Western Digital’s Path to Eight World’s Most Ethical Companies Honors

Western Digital has earned World’s Most Ethical Companies® honors eight times — a streak that doesn’t happen by treating ethics and compliance (E&C) as a finished project. In this episode of the Ethicast, host Bill Coffin sits down with Joe Santosuosso, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Western Digital, to unpack how his team keeps a large, complex organization performing at that level year after year. They cover how Western Digital uses external recognition as a benchmarking tool rather than a trophy, how a risk-based approach lets a lean team cover more ground, and how the company’s newest set of values builds ethics into the definition of excellence instead of treating it as a separate track. Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction: Western Digital and Joe Santosuosso(00:01:17) - What eight-time World’s Most Ethical Companies® honors and Compliance Leader Verification™ recognition mean to WD’s E&C program(00:03:19) - How these honors help tell the E&C story to internal and external stakeholders(00:05:06) - Benchmarking the program: measuring performance and staying current with best practices(00:07:49) - How Western Digital prioritizes risk within its risk-based approach(00:10:08) - Western Digital’s evolving company values, and how ethics and compliance shapes and reflects them(00:13:36) - Why ethics and compliance is work Joe gets to do, not just has to do