Many prominent people have seen their careers founder after inaccuracies were revealed in their academic or professional biographies, including two leaders of Yahoo (YHOO) departing Sunday.
They are:
— Scott Thompson, CEO: Leaves the company 10 days after a shareholder reveals his bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., was in business, not computer science, as described in a company bio and regulatory filings.
— Patti Hart, director: Leaves Yahoo’s board Sunday. Hart’s bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University is in business administration, not marketing and economics, as her bio had claimed. The same shareholder had looked into her background after Hart led the board committee that hired Thompson in January. She is to remain as CEO of International Game Technology.
Other notable examples:
— Marilee Jones, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: In 2007, resigns as dean of admissions, saying she had misled MIT about her academic degrees on her application to work there 28 years earlier.
— Dave Edmondson, RadioShack: In 2006, resigns after 11 years with the company, including eight months as CEO, after acknowledging he had no college degree. He’d claimed two.
— Ronald Zarrella, Bausch & Lomb: In 2002, offers to resign as CEO, sees $1.1 million bonus rescinded, when he admits he doesn’t hold the MBA from New York University that appeared on his resume for a decade.
— Kenneth Lonchar, Veritas Software: In 2002, is forced to resign as chief financial officer after admitting he falsely claimed to hold MBA from Stanford University.
— George O’Leary, Notre Dame football: In 2001, resigns as head football coach five days after being hired, admitting he lied about his academic and athletic background.
— Joe Biden, now vice president of the U.S.: In 1988, drops out of presidential campaign after admitting he had plagiarized as a law student, made false claims about his academic achievements and occasionally used others’ words in his speeches without giving them credit.
