Pavlo holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University and an MBA from Mercer University. He worked in finance roles at Goodyear Tire and GEC Avionics before joining MCI Communications, where he rose quickly to oversee a department handling $2 billion in annual collections.

In January 2001, Walt Pavlo pleaded guilty to embezzling $6 million from his employer and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators. He began serving a two-year prison sentence later that year.

While in prison in 2002, Pavlo sent a letter to Forbes Senior Editor Neil Weinberg, outlining his own crimes as well as the corruption he had witnessed in the telecom industry. The letter led to a jailhouse interview and profile later that year in Forbes.

Following his permanent prison release in 2003, Pavlo began speaking to university students, accountants and corporate groups across the country in the hope that his cautionary tale will warn others away from similar crimes. He formed Etika, LLC in 2005 to further that effort. Since then, he has teamed up with Neil Weinberg to co-author the book, Stolen Without A Gun, an account of Pavlo’s crimes and their consequences.


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