Event Advisory

When: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 6 p.m.

Where: The Charles F. Dolan School of Business Dining Room.

What: The Inaugural MBA Oath Project Ceremony where students will stand together to take an oath to be business leaders who will hold themselves to the highest standard of integrity. The event will include a panel discussion featuring area business leaders weighing in on some of the most egregious missteps in moral judgment made by big businesses and top executives.

Members of the MBA Oath Project - which include students at business schools nationwide and professional business organization members - demand that business leaders hold themselves to the highest standard of integrity and service to society. The goal is to spearhead a global movement of MBA-educated managers who lead in the interests of the greater good. The ceremony will feature MBA and M.S. in Accounting, Finance and Taxation students and alumni voluntarily pledging to 'create value responsibly and ethically.'

Why: As a Jesuit University, Fairfield promotes integrity and ethics in business via its rigorous curriculum. Initiating the MBA Oath Project was a logical next step for the Dolan Graduate Business Association (DGBA), student members said. "Many graduating MBA and M.S. students realize that integrating integrity and ethics into corporate business models should not just be a professed moral code," said graduate student Susan Serven, a DGBA executive board member, "but a way to add value to corporations by encouraging them to develop a more inclusive, longer-term view of all global factors involved, including the economy, employees, and the community."

Panel Discussion : Panelists will comment on the case of Mark Hurd who was hired to helm Oracle. Also up for a discussion will be a Wall Street Journal OP-ED suggesting that business managers should start "thinking like venture capitalists." The panel also will offer their opinions on whether it is possible to maintain Jesuit ideals after entering the workforce.

The panelists at the event include:

James Hansel, Managing Director, Eight Winds Capital Management, Greenwich, Conn.
Despina Kartson, CMO, Latham & Watkins, New York, NY.
Another panelist to be named

Background: Fairfield students are taught to approach business decisions in a holistic manner, considering all of the implications and consequences of their choices, in order to develop confidence in their abilities to make sound ethical and profitable decisions.

"The DGBA was interested in implementing the oath here at Fairfield so they could build upon the efforts to create a community of MBAs with a high standard for ethical and professional behavior," said Myrsini Papoutsis, assistant dean and director of graduate programs.

To RSVP for the event, please contact Barbara Dusenbury at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2290.

Image: Ken Flatto, Fairfield First Selectman

Posted On: 10-13-2010 10:10 AM

Volume: 43 Number: 77