About TRACE

Alexandra Wrage is president and founder of TRACE. She is the author of Corrosive: Corruption and its Consequences as well as Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments and Security, co-editor of How to Pay a Bribe: Thinking Like a Criminal to Thwart Bribery Schemes and What You Should Know about Anti-Bribery Compliance and the host of the training video Toxic Transactions: Bribery, Extortion and the High Price of Bad Business, produced by NBC.

Ms. Wrage hosts the popular weekly podcast: Bribe, Swindle or Steal. She is a guest blogger for Forbes and speaks frequently on topics of transparency, good governance and the hidden costs of corruption.

She was a member of FIFA’s failed Independent Governance Committee and has served for four years on the B20 Taskforce on Anti-Corruption, drafting recommendations to G20 leaders to consider in their global economic policies. 

Ms. Wrage was named one of the “Canadians Changing the World” by the Toronto Globe & Mail and one of Maryland’s “Top 100 Women” by The Maryland Daily Record.  She has been awarded the Women in Compliance “Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to the Compliance Industry.”

Raised in Canada and living now in the United States, Ms. Wrage studied law at King’s College, Cambridge University. She has provided anti-bribery consulting or training in over 140 countries.

As Senior Director of Engagement, Strategy and Communications, Virna provides leadership and strategic direction to advance the TRACE mission, with a focus on member engagement and retention, partnerships, marketing and events . Virna has specialized in anti-bribery compliance for over 13 years.  

Prior to joining TRACE, Virna was a senior program director for the American Conference Institute where she specialized in international trade and anti-bribery compliance and launched the first-ever anti-corruption conferences in Russia, India, Brazil and the Middle East. She started her career as a global security researcher for the London-based think tank Demos, where she was a primary contributor to the publication “Bringing It Home: Community Based Approaches to Counter Terrorism.”

Virna holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Northeastern University and a master's degree in International Peace and Security from King's College in London . She serves on the Steering Committee of the Basel Institute's International Center for Collective Action (ICCA) and is a frequent speaker on topics related to collective action initiatives and anti-bribery. Virna is originally from Uruguay and speaks fluent Spanish. She is based in New York City.

In this capacity, Ms. Vining assists multinational companies with selecting and executing the appropriate due diligence solution. Her team of multilingual due diligence analysts and lawyers has completed reviews on thousands of commercial intermediaries in most countries and across all industries. She helps develop customized, best practices third party management programs for TRACE members and customers.

Prior to joining TRACE, Ms. Vining was a litigation specialist in the tax department of Miller & Chevalier . She graduated from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law, and holds an LL.M. degree from The George Washington University Law School. She speaks Finnish and Swedish.

Ms. Vining is a member of the New York bar association.

Illya Antonenko is Director of Compliance Resources and Data Protection Officer at TRACE. As an international anti-corruption attorney with 18 years of experience at law firms and in-house, he leads TRACE's legal compliance resources team, offers compliance advisory services to member companies, and monitors TRACE’s processes and operations for compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation and ensuring that the rights of data subjects are protected. 

Prior to joining TRACE, Mr. Antonenko practiced law for over 15 years at leading law firms in Washington, D.C. His practice included assisting clients with FCPA compliance matters, investigations, enforcement actions, cross-border transactions, and general corporate issues. His career also included an in-house position as the Associate General Counsel at a global manufacturing company. While in-house, he worked closely with an independent compliance monitor and the U.S. Department of Justice in a post-FCPA enforcement context.

Mr. Antonenko received his Juris Doctor degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2002. He has been admitted to the state bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland. He is a native speaker of Ukrainian and Russian.

Trained to think like a lawyer but with the business acumen of a compliance professional, Sunny has worked at the intersection of regulation, compliance, market trends and business for the past decade. As Director, Compliance Training & Accreditation, Sunny oversees both the training and the TASA Accreditation Program: TRACE's Anti-Bribery Specialist Accreditation ^®, the only accreditation program of its kind, exclusively dedicated to anti-bribery compliance.

Prior to joining TRACE, Sunny held the position of Vice President, Content & Operations at Momentum, where she oversaw the development of 25+ solutions-oriented, legal, compliance and regulatory-focused corporate training programs per year specifically targeted for Fortune 500 organizations. Additionally, Sunny oversaw all corporate operations for the company including oversight over staff training and development, employee engagement and conduct, process improvement, contractor and third-party relationships. Prior to Momentum, Sunny held the position of Industry Manager, FCPA & International Trade Division at the American Conference Institute where she oversaw a product portfolio that included one of most widely-known events in the FCPA community, The International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Sunny possesses specialized subject matter expertise in global compliance topics including anti-corruption / anti-bribery law, international trade and sanctions, as well as other areas including intellectual property and litigation.

Sunny holds both a JD and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Corporate Law, Global Compliance & Ethics from Widener University's Delaware Law School . She is based in Philadelphia where she resides with her husband and two daughters.

As the Director of Operations, Lisa oversees TRACE’s operations team and heads the legal/contracts team, managing all commercial contracts and day-to-day operational legal matters. She also contributes to business-related strategies, policies and procedures.

Lisa brings over a decade of legal and business experience to her role. Prior to joining TRACE, Lisa worked as an attorney at Towne Park, LLC, and as a manager in SC&H Group’s Contracts Compliance Consulting practice group, where she audited and conducted risk assessments of Fortune 100 companies’ third-party supplier relationships. She also worked as a contracts administrator in the procurement department of the Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation.  Lisa is a certified mediator and trained collaborative law practitioner.

Lisa earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she served as Class President and the Managing Editor of the Maryland Journal of International Law, and her B.A., summa cum laude, from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland where she double-majored in Political Science and Religious Studies. Lisa is admitted to practice law in the State of Maryland.