Enron Whistleblower to Present Leadership, Ethics Lecture at Angelo State

SAN ANGELO, TX - Angelo State University will present a special presentation by Sherron Watkins, former vice president of Enron Corporation and internationally known as the "Enron whistleblower," for the 2024 installment of the Oliver, Rainey & Wotjek Guest Speaker Series on Monday, Oct. 21, in the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive.

Titled "Leadership and Ethical Lessons From the Collapse of Enron," Watkins' presentation will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the University Center's C.J. Davidson Conference Center and is open and free to the public.

It was Watkins who in August 2001 alerted Enron's then-CEO Ken Lay to accounting irregularities within the company, warning him that Enron "might implode in a wave of accounting scandals." She also testified before the U.S. House and Senate Congressional Committees that investigated Enron's demise. In 2002, she was named one of Time magazine's Persons of the Year, along with Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, for being "people who did the right thing by just by doing their jobs rightly."

Watkins now lectures on leadership and ethics, as well as the lessons learned from the Enron scandal. She is also the co-author of "Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron."

In recognition of her outstanding demonstration of ethics in the workplace, Watkins has also received the Court TV Scales of Justice Award and Everyday Hero's Award, and she was named 2002 Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine and 2003 Woman of the Year by Houston Baptist University. Barbara Walters included her as one of the Most Fascinating People of 2002, and the National Academy of Management presented her with its Distinguished Executive Award in 2003.

Watkins' ASU presentation is hosted by the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance.