“Sexy” isn’t a word that many people would use to describe the job of a chief compliance officer, yet the role is quickly becoming one of the hottest positions within companies today.

As the regulatory and legal environment becomes more complex, compliance officers have more influence than ever before to affect corporate strategy and direction. “Who is the C-suite star of the future? We think it’s the CCO,” says Sally Bernstein, a principal with PwC.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...