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Jan. 9, 2006 Contact: Leslie McKinley Cal Poly to Host WorldCom 'Whistle Blower'
Cynthia Cooper SAN LUIS OBISPO - Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business will co-sponsor a presentation by Cynthia Cooper that will address the ethical issues facing corporate America. Cooper is most well-known for her role in uncovering the corporate fraud at WorldCom. The presentation begins at 4 p.m., Friday, Jan. 27, in Harman Hall in the Cohan Center and is free and open to the public. "I want young people to understand that doing the right thing does not mean that there will be no cost. There is often a cost and it can be severe," said Cooper. "My challenge to students is to stand by truth and do the right thing even though there may be a price to pay." Cooper was named a Time Magazine's 2002 Person of the Year after detecting and reporting the WorldCom fraud, to date the largest corporate fraud in history. At the time, Cooper was serving as vice president of internal audit for the 25th largest company in the United States. Her decision to take her findings to WorldCom's board, despite discouragement from WorldCom's Chief Financial Officer, resulted in the company admitting it had inflated its profits by $3.8 billion - a number that has since grown to $9 billion and counting. Her efforts resulted in her induction into the 2004 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Hall of Fame, the first woman to receive this distinction. Also featured as one of 25 influential working mothers in the November 2004 of Working Mother, Cooper shared the 2003 Maria & Sidney E. Rolfe Award from the Women's Economic Road Table with Senator Sarbanes, Representative Oxley and Sherron Watkins. She is also the recipient of the 2003 Accounting Exemplar Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made notable contributions to professionalism and ethics in accounting practice in education, only the 10th recipient of the Accounting Exemplar Award and the first woman to receive it. The event is sponsored by the Orfalea College of Business - Accounting and Law area; Andre, Morris & Buttery - A Professional Law Corporation; and Barbich Longcrier Hooper & King Accountancy Corporation and co-sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce. For more information about the presentation, contact Sheila Smith in Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business at smsmith@calpoly.edu or (805) 756-7446. Note to Editors: A photo of Cynthia Cooper is available upon request to run with your story. Please contact Stacia Momburg at (805) 756-6260 or smomburg@calpoly.edu. ###
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