DATE: Wednesday, April 22, 2026
TIME: 1:00 PM – 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Johnsonville Tailgate Village, Lambeau | Green Bay
Johnsonville Tailgate Village
1265 Lombardi Avenue
Green Bay, WI 54304
Keynote Presentation Time
3:45 - 4:45 PM
Title
Leadership Lessons From The Enron Scandal
Keynote Summary
Enron’s leadership pursued best practices on paper, but behaviors told a different story, setting up a culture and value system that became a breeding ground for not just thinking outside of the box or pushing the envelope, but for actual fraud. Enron was known as the most innovative company – in fact, Fortune Magazine named Enron just that, for seven years in a row. Unfortunately, the dark side of innovation is fraud. And the interesting thing about white collar crime is that it involves three key factors: extreme pressure to meet a goal (be that an earnings target or to obtain more money personally, etc.); the opportunity to cheat; and most importantly, the rationalization that it’s not cheating.
In this revealing presentation, Sherron shares how compensation systems impact fraud, the role of the public auditor in Enron’s collapse, the role of the banks in Enron’s collapse, and the importance of the CEO and how ethical lapses from the C-suite are magnified in subordinates.
Learning Objectives
Keynote Presenter & Biography
Sherron Watkins
Enron Whistleblower
Ms. Watkins is the former Vice President of Enron Corporation who alerted then-CEO Ken Lay in August 2001 to accounting irregularities within the company, warning him that Enron ‘might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.’ She has testified before Congressional Committees from the House and Senate investigating Enron’s demise. 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.”
Watkins now lectures on leadership and ethics and continues to contribute as an ethics advisor to various organizations. Watkins is co-author of Power Failure, the Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, (Doubleday, 2003).
To be announced.
You’ll learn:
Title | Company
To be announced.
Francis will provide the FEI membership with important updates on the current legal and legislative issues impacting plan sponsors. Additionally, Francis will provide strategies for improving their retirement plan, lowering plan costs, and empowering their employees to engage in the financial wellbeing.
Learning objectives are as follows:
Name
Title | Francis, LLC
To be announced.
Godfrey & Kahn Presentation from 1:00 - 2:00 PM = 1 credit
Francis, LLC Presentation from 2:15 - 3:15 PM = 1 credit
Keynote Presentation from 3:45 - 4:45 PM = 1 credit
Michelle Weiss
920.750.9110
michelle@mwcommunications.org
Register and send cancellations by noon on 4/15/26.