Hello all. My good friend is Jon Karpoff, finance prof at U of WA Grad School of Business (http://faculty.washington.edu/karpoff/). Jon has long been interested in environmental management and has published several papers on its link to finance.
He is also director of the UW CFO Forum, a quarterly gathering of leading CFOs in the Pacific NW region (http://bschool.washington.edu/cfoforum/)
Jon has asked me to figure out a Sustainable Finance CFO Forum idea for 2007. So I have been doing so, and getting good responses. Here is the tentative agenda:
Special Forum Proposal - DRAFT 11/22/06
Sustainable Finance: Investing in Responsible Companies
University of <st1:placename w:st="on">Washington</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Graduate</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype> of Business, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Seattle</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">WA</st1:state></st1:place>, April or June 2007
Speakers Invited:
Co-Host: Michael Phillips, Chairman and CEO, The Russell Company (someone from Russell will certainly co-host)
"The Business Case for Corporate Citizenship, and What Business Schools Can Do About It": Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Inc. (Mr Gates is a neighbor and very good friend of UW) – (we figure 80% likely he will attend)
CONFIRMED: "The Dow Jones Sustainability Index": John Prestbo, Executive Director and Editor, Dow Jones Indexes, and Markets Editor, the Wall Street Journal
CONFIRMED: "Designing a Sustainability Index for Emerging Markets": Cynthia Stone, Managing Director, Standard & Poor's.
"Incorporating Non-Financial Factors into Investment Analysis": Suzanne Nora Johnson, Director, Global Investment Research Division, Goldman Sachs
Discussion: What effect do indexes of responsible companies have to promote citizenship and sustainability in corporations? Should the <st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Northwest</st1:place> region have a regional index of responsible companies?
Agenda:
CFO Forum in Executive Education building
7:30-8:00 am Registration and coffee
8:00-9:30 Presentations and Discussion
9:30-10:00 Coffee and move to Kane Hall
10:30 University-wide presentation at Kane Hall
11:45 Press conference
12:00 Luncheon with UW President Mark Emmert and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:city> Mayor Greg Nickels
1:30 Sustainability leadership in Northwest Corporations
- presentations by 4-6 leaders
3:00 Coffee break
3:30 Roundtable: How can sustainable business and finance be promoted in our region?
4:30 End
Now, I am thinking we could have an afternoon session for academics interested in sustainable finance, that includes our invited speakers (for an hour maybe) and roundtable about research on this topic. Thus we would have a sustainable finance conference at UW.
So, ONE-L members:
a) would any of you want to attend this meeting?
b) Would you like to present a paper?
c) Any other ideas – but no more Forum speakers, we got plenty
Please reply directly to me at wbhamner@cleanerproduction.com, NOT to the whole listserv, thanks.
I hope this works out, sustainable finance in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region> needs a good kick in the pants! Let's play ball...
Burt Hamner