Cynthia Cooper is a native of
Clinton, MississippiClinton is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. Situated in the Jackson metropolitan area, it is the tenth largest city in Mississippi. The population was 23,347 at the 2000 United States Census.-History:...
who formerly served as the
Vice PresidentA vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of
Internal AuditInternal auditing is a profession and activity involved in helping organizations achieve their stated objectives. It does this by using a systematic methodology for analyzing business processes, procedures and activities with the goal of highlighting organizational problems and recommending...
at WorldCom. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together and often at night and in secret to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history.
Since leaving MCI, Cooper has started her own consulting firm.
Cynthia Cooper is a native of
Clinton, MississippiClinton is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. Situated in the Jackson metropolitan area, it is the tenth largest city in Mississippi. The population was 23,347 at the 2000 United States Census.-History:...
who formerly served as the
Vice PresidentA vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of
Internal AuditInternal auditing is a profession and activity involved in helping organizations achieve their stated objectives. It does this by using a systematic methodology for analyzing business processes, procedures and activities with the goal of highlighting organizational problems and recommending...
at WorldCom. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together and often at night and in secret to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history.
Since leaving MCI, Cooper has started her own consulting firm. In addition, Cooper speaks to professionals as well as high school and college students to share her experiences and lessons learned. Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud,
Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower, was published in 2008. Profits from the book were given to universities for ethics education.
Cooper previously worked for the Atlanta offices of public accounting firms
PricewaterhouseCoopersPricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the world's largest professional services firms. It was formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, both formed in London....
and Deloitte & Touche. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from
Mississippi State UniversityMississippi State University is a land-grant university located in north east-central Mississippi, United States, adjacent to the town of Starkville and is situated 125 miles northeast of Jackson and 23 miles west of Columbus. With an enrollment of 18,601, it is the largest university in the...
and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the
University of AlabamaThe University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System. Within Alabama, it is often called "the Capstone"...
. She is a
Certified Public AccountantCertified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...
(CPA) in Georgia, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a
Certified Fraud ExaminerCertified Fraud Examiner is a designation awarded by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners . The ACFE is a 41,000 member-based global association dedicated to providing anti-fraud education and training....
(CFE). Cooper was named one of three "
People of the YearPerson of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the...
" by
Time magazineTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
in 2002. She maintains an office in
Brandon, MississippiBrandon is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 16,436 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rankin CountyBrandon is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. She married Lance Cooper in 1993; they have two children Stephanie, and Anna Katherine.
External links
"Cynthia Cooper chronicles her experience during the rise and fall of WorldCom in her book 'Extraordinary Circumstances.'"