Featured Interview Sherron Watkins,Former Vice President for Corporate Development of Enron

Abstract

Sherron Watkins is the former Vice President for Corporate Development of the Enron Corporation, who alerted then-CEO Ken Lay in August 2001 to accounting irregularities within the company. Her warning signaled to Ken Lay that Enron 'might implode in a wave of accounting scandals, ' predicting that hidden "improper -- possibly illegal -partnerships" would lead to the energy-trading giant's collapse. Enron's demise was being led by then-Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and assisted by Enron's accounting firm Andersen and Vinson & Elkins, a law firm representing Enron. When the collapse began months later, Watkins told Lay that Enron should come clean about its massive financial losses -- about $1 billion -that were being misrepresented to investors. She testified before Congressional Committees from the House and Senate investigating Enron's business practices in February 2002.

Ms. Watkins is a former Arthur Andersen accountant who joined Enron in 1993, initially working for Andrew Fastow, managing Enron 's $1 billion-plus portfolio of energy related investments held in Enron 's various investment vehicles. She held the portfolio management position for just over 3 years, transferring at the start of 1997 to Enron's international group focusing primarily on mergers and acquisitions of energy assets around the world. In early 2000, Ms. Watkins transferred into Enron's broadband unit where she worked on various projects until late June of 2001 when she went back to work for Mr. Fastow in his new area of responsibility over the mergers and acquisitions group of the Enron Corporation. As a result of her memos to Ken Lay urging the company to change its accounting practices and restate its earnings, she has become known to the world as the Enron whistle-blower.

Sherron Watkins was named, along with two others, as one of Time magazine's 2002 Persons of the Year for "people who did right just by doing their jobs rightly" and for their courageous actions. The story of Enron's collapse can be found in the book, Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, by Mimi Swartz with Sherron Watkins. In recognition of her outstanding demonstration of ethics in the work place, Ms. Watkins has received numerous other awards, including the Court TV Scales of Justice Award and its Everyday Hero's Award, the Women Mean Business Award from the Business and Professional Women/USA Organization, and the 2003 Woman of the Year Award by Houston Baptist University.

Prior to joining Enron, Ms. Watkins worked for 3 years as the portfolio manager of MG Trade Finance Corp's commodity backed finance assets in New York City and for 8 years in the auditing group of both the New York and Houston offices of Arthur Andersen. Ms. Watkins is a Certified Public Accountant. She holds a Masters in Professional Accounting as well as a B.B.A. in accounting and business honors from the University of Texas at Austin.