After five years remaking the culture of Volkswagen (VW) in the wake of its Dieselgate scandal and subsequent U.S. compliance monitorship, Hiltrud Werner glowed with a deserved sense of pride in the lead-up to her departure from the German auto giant last week.

Aly McDevitt is Data & Research Journalist at Compliance Week. She has a background in education and college consulting. Prior to teaching, she was an editor/author at Thomson Reuters, where she reported...