GW’s Department of Human Resources located a record last week that indicates former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay taught economics at GW as an associate professor from 1970-72, GW spokesman Eric Solomon said. The Hatchet inaccurately reported last week that the Economics Department had no record of Lay’s employment.
Solomon said Human Resources Director Tom Rodgers obtained an index card containing basic information such as Lay’s name, title and former phone number and address. The card, which Human Resources declined to release without permission from Lay, is the only documented evidence of Lay’s employment at the University.
“Apparently the old files are purged down to an index card,” Solomon said.
Lay spokeswomen Kelly Kimberly confirmed Lay taught at the University and said he is “very proud” of his years at GW, when he taught graduate level classes in the college of continuing general studies, a graduate program intended for military personnel.
He taught at GW while he was in D.C. serving as technical assistant to the commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and as deputy undersecretary for energy of the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Nixon administration, according to his biography on the Enron Web site.
Lay left GW because it was the end of his contractual agreement, Solomon said.
Friend and longtime colleague George Kinnear described the dialogue in one of Lay’s classes as “amazing.”
Kinnear is a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy and was responsible for recruiting Lay to teach at GW. Kinnear earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree from GW before teaching with Lay.
Kinnear said Lay was viewed as a skilled economist by many in D.C.’s political scene. Lay was assigned to work with Kinnear to organize an economic study group to examine the national budget for the Nixon administration.
Other accolades include developing a cost function for the F-14 fighter plane that was, as Kinnear described it, “better than anything the government ever used before.” The function is determined by analyzing the quantity and price of the plane for government.
Lay completed his master’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1965, at which point he accepted a position with Exxon as an economist. Lay then received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Houston.
Serving on the board of trustees for many large corporations including Compaq and others, Lay held many executive positions before becoming CEO of Enron in 1986. Enron was one of the largest corporations in the world until the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.
