Claude K. Smith Endowed Lecture Series on Accounting | Cynthia Cooper

The Claude K. Smith Endowed Lecture Series on Accounting is designed to provide Eastern Kentucky University students with the opportunity to hear, meet, network with, and learn from nationally recognized experts in the accounting profession. Additionally, the lecture series will be available to members of the accounting profession and the general community. The Series will provide an on-campus public presentation attracting accounting professionals from the region and nation.

EKU Accounting is pleased to welcome Ms. Cynthia Cooper as the inaugural speaker on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. The Series will host a Community Event at 7:00 p.m. in the Whitlock Building O’Donnell Auditorium and a Student Address the following morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Business and Technology Center Rogow Auditorium – both on Eastern’s Campus. The events are free and open to the public.

Cynthia Cooper is a best-selling author, consultant, and internationally recognized speaker on ethical leadership. She was named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for her role in uncovering the fraud at WorldCom, one of the largest corporate frauds in history. In addition, Cynthia was featured as one of the twenty-five most influential working mothers in Working Mother magazine.

Cynthia is a recipient of the Maria & Sidney E. Rolfe Award for her contributions to educating the public about economics, business, and finance. She is the first woman to be inducted into the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Business Hall of Fame. In addition, Cynthia is an inaugural inductee of the Institute of Internal Auditors American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners, and she is the first woman to receive the American Accounting Association’s Accounting Exemplar Award.

Cynthia has been featured in national periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CFO Magazine and Business Week. She has served on panels with notables such as Anderson Cooper, Donna Brazile, and Grover Norquist and has appeared on programs including Fox Business’ America’s Nightly Scoreboard, PBS’s Tavis Smiley, NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CSPAN’s BookTV, CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, and CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Cynthia serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy Center for the Public Trust. In addition, she sits on advisory boards for Louisiana State University and Mississippi State University. Cynthia previously served as a member of the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and was Chairman of the Board of Regents for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Cynthia served as Vice President for MCI, where she and her team helped the company move forward and successfully emerge from bankruptcy. Cynthia began her career in public accounting and previously worked in Atlanta, Georgia for Deloitte and Touche and Pricewaterhouse.

Cynthia’s book, Extraordinary Circumstances, resonates with readers across the globe and describes her personal experiences as a corporate executive. Cynthia donates profits from her book to further ethics education for high school and university students.