After CBA unveils new ethics code, convicted felon Diann Cattani speaks about ethics

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration unveiled its new ethics code Tuesday at the Lied Center. The launch featured speaker and convicted felon Diann Cattani, who has been described as the "face of white-collar crime."

The CBA ethics code was a student-led project that established four areas of ethics for the college from a survey of CBA students: integrity, honesty, professionalism and respect and compassion.

Committee member Ryan Pryor, a senior management major, said the code "really helps establish a culture of CBA, one that students can really rally around."

Dean of CBA Donde Plowman, who recently moved from Tennessee, said she thought the CBA code of ethics reflected the values she saw in Nebraskans.

"Everywhere I go in the country, people say, ‘I would hire someone from Nebraska because they are hard-working,'" Plowman said.

Although many of the students that filled the first level of the Lied Center were there either for extra credit or as a class requirement, Cattani's presentation was far from a typical lecture.

"I'm not here to give an academic ethics presentation by any stretch of the imagination," Cattani said.

Cattani launched into her story. During the course of four years, she embezzled more than $500,000 from the small family-owned firm she worked for in the early 1990s. Cattani grew up in a large, religious family in Idaho. Her parents' faith "was not just lip service on Sundays," but an example to their children seven days a week.

"I grew up in black and white moral circumstances," Cattani said. "I grew up in situations probably not much different than most of you."

After her small-town childhood and education at the private Brigham Young University, Cattani said she felt like she had spent her whole life in a vacuum and wanted to get out and experience the world. She began working for a consulting firm and enjoying "life in the fast lane."

Cattani conducted leadership trainings for Fortune 500 companies, had dinner in the White House under the Ronald Reagan administration and met George and Barbara Bush in Maui, Hawaii, she said.

"I became addicted to a lifestyle," Cattani said. "I would compare what I had with people much older than me and expect the same things in my life."

Then came the embezzlement. It started out small.

Cattani was on a vacation with her family when she noticed her travel agency had accidentally charged to her corporate American Express card rather than her personal account.

"I thought, ‘I'll pay them back next time,'" Cattani said. But paycheck after paycheck came and went. "‘For sure next time, for sure next time,'" Cattani said.

But by then she had begun to rationalize her behavior.

As the years went on and the embezzling continued, Cattani's guilt increased to the point where she was physically ill. Although she consulted multiple doctors, she said she knew in the back of her mind what she was experiencing was "symptomatic of this dual life" she was leading.

Cattani cracked one Tuesday afternoon while she was at home with her two daughters, and the Oprah show was playing in the background on the TV.

Cattani stopped when she heard Oprah say to a woman she was helping, "You cannot be a whole person carrying around a burden like that. You cannot be a good parent with that kind of a secret."

At that moment Cattani said she looked at her kids and thought, "I'm not even real." She turned herself into her boss that week.

"He was obviously very shocked," Cattani said. "He kept asking me, ‘How much?' But as part of the rationalization, I hadn't kept track and I didn't know."

Over the weekend, Cattani received a call that she had been fired. After that came civil court, criminal court, divorce court and an unexpected pregnancy.