Colleen McBride-Wells is celebrating and letting everybody know what she thinks of former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio.
She retired from US West after 30 years just before it merged with Qwest in June 2000. But she kept her retirement funds in Qwest stock and lost a big chunk of her nest egg when the stock nosedived under Nacchio.
After Nacchio was found guilty of 19 counts of illegal insider trading in April, McBride-Wells, 59, felt some relief. And when U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham decided July 27 to lock up Nacchio for six years, she just had to share her joy with neighbors.
“I’m just saying, ‘Hallelujah, thank God somebody else thought that he was wrong.’ I was so scared I’d be out in left field and no one would think he should be punished,” McBride-Wells said.
She has two anti-Nacchio signs in her yard. The signs are plastered with computer- printout pictures of the former CEO with strips of black construction paper, representing jail bars, taped over his face. They also say “justice is served” and have copies of news stories from his trial and sentencing.
