When Scott Thompson was named president of PayPal in 2008, the former Visa executive seemingly had a bright future ahead of him.
Global media and technology company Yahoo! certainly believed that to be the case. Yahoo! hired Thompson as its Chief Executive Officer in January 2012.
Just five months later, he was no longer with the company as it was revealed that he falsely claimed to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science (his degree was actually in accounting).
In some situations, the misrepresentation of a degree might not lead to the CEO’s removal. However, while working for one of the largest tech companies in the world, and you lie about a computer science degree, it’s something that is difficult to sweep under the rug.
The degree discrepancy was brought to light by an investor, who issued a press release questioning whether the Yahoo! board of directors had "failed to exercise appropriate diligence and oversight in one of its most fundamental tasks – identifying and hiring the Chief Executive Officer.”
Ouch.
It’s not known which types of background investigations Yahoo! may have performed before Thompson was hired.
This serves as a cautionary reminder for all employers to do their background screening due diligence when it comes to hiring senior executives; particularly those in public-facing roles.
The Bigger the Role, the Bigger the Risks
