Jeffrey Skilling served as CEO and one of the primary visionaries behind Enron's dramatic rise and contrasting collapse in December 2001. Convicted of numerous felony charges for crimes related to Enron's downfall, Skilling now serves his 24 year sentence in a federal penitentiary

Born Nov 1953 in Pittsburg PA, Skilling attended Southern Methodist University grading with a BS in Applied Science in 1975. He received an MBA from Harvard in 1979.

Jeffrey Skilling started at Enron as a consultant for Mckinsey and Co in the 1980'a, advising the company in establishing a futures market for natural gas. After wooing the CEO Kenneth Lay, Skilling got his start in the firm by running Enron's financial division. Over the 1990's he ran a number of Enron's energy trading and financial divisions until his promotion to CEO of Enron in early 2001.

Skilling is noted for his avid support of free markets and political support of the Republican Party.

Between his promotion to CEO of Enron in early 2001 and his resignation in August of that year, Skilling is known for acting strangely, verbally berating a reporter for questioning Enron's accounting practices and making light of the Enron manipulation of the California energy crisis.

Enron's bankruptcy was one of the largest in US history. Resulting in the loss of 4,000 jobs and billions in shareholder wealth.