ICPA Compliance Corazón: New Board Members, Careers, And A Fiesta Of Global Trade

ICPA Compliance Corazón: Community, Careers, and a Fiesta of Global Trade

In this special Simply Trade Roundup, Annik sits down with ICPA’s new executive director, Elisabeth Sherrell, and board members Alicia Bryant and Kelsey Moraski to talk about what makes ICPA such a unique home for trade compliance professionals—and what to expect at the 2026 ICPA Annual Conference, “Compliance Corazón: Fiesta of Global Trade,” in San Antonio. From career-defining connections to real-world problem solving over breakfast, this episode shines a light on the people, purpose, and heart behind ICPA.​

Credits
Host: Annik Sobing
Guests: Elisabeth Sherrell, Alicia Bryant, Kelsey Moraski
Producer: Annik Sobing

Transcript

Machine Operated Script:

Annik (00:01.189)
Okay, so ICPA is a great way for young professionals to get together, but obviously there is not just young professionals, there’s also seasoned professionals that might have families. And I know there’s a way to bring your kids to ICPA, and I know that sounds crazy, like are they gonna learn about trade, what sessions do they go to? No, I think there’s a specific…

you know, what did you say, a specific way that that works? Guys, I really would have no idea about this because I just don’t have a child yet. But Kelsey does. So I feel like Kelsey, you just you just shared with us that you brought your child with you last time when you went to ICPA and we need to hear about it. How was this experience and what did this mean to you?

Elisabeth Sherrell (00:32.659)
Yeah

Kelsey Moraski (00:50.476)
Yeah, so last year I had the opportunity to bring my five-year-old with me to the ICPA conference in Orlando. And I was telling Elizabeth, it was the first time in my career I felt supported in that way as a working mom, right?

It was really meaningful to me and really powerful. And I think it says a lot about the organization. So Charter Brokerage sponsors a kids camp and it allows working parents, not just working moms, to bring in their children and let them have an experience at the conference. It’s not like they’re taking trade classes. They’re going and doing fun things. Like last year they went to Disney. This year I think they’re going to the zoo and SeaWorld while their parents are getting their training.

and networking and getting that educational piece. And what was really special about it to me was it gave my son a little bit of visibility into what mom does for work, right? He got a little glimpse into what is trade compliance. He got to go around to all the booths and meet some of the different suppliers and sponsors. It was just a really fun, positive experience for him and for me.

Annik (02:04.515)
This takes like bring your mom to work day to a whole different experience. I mean, this is like next level. Like bring your kid to conference. This is crazy. Okay, Elizabeth, share with us what made this happen.

Elisabeth Sherrell (02:11.403)
I love it.

Elisabeth Sherrell (02:15.443)
Yeah, I think the Anniks whole goal today is to make sure that my mascara runs, right? Because I worked on that today, this is no, it’s okay. It’s okay. I can talk about it. can do this. So yeah, my mom was a single mom through her whole career. And so when we started kids camp, and it’s so funny because I’ll have to clip this and send it to my very best friend during that time when I was also single.

Annik (02:24.101)
I’m sorry.

Elisabeth Sherrell (02:44.411)
and I had been divorced so I had a kid and I was a single mom. And my very best friend and roommate was with me when we did our first kids camp. And it was so funny because it was at Disney too. And it was just, back then it was just ICPA providing daycare for your child during the event. And if you look at the prices and the cost of this, right? Like we’ve looked into it, hiring a third party and it’s hundreds of dollars a day per kid to do this. And so…

When things got more expensive and more expensive, we got to a place where like, man, I don’t know if this is sustainable. My mom even at one point said, I don’t know if we can do this anymore. And I’m like, no, we have to. Like, this is the whole thing. She knew how hard it was as a single parent to be able to go to these things when you have kids and whatnot. So she created this whole idea of kids camp where we go out and watch your kids during the camp. And then they’re there with you at breakfast or they’re there after hours.

And so I told her we have to do it and as luck would have it, I don’t even know how the conversation happened with charter, you know, Dan Sanders from charter, they’re always so wanting to help. Like they do our fun run at the annual and they want to sponsor things and been involved. And so they started, they asked if they could sponsor kids camp. And so they give us a substantial amount of money each year.

so that we can offset the fees. I wanna say it’s like 25, $35 a day and that covers your kids meals, breakfast, lunch and snacks. And it covers the cost of the babysitters, right? mean, there used to be me and my family and some volunteers, but we pay them to come and help and we pay for their hotel and airfare. So it gets quite expensive. And so for a small, small fee.

per day, can bring your kids. And then as luck would have it in the event planning world, we have a word that was started before COVID that’s even more important post COVID. It’s called bleasure. And it’s like leisure, but business leisure. And so people want to bring their families too. We’ve taken husbands out on outings with us. We’ve taken parents. mean, so it’s not like there’s an age limit. We’re not changing diapers. Okay. can’t, don’t bring your six month old. I don’t think that’s fun for anybody, least of all you. But we will.

Elisabeth Sherrell (04:54.687)
We take your family out with us too, if they want to. And we’ve just got to meet some of the most amazing people over the years. And for me, doing it for 15 years, some of these kids are adults now. Dan Chapman, who was a longtime board member of ours, his son, Jack, helped us. He was a kids camper and then he was a kids camp counselor. And now he is going to help us. And you know Jack Chapman, I think you know him, Annick. He’s at our fall conference all the time.

But he is going to help us with Jake Boggs formulate local groups on campus, college campuses for ICPA. He’s so invested and he actually works in trade now. So we joke about how the back of the shirt says future trade compliance professional, but it’s true. We are kind of indoctrinating. Yeah, we actually are indoctrinating them into it, but it was so nice to hear you say that Kelsey, because it’s hard. Not everybody’s kids are the best at.

Annik (05:39.737)
actually.

Elisabeth Sherrell (05:52.651)
group activities and so we’ve had some challenges over the years. We’ve had some, we had a runner one year, that was fun, that wasn’t my year. that was, but luckily for us, have Bethany Tucker, who’s a teacher and she is trained in the ways of waging war with children, you know, if it gets crazy. And so we have people that are just really great at doing that. it just…

Kelsey Moraski (06:10.157)
Yeah.

Annik (06:12.538)
Here.

Elisabeth Sherrell (06:17.565)
It reinforces that family thing that we want where our event is different. encourage you to bring your family. We want them to know what you do. And quite frankly, we want them around us in the evenings. I want my children there with me. That is my safe place. That is my peaceful place is my children. And so for me, I love it that they can come be with me too. So yeah.

Annik (06:39.567)
I love it. Maybe I’ll bring my mom next time. Mom, you’ll be fine. I’m kids camp. Don’t worry. They’ll take care of you. This was amazing. Thank you for sharing. Truly, I think it’ll help some people out and just knowing, again, the culture of ICPA, explaining it one more time. don’t know. Everything everyone says always backs up your culture. It’s crazy.

Elisabeth Sherrell (06:41.707)
You should! You totally should! You can’t! Yeah, exactly! We do, we do, sure! Thank you.

Kelsey Moraski (06:42.666)
Yeah.

Elisabeth Sherrell (06:59.253)
Mm-hmm.

Kelsey Moraski (07:06.038)
Yeah.

Annik (07:06.593)
It’s like the marketing, I mean, it is doing itself, you know? So thank you so much and I appreciate you saying that.

Elisabeth Sherrell (07:10.283)
Yeah, all right, awesome. Yes, thank

Kelsey Moraski (07:14.584)
Yeah, thank you.

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