Amber Ramsey: Mentorship matters, but sponsorship changes careers

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2026, ACAMS Today sat down with Amber Ramsey, CAMS, chief digital officer at Simur, where she leads global digital transformation initiatives focused on streamlining customer due diligence (CDD) and enhancing know your customer/anti-money laundering (AML) compliance through advanced technology. With more than 20 years of experience in financial services across the U.S. and the Cayman Islands, she brings deep expertise in compliance, fund governance and digital innovation.

Prior to joining Simur, Ramsey spent over a decade as an independent nonexecutive director serving hedge funds, private equity funds, and credit structures representing asset managers with up to $282 billion in assets under management. She began her career with Deloitte, where she specialized in alternative investments, audit and advisory services.

Ramsey is a certified public accountant and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). She is the founder and co-chair of the ACAMS Cayman Islands Chapter, where she advances AML/counter-terrorist financing education and collaboration across the jurisdiction. She actively champions women in finance through leadership roles including board member and chair of the Scholarship Committee for 100 Women in Finance Cayman and board member of Help For Children, a charitable organization protecting at-risk children in the Cayman Islands.

ACAMS Today (AT): In an industry focused on protecting the financial system, how do you see “Give to Gain,” this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, contributing to stronger and more effective anti‑financial crime (AFC) outcomes?

Amber Ramsey (AR): The "Give to Gain" philosophy is fundamental to effective financial crime prevention. In AFC, we don’t operate in silos. Our strength comes from collaboration, knowledge-sharing and building networks of trust across institutions, jurisdictions and regulatory bodies.

When we founded the ACAMS Cayman Islands Chapter, the mission was exactly this: to give our expertise, our time and our platform to elevate the entire compliance community. By creating forums where professionals can share challenges, discuss emerging threats and learn from regulatory experts, we collectively strengthen our defenses against financial crime.

This theme resonates deeply with how women often lead in this space. We naturally build coalitions, mentor emerging talent and prioritize community over individual recognition. The return on that investment is profound with more resilient compliance frameworks, stronger regulatory relationships and a pipeline of diverse talent that brings fresh perspectives to evolving threats that directly translates to better protection of the financial system.

AT: In your leadership journey across financial services, governance and digital CDD, how have you leveraged your expertise to open doors for other women—and what does empowering the next generation of female leaders in AML and digital compliance mean to you?

AR: Opening doors for other women has been central to every leadership role I've held. As chair of the Scholarship Committee for 100 Women in Finance Cayman, I work to remove financial barriers that prevent talented women from pursuing a degree. Education is the foundation of opportunity, and when we invest in women’s professional development, we fundamentally change the trajectory of their careers.

At Simur, I’m deliberate about bringing women into conversations about digital transformation and technology, an area where women remain underrepresented. Compliance is evolving rapidly with artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digital identity solutions. If women aren’t at the table shaping these technologies, we risk building systems that don’t reflect diverse perspectives on risk, privacy and ethics.

Empowering the next generation means more than mentorship, it requires active sponsorship. It’s recommending a woman for a speaking opportunity or putting their name forward for a board seat. It’s creating the ACAMS Cayman Islands Chapter so professionals have a platform to build their expertise and visibility. When women see other women in leadership roles across compliance, governance and technology, it expands their vision of what’s possible and causes a positive ripple effect. 

AT: Can you share a moment in your AFC career when inclusion empowered you?

AR: Early in my career as an auditor at Deloitte, I was one of the few women on the alternative investments team. I remember being in client meetings where I was often the youngest person and the only woman in the room. One of my supervisors would deliberately pull me into strategic discussions with the investment manager—not as a note-taker, but as someone whose perspective mattered.

He created space for me to challenge assumptions, ask difficult questions and contribute at a level beyond my title. That experience taught me that inclusion isn’t passive, it’s active. It’s someone in a position of influence making a conscious choice to elevate diverse voices, even when it’s easier not to do that.

I’m intentional about ensuring women have speaking roles at ACAMS events, not just attendance. I advocate for women to serve on fund boards where they’re still dramatically underrepresented. When someone takes a chance on you, you carry that forward and you do it for others.

AT: What barriers do women still face in areas such as compliance leadership, investigations or threat‑intelligence roles, and what changes would most enhance inclusion across the AFC industry?

AR: One barrier that still exists is how gender stereotypes intersect with the nature of compliance itself. Compliance roles require us to challenge management, highlight critical risks and sometimes put the brakes on revenue-generating activities. When women do that, it can still be interpreted as being overly cautious or risk-averse, particularly in male-dominated leadership environments where assertiveness from women is viewed differently than it is from men.

The solution, in my experience, is to anchor everything in evidence. Be relentlessly data-driven. When your position is grounded in risk metrics, regulatory expectations and clear analysis, the conversation shifts from perceptions to facts. This is one reason I’m passionate about bringing technology and AI into compliance. Data removes bias from the equation. More broadly, the industry needs to recognize that constructive challenge is a leadership strength, not a personality flaw. 

In financial crime prevention, diversity isn’t just an inclusion issue, it’s a risk management imperative. Different perspectives identify blind spots. Diverse teams ask different questions. When we build more inclusive compliance teams, we build stronger defenses against financial crime.

AT: How do you use your role to elevate diverse voices and what advice would you offer women entering the AFC field today?

AR: As co-chair of the ACAMS Cayman Islands Chapter, I ensure our speaker panels and events feature women in compliance, not as a token gesture, but because their expertise deserves visibility. At Simur, I prioritize hiring from diverse perspectives and I write and speak on governance, compliance and digital transformation not just to share my own views, but to demonstrate that women belong in these conversations at the highest levels. Representation matters. When emerging professionals see women leading regulatory discussions, serving on boards and driving digital innovation, it normalizes our presence in leadership.

Here is my advice to women entering AFC today. The first thing I’d say is: Become undeniable. Yes, earn your credentials, your CAMS, your CFE, your CIA, but go beyond the letters. Be the person in the room who has done the reading, who asks the question no one else thought to ask, who connects the dots between risk and reality. Expertise isn’t just a foundation. It’s your armor.

Second, build relationships with intention. Not just attending conferences, but following up, showing up consistently and being genuinely useful to others. The goal isn’t a bigger contact list. It’s a smaller circle of people who will open doors for you and say your name when you’re not in the room.

Third, stop waiting for permission. If you see a gap, an unaddressed risk, a missing perspective, a team that needs direction, step into it. Leadership in this industry rarely comes from a formal invitation; it comes from people who moved first.

And finally, as you rise, reach back. Mentor, sponsor and create opportunities for the women coming behind you. Mentorship matters, but sponsorship is what changes careers. Find the talented women behind you and don’t just advise them, advocate for them. Put your reputation behind theirs. That’s how the pipeline actually changes.

AT: Outside of your professional life, what shaped who you are today?

AR: Being a mother to two daughters, Aria and Aven, has fundamentally shaped how I lead. Watching them grow up in the Cayman Islands, I’m acutely aware that the world they inherit depends on the choices we make today. It is in how we build inclusive institutions and what we model about women’s roles in leadership.

My work with Help For Children, where I serve on the board and support programs preventing child abuse, isn’t separate from my professional identity. It’s deeply connected. Financial crime destroys lives and communities. Child abuse destroys futures. Both require us to be vigilant, to speak up and to build systems that protect the vulnerable.

My daughters also remind me why representation matters. They need to see women in leadership across industries not as exceptions, but as the norm. They need to see their mother challenge the status quo, speak at conferences, co-chair professional organizations and sit on boards. That's how we change what girls believe is possible.

AT: Was there a special mentor who provided encouragement during your career?

AR: My mom. She was one of the first female students to graduate from her university as a pharmacist, at a time when women were expected to be teachers or nurses. Some of her male classmates repeatedly told her she was taking the place of a good man. Despite that, she graduated top of her class and was still paid substantially less for more hours than her male peers.

She used to say: “You will work twice as hard to be thought of half as good but do it anyway.”

That line shaped how I approach every room I walk into. Growing up watching her refuse to be defined by those barriers gave me the confidence to pursue a career in the board room, and now in technology, where women are significantly underrepresented. 

She showed me that barriers are real, but they don’t get to decide your ceiling. I carry that with me, and I hope to pass the same belief on to my own daughters.

Interviewed by: Karla Monterrosa-Yancey, CAMS, editor-in-chief, ACAMS, [email protected]

Ben Bahner, CAMS, editor, ACAMS, [email protected]