NEWS

Kenan Institute in Washington to host conference on corporate leadership in the community

CHAPEL HILL -- The Kenan Institute in Washington will host a conference on "Corporate Leadership in the Community: Corporate Leadership in an Era of Globalization" Nov. 14-15 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Kenan Institute in Washington, located in Washington, D.C., is part of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the think-and-do tank of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. The Kenan Institute in Washington was created to build bridges between business and other parts of society. It pursues this mandate through "research in action," integrating cutting-edge research with innovative, partnership-building programs in the field.

This is the inaugural conference of the Cornerstone Program, the Kenan Institute in Washington’s global initiative to build business leadership in the community. Cornerstone's overall objective is to build and strengthen the connective leadership structures that enable businesses to partner more effectively with other sectors at the local level, building strong economies and communities around the globe through joint initiatives on economic growth and social development.

The conference will be held at UNC’s William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center. It will focus on the role of community leadership structures in the development of strong economies. These structures — such as community foundations and economic development partnerships — are intermediary organizations that connect business with other sectors of society to attain social and economic improvement. Such institutions have been a hallmark of American society.

However, in an era of globalization, traditional institutions in the United States are struggling to modernize and address a range of new issues; and a 21^st century breed of these structures, such as Councils of 100 and venture philanthropy funds, are emerging. Concurrently, societies in emerging market economies have found the absence of community leadership structures to be an impediment to their own growth and modernization.

"We believe that business is an absolutely critical partner for cities striving to create more jobs and be more creative. But how do we keep business working as a full partner with the community when companies are increasingly headquartered elsewhere and stretched for resources?" said Dr. Jennifer Bremer, director of the Kenan Institute in Washington. "Finding answers to that question is what this conference is all about."

The conference will offer practitioners in community leadership, economic development and local philanthropy new insights into meeting the new challenges of globalization and contributing to the development of economic value at the local level around the globe.

Conference topics include:

· The Immigrant Corporation: "Three Views on What it Takes to Meet Local Expectations in a Global Environment"

· The New Economic Development Partnerships: "Business-led Strategies for Globally Competitive Communities"

· Among the Believers: "Local Perceptions of Corporate Roles and Responsibilities in the Muslim World"

· Building the Philanthropic Community: "The Road from Cleveland to Cape Town."

David Winder of Synergos will be the Cornerstone keynote speaker. Other confirmed speakers include: Laurie Regelbrugge, Unocal Foundation; Shannon St. John, Triangle Foundation; Peter Roulhac, Wachovia Bank; Yaqub Mirza, Sterling Management Group; Valeria Lee, Golden LEAF Inc.; and Nicole Pride, IBM Corp.

For more information on Cornerstone and to register, visit www.cornerstone-global.org.

- 30 -

Contact: Amy Wong, Cornerstone associate, (202) 289-4128, awong@kenan.org

Cindy Fox, Cornerstone program manager, (202) 289-8567, cfox@kenan.org

Kenan-Flagler Business School contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-8951, spurrk@unc.edu