Ethics in evidence: ward winners exemplify message behind DU speaker series.

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Ethics

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Ethics in evidence: ward winners exemplify message behind DU speaker series.

"I was 22, in my first few weeks of a public-accounting position right out of college, making just under $5,000 a year, when I found myself standing in a bank vault alone with millions of dollars at my reach during an audit," said Harvey A. Wagner, CEO of Quovadx, a Greenwood Village software company. "In my mind I knew that if I just took two of these crisp packets of hundred dollar bills I would have more than I make in one year. Even though the lights where dim and no one would see me, I never considered taking the money. I could not live with myself if I stole money. I would feel horrible."

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Wagner, who was hired by Quovadx to turn around a Colorado company that was and still is under scrutiny as part of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission's crackdown on corporate revenue inflation, is making progress at the turnaround task. But more interestingly, he has become somewhat of a regular public advocate of business ethics in Colorado over the past two years.

On a panel at last year's Center for Corporate Excellence annual conference on corporate governance, Wagner told the audience he doesn't give short-term guidance (forecasting earnings and revenue performances) to Wall Street analysts prima...

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