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Jeffrey Keith Skilling (born November 25 , 1953 ) is a former CEO of Enron Corporation . Skilling, who headed the company from February to August 2001, surrendered to the Federal Bureau Of Investigation on February 19 , 2004 in connection to the fraud charges against Enron and Skilling's predecessor/successor in the CEO position, Kenneth Lay . Skilling is the younger brother of Tom Skilling , a popular Meteorologist in Chicago, Illinois . ]] PERSONAL LIFE Skilling was born in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania as the second of four children. He grew up in New Jersey and Aurora, Illinois . When he was 13, he was the chief production director for a public-access cable television station in Aurora. After graduating from West Aurora High School (where he graduated number 16 in a class of 600), Skilling received his B.S. in Applied Science at Southern Methodist University (1975), where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi . Skilling earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating in the top five percent of his class. He became a consultant at McKinsey & Company in the energy and chemical consulting practices. Skilling has a 21-year-old daughter, a 20-year-old son, and a 15-year-old son from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1997. In March 2002, he married Rebecca Carter, a former vice president for board communications and board secretary at Enron. Skilling had a breakdown on the streets of New York City in April 2004. After an evening of excessive drinking he began to harass people on the street and began to accuse total strangers of being FBI agents. Police responding to the 911 calls found him uncooperative and concluded that he was an emotionally disturbed person in need of emergency assistance. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/07/national/main591929.shtml ENRON As a consultant for McKinsey & Company , Skilling worked with Enron in 1987, helping the company create a Forward Market in Natural Gas . Skilling impressed Kenneth Lay in his capacity as a consultant, and was hired by Lay in 1990 as chairman and chief executive officer of Enron Finance Corp. In 1991, he became the chairman of Enron Gas Services Co., which was a result of the merger of Enron Gas Marketing and Enron Finance Corp. Skilling was named CEO/managing director of Enron Capital & Trade Resources, which was the subsidiary responsible for energy trading and marketing. He was promoted to president and Chief Operating Officer (Second only to Lay) of Enron in 1997, while remaining the head of Enron Capital & Trade Resources. In 1999, Enron launched EnronOnline , an Internet-based trading operation, which was used by virtually every energy company in the U.S. On February 12, 2001, Skilling was named CEO of Enron. Skilling began to behave strangely during this time and in April 2001 verbally attacked Wall Street analyst Richard Grubman , who questioned Enron's unusual accounting practice during a recorded conference call. When Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that could not release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements, Skilling replied "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that... asshole." Though the comment was met with dismay and astonishment by press and public, it became an inside joke among many Enron employees, mocking Grubman for his perceived meddling rather than Skilling's lack of tact. Skilling unexpectedly resigned on August 14 of that year, citing Personal Reasons , and he soon sold large blocks of his shares in the corporation. Then Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, who previously served as CEO for 15 years, replaced him until the company declared bankruptcy in December of 2001. When brought in front of Congressional Committees , he stated that he had "no knowledge" of the complicated chain of scandal that would eventually result in Enron's Bankruptcy . On March 28 2001 , PBS 's Frontline interviewed Skilling, he claimed Enron was one of "the good guys". {Link without Title} Indictment and trial Skilling was indicted on 35 counts of Fraud , Insider Trading , and other crimes related to the collapse of Enron. He Pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted of all of them, he faces up to 325 years in prison and at least $80 million in fines. The main reason for his arrest was his probable knowledge of the fraudulent transactions within Enron. About a month after quitting Enron, Skilling sold almost $60 million of his stake in the company (in blocks of 10,000 to 500,000 shares), leading to the prosecutors' allegation that he sold those shares with Inside Information of Enron's impending Bankruptcy . Along with Kenneth Lay , Skilling is currently on trial in federal court in Houston , Texas . Richard Causey (former chief accounting officer) was scheduled to go to trial with them; but a last-minute guilty plea kept him out of the courtroom. Skilling has chosen as his attorney Daniel Petrocelli , the 52-year-old civil litigator who represented Ron Goldman 's father against O.J. Simpson in civil suit. Skilling has spent 40 million USD in preparation for The Trial Which Began Jan 30, 2006 . Skilling's younger brother Mark is an attorney and is assisting his legal team during the criminal trial. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK MEDIA APPEARANCE
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