Law and Business Experts to Discuss Corporate Responsibility at U.Va. Symposium

Ted Mathas headshot

Ted Mathas, chairman, president and CEO of New York Life Insurance Company(Photo: Courtesy of the U.Va. School of Law)

February 17, 2011 — Leading experts from across the country will gather Feb. 25 at the University of Virginia School of Law to discuss business ethics and corporate social responsibility at the Fifth Annual Virginia Law & Business Review Symposium.

"The business crises of the last decade – from Enron to the current recession – have also been crises of ethics," symposium director Sarah Chase-Levenson, a second-year law student, said. "Corporations have responded by attempting to create a more substantive definition of what business ethics really means, and this symposium explores the different factors influencing this discussion."

Ted Mathas, chairman, president and CEO of New York Life Insurance Company, will deliver the keynote address at 9 a.m. in Caplin Pavilion, where the day's events will be held.

Mathas, a 1992 graduate of the Law School, will also moderate a panel of law and business experts at 1 p.m. Experts and scholars in law and business, including several U.Va. alumni, will serve on panels covering topics on business structure and social values, the impact of salary and bonus formulas, and the intersection between corporate, social and personal ethics. Scheduled speakers include:

• Walter W. Bardenwerper, vice president, general counsel and secretary, Towers Watson & Co.

• William G. Crutchfield Jr., founder and CEO, Crutchfield Corporation

• Tim Ferguson, founder, chair and managing partner, Next Street Financial

• R. Edward Freeman, University Professor, Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration; academic director, Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, U.Va. Darden School of Business

• George S. Geis, John V. Ray Professor of Law; director, Program in Law & Business, U.Va.

• Dean W. Krehmeyer, executive director, Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, U.Va. Darden School of Business

• Mary Ann Leeper, founder, The Female Health Company

• Charles E. Rappold, vice chairman and chief operating officer, ConvergEx Group

• George Rutherglen, John Barbee Minor Distinguished Professor of Law, U.Va.

The conference, "Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility," is open to the public, and parking is available in Law School lots. Guests can register online. Registration is required to receive lunch.

Schedule


(Full Program with Speaker Bios)
All events are located in Caplin Pavilion at the U.Va. School of Law

9 a.m. Opening Remarks

Sarah Chase-Levenson

9:05 a.m. Introduction

George Geis, John V. Ray Professor of Law; director, Program in Law & Business, U.Va.

9:10 a.m. Keynote

Ted Mathas, chairman, president and CEO, New York Life Insurance Company

10 a.m. Panel: Aligning the Structure of Business Institutions with the Values of Society

Moderator:  Professor R. Edward Freeman, U.Va. Darden School of Business

11 a.m. Panel: The Compensation Factor: How Salary and Bonus Formulas Impact How You Do Business

Moderator:  John Barbee Minor Distinguished Professor of Law, U.Va.

Noon. Lunch

1 p.m. Panel: Creating Alignment: Corporate Ethics, Personal Ethics and Social Responsibility

Moderator: Ted Mathas, chairman, president and CEO, New York Life Insurance Company

2 p.m. Closing Remarks

Sarah Chase-Levenson

Media Contact

Mary Wood

University of Virginia School of Law