Michele K. Abraham

Michele Kryszak Abraham is senior director, ethics & compliance and associate general counsel at Cooper Standard, a multi-billion dollar, Tier 1 automotive supplier. Michele leads the design, implementation and management of the global ethics and compliance program, co-chairs the enterprise risk management process and provides strategic support to the companys corporate social responsibility initiatives. As a testament to her leadership, Cooper Standard earned recognition by Ethisphere Institute as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the first time in 2020 and again in 2021 and by Newsweek as one of Americas Most Responsible Companies in 2020 and 2021.
Prior to joining Cooper Standard, Michele led the ethics and compliance program at The Timken Company, which was recognized eight times by Ethisphere Institute as being among the Worlds Most Ethical Companies while under her leadership. Before moving in-house, Michele was an associate in the business litigation practice group with Thompson Hine LLP where she counseled clients on dispute resolution, data privacy, electronic discovery, and record retention.
A passionate and innovative leader in ethics and compliance, Michele recently earned recognition as a finalist for the Compliance Week Compliance Innovator of the Year awards, contributed to the SCCE publication, Creating Great Compliance Training in a Digital World, and was featured in the Association of Corporate Counsels Leading Practice Profile Series: Leading Practices in Providing In-House Legal Support for Corporate Governance Initiatives and Compliance and Ethics Programs. Michele is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and recently served as a panelist at the SCCE ESG and Compliance virtual conference.
She earned a B.A. degree from Denison University; an M.B.A degree from Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management; and a J.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she was the editor-in-chief of The Internet Law Journal.
Michele is the secretary of the Cooper Standard Foundation, served as the chairman of the United Way campaign at Timken and has held numerous board positions for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Parent-School Organization, including treasurer and secretary. She previously chaired the Women in the Law Section of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. She is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) with the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and previously was a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) with the International Association of Privacy Professionals.