Vice President of Coca-Cola Consolidated, Mark Whitacre, came to a packed Maloney Hall to give a guest CEO lecture.
Starting his career out of college with abslutely no belief in God, he began making lots of money quickly. Despite his Christian wife's warnings, Whitacre lived a lavish life with his family, buying cars, living in a large house, and flying in his private jet. When Whitacre was offered the Corporate Vice President job, he learned of the price-fixing scandal that his former employer was committing behind closed doors. With this knowledge and with the guidance of his wife, Whitacre became the highest-ranked executive of a Fortune 500 company to become a whistleblower for the FBI. Whitacre wore a wire to work for years, each day meeting with the FBI team to debrief the recordings.
Still a non-believer, Whitacre prioritized his earnings and income. Unsure of his ability to collect his earnings from the stock options he had in this company, he took matters into his own hands, writing checks to himself in an attempt to retain what was rightfully his. Denying his actions in court, Whitacre spent eight-and-a-half years in federal prision. It was then that he learned of the forgiveness, grace, and truth of God. He took responsibility for his actions, repaired his marriage with his wife and children, and now works for Coca-Cola Consolidated, a Christian offset of The Coca-Cola company.
The moral of Whitacre's lecture was to remain steadfast in one's personal value sets when faced with difficult, possibly unethical choices. This lesson is a perfect summarization of what we emphasize within the classrooms of Maloney Hall. When asked by a student which virtues one should work on in thier undergraduate years so as to feel confident in the workforce, Whitacre proclaimed that the virutes of faith, love, and temperance are good places to start.