Sherron Watkins
Sherron Watkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 28, 1959 Tomball, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Business executive, whistleblower |
| Known for | Exposing the 2001 Enron scandal |
Sherron Watkins (born August 28, 1959) is a former American executive who served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Enron Corporation. She played a pivotal role in exposing the 2001 Enron scandal by alerting then-CEO Kenneth Lay.
In 2002, Time magazine recognized Watkins as one of its three "Persons of the Year," honoring her alongside whistleblowers Cynthia Cooper from WorldCom and Coleen Rowley from the FBI.
Early life and education
Watkins was born in Tomball, Texas. She graduated with honors, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas’s McCombs School of Business. She holds a Certified Public Accountant designation, now retired.
Career
Watkins launched her professional journey in 1982 at Arthur Andersen, where she spent eight years auditing in both Houston and New York offices. In 1990, she transitioned to MG Trade Finance, overseeing commodity-backed financial assets until 1993, when she joined Enron.
In August 2001, Watkins raised concerns to Kenneth Lay regarding questionable accounting practices within Enron’s financial statements. Although the company initiated an internal investigation, it primarily relied on its own personnel and largely disregarded her warnings. Watkins faced scrutiny for not escalating the fraud allegations to external authorities sooner; her memo became public five months after its initial submission. Houston attorney Philip H. Hilder represented her during this period.
Early in 2002, Watkins appeared before congressional committees in both the House and Senate to testify about her efforts to alert Lay about Enron’s financial discrepancies.
In 2004, she co-authored Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, which provides an account of her experiences and critiques aspects of corporate culture in the United States.
Books
- Mimi Swartz with Sherron Watkins: Power Failure. The Inside Story of The Collapse of Enron, (March 2003)
Film
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) includes interviews with Sherron Watkins.
- The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003) portrays Watkins as an employee who alerted Kenneth Lay about financial misrepresentations.
External links
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- 1959 births
- American accountants
- American energy industry executives
- American whistleblowers
- Enron people
- Living people
- McCombs School of Business alumni
- Women in finance
- People from Tomball, Texas