The Liberal Studies Degree Programs of the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), in cooperation with the Caux Round Table (CRT) and the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW), and media partner CSRwire, hosted the “Sustainable Business Leadership Forum: Ethics, the Professions, and Society,” on March 5 and 6 in Georgetown’s Intercultural Center.

Approximately 35 executives, attorneys, scholars, and other colleagues from the World Bank, AARP, the U.S. Department of State, Calvert Asset Management Company, the RAND Corporation, Fleishman-Hillard, Interstate Resources, Temple University, Georgetown, and other organizations gathered for this discussion of organizational and professional integrity and responsibility. In addition, SBNOW board members moderated sessions and SCS students enrolled in the forum for academic credit.

Coordinating faculty member, Lester A. Myers (G ’91, G ’98, L ’99), an attorney, CPA, and business ethicist, conceived of the forum as an invitation to a holistic conversation about interrelated issues of business ethics, social responsibility, law, public policy, social justice, and spirituality. Myers is affiliated with all three organizations, serving as a CRT Fellow and as chair of SBNOW. He worked with Vincent J. Kiernan (EML ’11), Associate Dean for Undergraduate Liberal Studies; Anthony J. Tambasco, Associate Dean for Graduate Liberal Studies; and Stuart R. Dalheim, Vice President-Shareholder Advocacy, at Calvert Asset Management Company, and an SBNOW board member; to plan and host the forum.

“There was an interest in all three organizations-Liberal Studies, the CRT, and SBNOW-in fostering a sophisticated conversation with and among leaders that would highlight the seamless web of relationships across these issues of organizational integrity and responsibility,” Myers said. “Silos in scholarship, policy, and practice often have inhibited reflective discourse and productive responses. In the planning and execution of this forum, we wanted to model the practices of collaboration that we seek. We wanted the form and content to bear the imprint of all three sponsors, including SBNOW’s commitment to transformational sustainability in business, the CRT’s promotion of global principles for moral capitalism, and Georgetown’s Ignatian dedication to the holistic development of the human person through education and the service of faith and the promotion of justice in the world.”

The forum consisted of four modules: (1) the corporation in society; (2) ethical vocations for institutions; (3) sustainable stewardship of human, ecological, and financial capital; and (4) principled leadership for corporate integrity and responsibility. Most speakers were chief executives and all were prominent thought leaders, including Stephen B. Young, Global Executive Director of the CRT; The Hon. Roderick M. Hills, Sr., former SEC Chair, Counsel to the President, and Chair of the Hills Program on Governance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; The Hon. Robert Edgar, President of Common Cause; Bruce Piasecki, President and Founder, AHC, Group, Inc.;Raymond Baker, Director of Global Financial Integrity; Kathryn C. Brown, Senior Vice President-Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility, of Verizon Communications; and The Rev. John C. Haughey, S.J., Senior Research Fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center.

The forum also featured a special private screening in the Intercultural Center Auditorium for members of the Georgetown community of the documentary, We’re Not Broke, a Sundance Film Festival 2012 Official Selection about corporate tax avoidance and tax evasion. After the screening, Myers moderated a discussion with the producer-directors, Vicky Bruce and Karin Hayes, and the executive producer, Charles Davidson, the publisher of The American Interest magazine.

Kiernan commented, “The forum offered an opportunity for our Liberal Studies students to interact with senior thought and executive leaders and to apply the strengths of the Jesuit emphases on the humanities and social concern to urgent contemporary issues of ethics and public policy.” Theresa Amelia Armstrong (BALS ’13) said that, “these two days have been the most valuable use of my time in many years.”

Tambasco added that, “The forum marked a successful collaboration among the three sponsors and we look forward to assessing its impact and considering the possibility of hosting a similar event in the future.”