Open to opportunities

Danielle Wells

@daniellewells1

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Risk & compliance leader building teams, governance, and resilient operations.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I’m looking to lead enterprise compliance and operational risk—owning KRIs, risk/control frameworks, and business continuity testing—while building teams and partnering with executives to keep organizations resilient and regulatory-ready.

I’m a risk and compliance leader with 20+ years in the payments industry, focused on enterprise governance, regulatory compliance, and operational risk management. I’m especially driven by building and developing high-performing teams and mentoring talent into leadership roles.

I manage enterprise risk reporting through KRIs, delivering clear insights to senior leadership to improve risk transparency. As a risk management liaison, I oversee risks, controls, testing activities, operational risk events, and issue management—partnering with internal audit to ensure timely remediation of findings.

I strengthen compliance programs by designing and enhancing risk and control frameworks that support sustainable mitigation strategies and independent testing. I also lead process improvement initiatives, including robotic process automation (RPA) projects, to strengthen regulatory alignment and audit readiness.

On the resilience side, I direct Business Continuity Program activities—BIAs, disaster recovery testing, emergency response planning, and continuity training—culminating in an organization’s first full-scale enterprise-wide mock outage. I’ve also improved client response times by 35% within six months by automating PCI and sponsor due diligence documentation.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Compliance Manager & Continuity

PULSE, a Discover Company (Capital One)

Mar 2018 - Jun 2026 (8 years 3 months)

Led and developed a compliance team, serving as Internal Audit Coordinator and risk management liaison to oversee risks, controls, testing, and issue management. Directed business continuity planning (BIAs, disaster recovery testing, emergency response, and training) and drove compliance governance through KRI reporting and regulatory alignment.

Enterprise Risk Management Audit Coordination Vendor Risk Management Third Party Risk Management Regulatory Compliance Business Continuity Business Impact Analysis (BIA)Trend Analysis Robotic Process Automation (RPA)PCI Compliance AML KYC Compliance Change Management Cross Functional Collaboration

Compliance Program Supervisor

Noventis, Inc.

Jul 2015 - Mar 2018 (2 years 8 months)

Directed BSA/AML compliance and client due diligence, establishing policies, procedures, and risk models for money services and transmission compliance. Oversaw regulatory adherence, agent compliance monitoring, regulatory reporting responses, and AML/compliance training for agents and internal stakeholders.

BSA AML Compliance Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)OFAC Screening Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)Monitoring SARs Subpoenas Regulatory Reporting Risk Modeling Data Mapping Process Optimization Compliance Automation Workflow Management

AML/BSA Compliance Senior Analyst

PreCash

Jul 2013 - Jul 2015 (2 years)

Supported MSB regulatory compliance through research, filings, and reporting, building and maintaining agent due diligence frameworks and ongoing monitoring/scoring processes. Developed and enforced MSB and stored-value card policies and procedures and supported AML governance through daily monitoring and remediation support.

MSB Regulatory Compliance AML BSA Compliance Agent Due Diligence Frameworks Ongoing Monitoring & Scoring Compliance Reporting Stored Value Card Compliance FinCEN 314(A) (B) Compliance Monitoring remediation AML

Compliance Director & Investigations

Merchant Choice Payment Solutions

Jun 2005 - Jan 2013 (7 years 7 months)

Managed regulatory reporting and compliance obligations across PCI, OFAC, IRS filings, data integrity controls, and card brand standards while developing and enforcing compliance policies, procedures, and training. Led special investigations into fraud and high-risk financial loss events and directed PCI and IRS reporting for a large merchant portfolio.