March 24, 2009

The Hampshire House

84 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

Please join us for a panel discussion to explore the effects of the economic downturn, $40 oil, and the credit crunch on the sustainability and social responsibility agendas, clean-tech and other green business initiatives.  We will also consider the new administration, the stimulus package, and other recent legislation.

For tickets, please REGISTER ONLINE HERE.  Tickets are $10 for Ross alums, free for current Ross students, and $20 for everyone else (all are welcome).  The admission fee includes beer & wine and hors d'oeuvres.  Seating is limited, so please register soon.

Confirmed panelists include:

• Peter Kinder, Founder and President of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., one of the best known firms in the socially responsible investing space, and developer of the Domini 400 Social Index (now known as the FTSE/KLD 400), the first socially-screened US equity portfolio, created in 1990.
• Eric Lowitt, Research Fellow at Accenture's Institute for High Performance, author of several sustainability points of view, including Compatible Aims: Sustainability and High Performance, and Driving Sustainability in the Downturn
• Gwen Ruta, Vice President of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Director of their Corporate Partnerships program.  She is also on the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan.

Schedule will be as follows:

6:30 PM Cocktails and networking

7:00 PM Panel discussion & audience Q&A

8:00 PM Continued Networking

About the Speakers

Eric Lowitt is a Research Fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance. His most recent research on sustainability was copublished with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Eric's research focuses on how sustainability impacts the corporate agenda, including the link between sustainability and high performance as well as how organizations are priming themselves to attend to sustainability. In addition to his sustainability research, Eric's work has also contributed to articles and publications such as “The Chief Strategy Officer” (Harvard Business Review, October 2007) and Competing on Analytics (Harvard Business School Press, 2007). Eric received a B.S. in Japanese and Finance from the State University of New York at Albany and a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

More information about Eric Lowitt 

Peter D. Kinder is President of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., (KLD) in Boston, Massachusetts, which he co-founded in 1988.

KLD’s mission is to remove barriers to socially responsible investing by providing institutional investors with social research, compliance services, benchmarks, performance analytics and consulting. The firm is best known for the Domini 400 Social Index (now known as the FTSE/KLD 400), the first for socially screened US equity portfolios which it created in 1990. For more information on KLD, see http://www.kld.com

His articles on socially responsible investing and fiduciary duties have appeared in publications in the US, Canada, the UK and India. His most recent think piece “Socially Responsible Investing: An Evolving Concept in a Changing World” is available on KLD’s website, together with a number of his essays.

Mr. Kinder, Steven Lydenberg and Amy Domini are the authors of The Social Investment Almanac (Henry Holt, 1992) and Investing for Good (HarperBusiness, 1993). He collaborated with Amy Domini on Ethical Investing (Addison-Wesley, 1984). He also co-authored Law and Business (McGraw- Hill, 1982/94). With Steven Lydenberg, he wrote “Mission-Based Investing” (1999) which is about to appear in a revised edition.

Mr. Kinder was a co-founder and principal (1997-2000) of Domini Social Investments, LLC. KLD is a co-founder of the Sustainable Investment Research International Group (SiRi) and he has served on its board. Mr. Kinder has served two terms on the board of the U.S. Social Investment Forum, the SRI trade organization, one as vice chair.

From 1973 to 1988, Mr. Kinder practiced law, first as an assistant attorney general in Ohio, then in Boston as a staff lawyer for a foundation and finally in private practice. He specialized in administrative law and corporate regulation.

Mr. Kinder received an A.B. in History from Princeton University in 1970 and was awarded a J.D. from Ohio State University in 1973, both with honors. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio (1973), the District of Columbia (1977), Massachusetts (1978) and the Supreme Court of the United States (1978).

More information about Peter Kinder

Gwen Ruta directs Environmental Defense Fund's Corporate Partnerships program. She spearheads its work with leading multinational companies to develop innovative, business-based solutions to environmental challenges and to drive change through the corporate value chain.

Ranked #1 among environmental organizations for credible and effective partnerships by the Financial Times, Gwen’s group has kicked off transformations in market sectors from catalogs to shipping to retail to food service.

Partner companies have included Wal-Mart; Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts; UPS; FedEx; DuPont; McDonalds; and Citigroup.

Prior to joining Environmental Defense Fund, Gwen was Vice President at Metcalf & Eddy, an international environmental engineering firm. She has also held senior management positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Gwen has authored numerous articles on environmental issues and is a frequent speaker at business conferences. She is on the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan, and was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance by Treasury and Risk magazine.

Ms. Ruta received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

More information about Gwen Ruta