Standing in the Penn Law building that carries his name, Henry Silverman called himself "the poster boy for overpaid executives."
But Silverman, who will earn about $140 million this year according to Forbes.com, said being a CEO is not all "peaches and cream."
Silverman, who graduated from the Penn Law School in 1964, came to speak to students about management in the 21st century yesterday.
In the speech, which was part of the Institute for Law and Economics' annual Law and Entrepreneurship lecture series, Silverman discussed the future of business executives in a post-Enron world.
Before an audience of about 70, he called globalization a "ruthless killing floor of competition" and lamented the "hypocritical and anti-business atmosphere whipped up by [American] politicians and activist investors who are more interested in scandal than anything else."
Silverman, who said he believes that the American government has overreacted in the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and Tyco scandals, has seen such fiascoes play out firsthand.
In the late 1990s, a travel and real-estate conglomerate - which had absorbed a company Silverman founded - was found to have overstated its earnings.
When he announced the fraud, Silverman said, some "$14 billion evaporated overnight" as his shareholders watched helplessly.
The scandal hurt "personally, professionally and financially, but it burned some truths into me" in regard to governmental overreaction, he said.
Silverman said if the United States is to retain its competitive edge in the global economy, politicians must stop exploiting the "anti-business breeze" that blew in after these and similar corporate scandals.
He said that U.S. business is being "hobbled by useless regulations and spent resources that should be used for innovation."
"You can't regulate honesty," he said. "We must rely on the honesty of management."
The audience applauded loudly after Silverman concluded.
Michael Fitts, dean of the Law School, called Silverman the "embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit" in his introduction.
Bryan Fields, a first-year Law student, said Silverman's speech was "timely and relevant."
"This is the 21st century, and we're still living in the shadow of Enron," he said. "We need to learn from these mistakes."
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