Sherron Watkins

Sherron Watkins (born August 28, 1959) is an American former Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation. Watkins was called to testify before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate at the beginning of 2002, primarily about her warnings to Enron's then-CEO Kenneth Lay about accounting irregularities in the financial statements.[1]

In August 2001, Watkins alerted Lay of accounting irregularities in financial reports. However, Watkins has been criticized for not reporting the fraud to government authorities and not speaking up publicly sooner about her concerns, as her memo did not reach the public until five months after it was written.[2] Watkins was represented by Houston attorney Philip H. Hilder.

Watkins was selected as one of three "Persons of the Year 2002" by Time magazine, alongside two other whistleblowers, Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom and Coleen Rowley of the FBI.

  1. ^ Stout, David (2012-02-14). "Enron Official Says She Warned Lay About Financial Irregularities". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 2002-02-15.
  2. ^ Ackman, Dan (2002-02-14). "Sherron Watkins Had Whistle But Blew It". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2013-08-11.