Insider Speaks at Auburn University
Dr. Jeffrey Wigand has been called the ultimate insider, and this week when he spoke to Auburn University business classes, he had a lot of inside information to share.
Wigand talked about corporate ethics, tobacco use in Alabama and the effects of tobacco use. He has served as the 2002, 2004 and 2006 James T. Pursell Sr. Distinguished Fellow in Management Ethics at Auburn University.
His timing was appropriate because the Student Government Association (SGA) has recently proposed making Auburn a smoke-free campus. Wigand encouraged the students he spoke to to help SGA make Auburn smoke free.
Wigand held top executive positions at Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Merck before he served as vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation.
Brown & Williamson recruited Wigand to help develop a safer cigarette in 1988. Before long, Wigand realized that it would be impossible to develop a safer cigarette, and that Brown & Williamson wasn’t telling the public the truth about cigarettes.
After Wigand left Brown & Williamson in 1993, he cooperated with government agencies investigating the tobacco industry. He gained national prominence in 1995 when he became the highest-ranking former executive to speak out against the tobacco industry. His interview on 60 Minutes gained a lot of attention, and was the basis for the movie The Insider, with Russell Crowe playing Wigand.
Now Wigand acts as a consultant and expert witness on tobacco issues. He also lectures and devotes a lot of time working with his nonprofit organization, SMOKE-FREE KIDS, Inc.
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