What Theranos Can Teach Us About Ethical Challenges in Murky High Tech Waters

The world has been captivated by the stunning collapse of Theranos and its supposedly wunderkind founder Elizabeth Holmes, who now faces trial for fraud. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Jared Harris worked with Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz to develop a series of cases that reveal how the advanced nature of the technology allowed the ruse to go on so long and the high cost Shultz paid for his part bringing down the house of cards. Harris speaks with the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr about what it took to make an ethical stand and how increasingly complex technology will present challenges for ethical leaders.

About the Expert

Jared D. Harris

Samuel L. Slover Associate Professor of Business Administration

Harris is an expert on both ethics and strategic management. His research centers on the interplay between ethics and strategy, with a particular focus on the topics of corporate governance, business ethics and interorganizational trust. Harris has written extensively on the topics of executive compensation and other governance-related topics.

Harris worked as a certified public accountant and consultant for several leading public accounting firms in Boston and Portland, Oregon, and served as the CFO of a small technology firm in Washington, D.C. He consults with several top financial services companies on the topics of strategic management, ethics and compliance.

He recently published The Strategist’s Toolkit, a primer on strategic thinking, with Darden Professor Mike Lenox. He also co-authored the recently published paper “Model-Theoretic Knowledge Accumulation: The Case of Agency Theory and Incentive Alignment” in the Academy of Management Review and a forthcoming paper titled “A Comparison of Alternative Measures of Organizational Aspirations” for the Strategic Management Journal.

B.S., M.Acc., Brigham Young University; Ph.D., University of Minnesota

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