CHICAGO – ThirdLine, a leading analytics software provider for municipalities and school districts specializing in auditing, financial monitoring, and fraud detection, is excited to announce that forensic accounting expert, Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope, has partnered with the Company as a Senior Advisor. This collaboration represents a significant milestone of two industry experts in bolstering transparency, accountability, and fraud awareness within the public sector.

In her role as Senior Advisor, Dr. Pope will partner with ThirdLine on thought leadership and industry research to bring awareness on the prevalence of government fraud and how to stop it. This influential collaboration will advance ThirdLine’s ability to inspire modernization of government’s internal controls, monitoring, and risk-based auditing.

“We first heard about Dr. Pope from her amazing documentary "All the Queen's Horses," which dives into the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history, demonstrating her dedication to confronting internal control challenges. As a CPA, I can say that she makes CPAs look cool. We are delighted to partner with her” said David Osborn, CEO of ThirdLine.

Dr. Pope echoed the excitement, “My professional research began with how fraud happens, then why fraud happens, and now in collaboration with ThirdLine, I am excited to help governments know how to detect fraud. ThirdLine is a technology that was thoughtfully created with government users in mind. It’s fraud detection, simplified.”

Together, ThirdLine and Dr. Pope will release a series of webinars, articles, and thought leadership initiatives, to provide valuable insights into strategies and technologies that can help governments stop fraud in its tracks, safeguarding public resources.

About Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope: Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope is the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Pope is a nationally recognized expert in risk, forensic accounting, and white-collar crime research, and an award-winning educator, researcher, author, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Pope teaches managerial and forensic accounting both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

In 2020, the AICPA and the CPA Practice Advisor named Dr. Pope among the top 25 most powerful women in accounting. Her area of expertise lies in understanding and identifying financial fraud risk within financial statements, assessing corporate culture and compliance systems designed to confront internal control challenges. Pope's research on executive misconduct culminated in directing and producing the award-winning documentary, All the Queen's Horses which explores the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. Pope’s TED Talk entitled "How Whistle-blowers Shape History” has been viewed over 1.6 million times, translated into 20 languages, and serves as a resource to help organizations and individuals embrace internal whistleblowing.

Pope currently serves on the board of directors for the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) and chairs its audit committee. Pope is a former director and finance committee chair for Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, former director of the Illinois CPA Society, and former member of the governing council for American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Pope is a frequent international speaker to numerous corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies. Pope has appeared on news outlets such as CNBC, the BBC, and WGN-TV offering commentary on fraud, risk, and ethics. Additionally, Pope has appeared in publications such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, CFO Drive, Accounting Today, Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Daily Beast discussing fraud and the need for sound internal controls. Pope has earned her Bachelor of Science in accounting from North Carolina A&T State University and her master’s in accountancy and doctorate in accounting from Virginia Tech. Pope resides in the Chicagoland area.

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