Jeffrey Wigand, a former employee of a tobacco company turned social activist in response to its ethical dilemmas, lectured at the Cable Center at the Daniels College of Business on Friday to a large, diverse audience.

The lecture was part of the “Voices of Experience” lecture series, put on by the Daniels College of Business’ Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies.

Wigand was previously employed by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation for four years and three months, which he now considers “a four year and three month mistake.” He was brought on to the company in order to design a “safer cigarette.” He is now known all around the world – not for creating a safer cigarette – but as the whistleblower for uncovering the secrets of the tobacco industry, a term which he despises. Many people also know him from the movie created about the scandal titled The Insider, staring Russell Crowe as Wigand.

The reason Wigand was targeted by the tobacco industry is because throughout his employment there, he was constantly questioning the actions of the company. Because of job security, he kept turning his back on the wrongdoings and regretfully considered himself a bystander. He believed that Brown & Williamson Tobacco was putting profit above public health and safety.

In 1993, after Wigand was no longer employed by Brown & Williamson, he was sued for violating the trade secret by telling his experiences from his four years and three months he was employed there. The tobacco company claimed that the knowledge from time the was employed was property of the company.

In April of 1994, he was asked by Congress to draft questions for seven CEOs of the tobacco industry, and in return Wigand wanted a subpoena. The CEOs were claiming that cigarettes were neither addictive nor dangerous. This is when Wigand realized that he had a duty with knowledge, and didn’t want to be a bystander anymore. Shortly after, he decided to go to 60 Minutes to tell his side of the story and reach an audience of thirty to forty million viewers. He was fearful of the repercussions of telling his story to 60 Minutes. “The whole thought of going to jail for telling the truth scared the hell out of me, I don’t know how else to say it. I did not want to go to jail, much less a Kentucky jail.”

Finally in 1997, the tobacco company agreed to release all their documents which were previously kept secret. They were also required to drop their lawsuit against Wigand for telling the inside story publicly.

The presentation had a large audience with a wide variety of ages, from college students up to retired businessmen and women. During his speech, Wigand had stated that he didn’t have ethics taught to him in college, he simply had good mentors. Here at DU, the Daniels curriculum is heavily packed with ethics in a variety of courses.

Daniels student Ewan Rankin said, “I think it is important that students hear things like this, because if someone is put into a similar situation, they have heard about it before. This is a real world experience.”