Sherron Watkins, 42, is a vice president for corporate development at Enron.

In August 2001, predicting that hidden "improper -- possibly illegal -- partnerships" would lead to the energy-trading giant's collapse, Watkins informed then-chairman Kenneth Lay of questionable financial practices at Enron, led by then-Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and assisted by Enron's accounting firm Andersen and Vinson & Elkins, a law firm representing Enron.

When the collapse began months later, Watkins told Lay that Enron should come clean about its massive financial losses -- about $1 billion -- that were being misrepresented to investors.

Watkins, because she is still an Enron employee, appeared in front of Congressional investigators under "friendly subpoena." She testified that high-level Enron executives, specifically Skilling and Fastow, hid information from Lay.