Salem College welcomes Enron whistleblower Sherron Watkins to speak on “Ethics, Leadership and Courage,” April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Shirley Recital Hall in Salem Fine Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.

In August 2001, then-Enron vice president Watkins alerted then-CEO Ken Lay that Enron "might implode in a wave of accounting scandals." Watkins' warning proved to be true as just months later, the company fell into bankruptcy after a storm of scandalous revelations of fraud. In the wake of Enron's meltdown, Watkins testified before Congressional Committees from the House and Senate investigating the company's demise and was lauded in the press for her courageous actions.

In recognition of her outstanding demonstration of ethic in the work place, Watkins has received numerous honors. TIME magazine named Watkins, along with two others, as their 2002 "Persons of the Year," for being "people who did right just by doing their jobs rightly" and "for believing....that the truth is one thing that must not be moved off the books..." Barbara Walters included her as one of the "10 Most Fascinating People" of 2002.

Ms. Watkins is co-author, along with prize-winning journalist, Mimi Swartz, of Power Failure, the Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron published by Doubleday in March 2003.

The event is sponsored by the Salem College Center for Women in Business.