ICE prosecutes violations of immigration, trade compliance and customs laws, among other laws and regulations. While serving in that role, Ms. Wood oversaw the agency’s initiatives to combat human trafficking as well as its investigative work regarding transnational crime.

At the Department of Treasury, she developed policy and ran a team overseeing money laundering and customs enforcement matters while working as Deputy Assistant Secretary.

Ms. Wood is a graduate of Baylor University and Cornell Law School and serves on several nonprofit boards and advisory boards relating to national security and immigration. She has been recognized with numerous industry and leadership awards, including the naming of the Julie L. Myers Conference Center at ICE Headquarters, in honor of her contributions and leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.