Aaron Feuerstein

Mr. Feuerstein received broad media attention in 1995, when a fire destroyed the Malden Mills plant in Lawrence two weeks before Christmas. Rather than using the $300 million insurance settlement to reestablish the factory overseas, he invested an additional estimated $150 million into rebuilding the factory in the same location. In addition, he made and kept a commitment to pay the approximately 3,000 displaced plant employees their complete salaries and full benefits for 90 days after the fire. Both decisions cost the company millions.

"Aaron Feuerstein embodies the best of corporate leaders who are willing to risk their own finances for the benefit of other stakeholders," said Professor Paul Fiorelli, Director of the Cintas Institute for Business Ethics at Xavier University.

"I have a responsibility to the worker," Mr. Feuerstein told Parade Magazine in September 1996. "I have an equal responsibility to the community. It would have been unconscionable to put 3000 people on the streets and deliver a deathblow to the cities of Lawrence and Methuen. Maybe on paper our company is worthless to Wall Street, but I can tell you it's worth more."

Despite Mr. Feuerstein's efforts to sustain the business, Malden Mills filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 and he lost his controlling interest in the company.

Previous Speaker:

2006 Bill Gradison, Acting Chairman
Founding Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

In October 2002, Bill Gradison was appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to a two-year term as a founding Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. In August, 2004, the SEC unanimously reappointed Mr. Gradison to serve an additional term of five years. He was named Acting Chairman by the SEC on Dec. 2, 2005. From 1999 until the end of 2002, he was senior public policy counselor with Patton Boggs.

Mr. Gradison held elective office for more than 30 years and later was president of the Health Insurance Association of America for six years. During his 18 years in Congress, Mr. Gradison was ranking member of the House Budget Committee and the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means. He served as vice chairman of the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care (the Pepper Commission), and was a member of the Pew Health Professions Commission, as well as the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on Women’s Health. He also served as vice chair of the Commonwealth Fund’s Task Force on Academic Health Centers.

Mr. Gradison began his career in public service in Washington, D.C., in 1953 as Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Treasury, having previously served on the finance faculty of the Harvard Business School. Before returning to his hometown of Cincinnati to launch his career as a general partner of a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, he served as Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

Mr. Gradison served as Chairman of the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and was a member of Cincinnati City Council for 13 years, serving as vice mayor and mayor.

Mr. Gradison received a B.A. from Yale and an M.B.A. and doctorate from Harvard Business School.

2005 John Pepper - Former CEO and Chairman of Procter & Gamble

John Pepper is moral exemplar for today's business professional. His leadership in philanthropic activities include: The Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, United Way, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, Campaign Against Teenage Pregnancy, Population Services International (PSI), serving as Vice President Finance & Administration for his alma mater, Yale University, and most recently by being named the CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Mr. Pepper has demonstrated a commitment to integrity throughout his career at Procter & Gamble. This commitment was put to the test in Fall of 2001 when P&G subcontractors obtained information about a competitor through means that, while perhaps legal, were contrary to the corporate culture of Procter & Gamble. Mr. Pepper thought of only one thing - "what is the right thing to do" - and promptly notified the competitor and worked out a plan to ensure the information was not misused. This action is symbolic of his commitment to the importance of ethics in business and represents the true spirit of American capitalism at its finest.

John Pepper was born in Pottsville, PA and currently resides in Cincinnati, OH. Before joining P&G, Mr. Pepper served in the U.S. Navy for several years.
Date Joined Procter & Gamble: September 25th, 1963 as a Staff Assistant
Date Retired from Procter & Gamble: July 1st, 2003 Retired from the Board


2003 Sherron Watkins - Former Vice President of Enron Corporation

Sherron Watkins is the well-known ‘whistleblower’ at Enron Corp., who wrote Ken Lay, then CEO, in August 2001 warning him that his company ‘might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.’ She has testified before Congressional Committees from the House and Senate investigating Enron’s demise. Ms. Watkins has been lauded in the press for her courageous actions. TIME magazine named Sherron, along with two others, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, as their 2002 Persons of the Year, for being “people who did right just by doing their jobs rightly.” TIME magazine concluded that, “Democratic capitalism requires that people trust in the integrity of public and private institutions alike. As whistle-blowers, these three became fail-safe systems that did not fail. For believing—really believing—that the truth is one thing that must not be moved off the books, and for stepping in to make sure that it wasn't, they have been chosen by TIME as its Persons of the Year for 2002.” She is the author of “Power Failure”; the inside story of the collapse of Enron.

In recognition of her outstanding demonstration of ethics in the work place, Ms. Watkins was awarded the Court TV Scales of Justice Award and its Everyday Hero’s Award in May 2002 and the Women Mean Business Award from the Business and Professional Women/USA Organization in July 2002. In October 2002, Glamour Magazine named her one of its 2002 Women of the Year, and in December, Barbara Walters included her as one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2002.

Ms. Watkins joined Enron just over 9 years ago in late 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 Enron Corp. Ms. Watkins resigned from Enron in November 2002.

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. Ms. Watkins is married with one child and resides in Houston, Texas.