Paula Desio
Former Deputy General Counsel
U.S. Sentencing Commission

Paula J. Desio served as Deputy General Counsel to the United States Sentencing Commission in Washington D.C. from 1997 to 2007, where she focused on sentencing policies relating to corporate and economic crime.  She was responsible for the policy analysis leading to the 2004 amendments to the organizational sentencing guidelines for compliance and business ethics programs, conducted the Commission’s multi-year outreach efforts to the business community, industry representatives, and scholars, and served as the staff liason to the Commission’s Advisory Group of experts during this process. From 2007 to 2009 Ms. Desio served as the Chair for Ethics Policy at the Ethics Resource Center where she authored numerous policy papers, provided comment to federal agencies on proposed ethics rules and practices, and conducted training of executives in both the public and private sectors.    She is a frequent speaker and author on matters relating to business and organizational ethics.

            Prior to joining the Sentencing Commission in January 1997, Ms. Desio was Of Counsel to the Washington, D.C. law firm of Crowell & Moring, where for ten years she specialized in internal investigations and the defense of businesses involved in federal criminal and agency enforcement proceedings and congressional hearings.  From 1983 to 1986 Ms. Desio prosecuted civil fraud cases on behalf of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and from 1980 to 1982 served as a public defender in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 She is a 1971 graduate cum laude of Bucknell University, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and holds Mater’s degrees in Latin American Studies and Latin American Literature from the University of Wisconsin (Madison).  She received her J.D. degree from Marquette University Law School in 1980.