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Comment by seldo | Hacker News Reader

I'm amazed that anybody gives a shit about this. It's a line on a résumé about a degree he earned 33 years ago. If he was 2 years out of college then lying about his degree would be material to his qualifications and compensation. After 30 years, what possible difference does it make? He is clearly qualified.

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You missed the part where the lie is also on SEC filings. This exposes the entire company to liability. In this case it also gave a bullet to one faction during a war for the board.

These are not the situations you want a CEO creating, no matter how they do it. That it's all from a relatively petty lie makes it all the more aggravating I'm sure.

Also, just to be clear:

I think the breach of ethics should be a big deal. We've grown too used to the idea that if you profit it's ok to commit some small deceptions. It's an acceptance that harms us all.

Its a sign of poor character. Lying on your resume is inexcusable for CEO of any public company.

Well lying about something that can be so easily checked is certainly silly - but lying convincingly to customers shareholders, regulators and investors is surely the whole point of being a CEO?

Otherwise we would just let the engineers run the company!

Hm, an accountant who lies. Running a public company.

Even with strict accounting controls, investors are going to have trust issues with the financial statements.

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