In a campus speech on Monday, Sept. 22, a whistleblower who played a key role in the downfall of the fraudulent blood diagnostics company Theranos encouraged Wake Forest students to have confidence in their moral convictions.

Tyler Shultz was only 22 years old when he alerted federal regulators and investigative journalists to the deceitful claims of Theranos’ founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. Despite facing extensive legal, financial and familial pressure to remain quiet, Shultz was resolved to expose Holmes’ dishonesty.

The speaker event was held in Farrell Hall’s Broyhill Auditorium and was co-sponsored by the Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character and the Program for Leadership and Character. 

“I love speaking to students because you are in the exact shoes that I was in,” Shultz said to a standing-room-only audience of over 400. “You can take this really unique moment in your life to either speak truth to power or … [take] some [other] big and calculated risk.”

After the Wall Street Journal first reported in 2015 that Holmes had lied about the efficacy of Theranos’ supposedly revolutionary technology, she went from serving as CEO of a $9 billion company to serving 11 years in prison for criminal fraud. A decade later, the highly publicized Theranos saga continues to capture attention through popular media adaptations, several of which feature Shultz as a character.

Shultz spent the majority of his speech retelling the story with his own lighthearted yet dramatic spin, drawing laughter and gasps from attendees.

After graduating from Stanford University, Shultz began working for Theranos the same day the company launched its diagnostic technology. He quickly discovered something was awry.

“There were people who had been working there for three, four or five years and none of them had ever seen the product we were working on,” Shultz said. “I realized that there was an open secret at this company that the technology flat out did not exist.”

Shultz left Theranos in despair after his supervisors blew off his concerns.

“I knew that people were being hurt, and I couldn’t sleep at night,” Shultz said. “I needed to do everything I could possibly do to make this right.”

During his whistleblowing process, Shultz found himself in a unique position as the grandson of former Secretary of State George Shultz, who served on Theranos’ board of directors. Beyond investing hundreds of millions of dollars in her company, George Shultz was also personally close to Holmes.

George Shultz urged Tyler Shultz to cooperate with Theranos’ lawyers, who doggedly harassed Tyler Shultz to try to prevent him from going public with his information. Tyler Shultz, however, was determined to “stand his ground,” even when resisting Theranos led him to spend half a million dollars in legal fees, isolate himself socially and sleep with a knife beside his bed.

“I just had this absolute ‘burn the ships’ mentality, like there was no going back,” he said. “This could be the most important thing that I might do in my life.”

Recognizing that most may never face such a high-stakes moral crisis, Shultz encouraged students to nonetheless practice integrity even in less dire situations. 

“I think ethical dilemmas are everywhere,” Shultz said. “If you don’t feel like you’re faced with them … maybe you’re just not looking hard enough.”

“You can’t walk into a Theranos-like situation and knock it out of the park the first time that you ever choose to speak up,” Shultz continued. “When you feel like [your values] are being compromised … flex that ethical muscle.”

Some Wake Forest professors required their students to attend Shultz’s speech, but many students said they would have decided to come regardless.

Freshman Will Putman attended to complete an assignment on cognitive dissonance for his psychology class, but found Shultz’s story to be personally inspiring as well as academically relevant.

“I was definitely blown away,” Putman said. “[Shultz is] probably one of the top three public speakers I’ve ever heard … [I] came away empowered in courage and integrity.”

In addition to students, the event drew faculty, staff and other local residents. Jacob Conrad, 35, of Winston-Salem, said he looks up to Shultz as a rare exemplar of courage.

“It just doesn’t seem that anyone’s ever going to do anything right,” Conrad said. “[But] you got people like [Shultz] who are willing to stand up.”