ALBANYThree major leaders in the business communityJames W. Kinnear, Muriel Siebert, and Eric Mowerwill address a major forum in Albany on "Corporate Leadership and Ethics." The event is set for Monday, May 12, from 3:30 to 5:15 p.m. in Hearing Room "C" of the Legislative Office Building.
The forum is free and open to legislative and government officials, business leaders, news media and interested members of the public. It will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in Hearing Room "C" of the Legislative Office Building in Albany. It is sponsored by The Public Policy Institute of New York State, the research affiliate of The Business Council.
Mr. Kinnear, the retired president and chief executive officer of Texaco, will lead off the forum with a keynote on sound corporate governance and on the importance of ethics in business leadership. Kinnear was the architect of one of the great corporate turnarounds in recent historypulling Texaco out of the bankruptcy into which it was forced by a 1987 court judgment in Texas, and staving off a takeover attempt by Carl Icahn.
His book, The Man Who Wore the Star: Real-time Perspectives on a Business Leader's Changing World, devotes much of its content to sound corporate governance principles, and to the ethical dimensions of corporate leadership. It was published by The Business Council in 2001, just as the Enron collapse was alerting the nation to the damage that can be done by lapsed standards of accountability.
Mr. Kinnear's address will be followed by presentations from Ms. Siebert and Mr. Mower, after which all three will be available for audience questions, assuming time permits.
Ms. Siebert is founder and president of the brokerage that bears her name, established in 1967. In that year, she became the first woman in history to take a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. She interrupted her business career to serve as New York State's superintendent of banks under the governorship of Hugh L. Carey, and has since built her firm into one of the nation's leading discount brokerages.
Her new book, Changing the Rules: Adventures of a Wall Street Maverick (The Free Press, 2002), tells the story of her career and offers numerous insights into business, including the need for strict ethical standards and for transparent accounting.
Mr. Mower is chairman and CEO of Eric Mower and Associates, a marketing communications firm he founded 35 years ago in Syracuse. The agency now has offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Atlanta, and Portsmouth, N.H.
Mr. Mower has spoken and has been consulted widely on the importance of reputation management for businesses and other large organizations. His firm is ranked in the top 5 percent of U.S. public relations firms, but he has repeatedly stressed that a good reputation starts not with PR strategies, but with integrity, with quality products and services, and with listening. "Doing what's right is always what's smart," he says.
The Public Policy Institute forum is being held in conjunction with The Business Council's Annual Dinner, which will take place that evening in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center.
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