Chris Westphal

Chris Westphal is co-founder and CEO of Visual Analytics Inc. (VAI), Since its inception in 1998, he has guided the growth of the company from a fledgling start-up into a world-class provider of visualization software, information sharing systems, and advanced analytical training. His clients include federal and state/local law enforcement, all major intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, civilian agencies, international Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), and large corporations. VAI is a recognized leader in the intelligence and law enforcement industries and has garnered industry recognition and accolades, including Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 (Maryland), Maryland’s International Leadership Award, and Maryland Muscle Award, and was named a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Prior to starting VAI, Westphal held key roles at the BDM Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), and several other high-tech companies. During his collective tenures, he designed analytical systems and provided management expertise to critical government programs addressing organized crime, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, tax evasion, insider trading, border crossings, smuggling, and criminal enterprises. He has supported a number of government offices and programs including the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations Division (CID), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Army, Department of Justice, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and has consulted with government agencies and ministries in over 30 countries on 6 continents.

Chris Westphal has defined and created a number of unique and innovative approaches for performing visual data mining on large volumes of disparate data acquired from multiple sources. He is a recognized authority in the detection and exposure of complex patterns. Some of his investigative background stems from his early operational experience implementing anti-money laundering and fraud detection systems. He has also applied his expertise to help fight white collar crimes and various forms of corruption which have resulted in criminal convictions.

Westphal has worked personally with the banking and financial ministries throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America in relation to fraud, anti-money laundering, embezzlement, asset forfeiture investigations and various regulatory matters. He has worked to coordinate foreign regional practice areas across industry segments to aid enforcement and compliance. Fortune 1,000 companies, government agencies, high-tech companies and consulting firms have sought advice from Westphal relating to compliance, risk management, data governance issues, and systems modernization.

Addressing data visualization, data mining, and the associated challenges and benefits of analyzing complex data sets, Mr. Westphal speaks frequently on these matters before government, banking, legal, compliance, and academic audiences. He has lectured internationally to thousands of business and information technology professionals. He is routinely asked to speak and participate on technology panels and sought out for his expert opinion on advanced analytical systems and data mining methodologies.

Bibliography

Chris Westphal has authored numerous publications and several books including:

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*cite book|title=Data Mining Solutions: Methods and Tools for Solving Real World Problems|author=Westphal|coauthors=Blaxton, Wiley|year=1998
*cite book|title=Readings in Knowledge Acquisition: Current Practices and Trends|author=McGraw|coauthors=Westphal|publisher=Ellis Horwood|year=1990.

He also authored a chapter in

*cite book|title=Net-Centric Approaches to Intelligence and National Security|author=Ladner|coauthours=Petry|publisher=Springer|year=2005.

He has served as a referee, editor and reviewer for large, international journals and conferences on topics such as data mining, expert systems, decision support, and data visualization.

External links

* [http://www.visualanalytics.com/AboutUs/cwestphal.cfm Visual Analytics]