Meet Joe ZierPartner, West Coast Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Consulting Leader and National Technology Sector Leader, Deloitte FAS |
Bio
Joe Zier is a Forensic & Dispute Services partner with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP (Deloitte FAS) and serves as the National Technology Sector Leader as well as the West Coast Foreign Corrupt Practices Act leader for Deloitte FAS.
Born in East Germany, Joe became a refugee with his family before the Berlin wall went up. After settling in Canada, Joe enrolled in an experimental school and ultimately earned a Bachelor of Arts as a steel sculptor from the University of Toronto.
"Experimental learning was fantastic. It showed me a different way of working out problems and thinking differently. It was probably the beginnings of my success as a professional."
Joe also focuses on reconstruction of economic and business events and patterns and presenting relevant evidence in a manner to assist the triers of fact in their decision-making process. His work became the basis for “The Expert Accountant in Civil Litigation,” a textbook Joe authored that is used to teach forensic accounting at several Canadian universities.
In 1994, he got his CPA, moved to the U.S. to kick start a forensic accounting practice. Joe joined Deloitte in 2005, where he focuses on FCPA and other global anti corruption work, working collaboratively with clients on national and global forensic investigation and litigation support matters and helping them resolve complex risk, ethical and compliance issues affecting their organization.
When he’s not working, the artist in him surfaces—only these days with wood not steel. He builds musical instruments, including a harpsichord and classical guitars. “I like the intellectual challenge, the ability to bring out the sound, and working with the wood,” he says. Joe also serves on the advisory councils for the business departments of Golden Gate University and the University of San Diego.
Joe is happy to have landed with Deloitte, which he feels is a good platform for his desire to grow a practice. “The people are good here. Deloitte understands people and it’s the people I work with who are important to me.”
He’s just as passionate about his clients. With over 30 years of experience in forensic investigations, Joe focuses on helping clients with regulatory compliance, M&A, FCPA risk mitigation and leading practices, as well as general forensic investigations and litigation matters. “Thinking outside the box is very important to me. I stopped counting the number of investigations I’ve worked on after one thousand. It’s really all about human nature. I’ve generally seen patterns of conduct, which allow me to immediately zero in on the real issues surgically. Our work is about merging technology specific knowledge, deep real life experience and insight-based relationship building to become our client’s most trusted business advisors in this space. That’s the core of how we do business.
