Costco co-founder Sinegal, corporate execs to discuss business ethics in Notre Dame lecture series

When James Sinegal, the co-founder and longtime CEO of
Costco Corp., announced that he would retire as of Jan. 1, 2012, an article in The Washington Post described his departure as a loss to corporate America,
saying, “It’s hard to imagine anyone with less pretense, more discipline or
more integrity leading a major corporation today.”

Sinegal’s legacy as a corporate leader included a fierce
loyalty to employees, a refusal to raise prices more than 15 percent over cost,
a no-frills office, a personal-pay level of about a third of average CEO
compensation, and no layoffs, even during the steepest of downturns.

Sinegal will be speaking about leading with integrity as
part of the 2012 John A. Berges Lecture Series in Business Ethics, an annual
fall series offered by the Mendoza College of Business at the University of
Notre Dame. Other speakers include executives from PeopleLink Staffing
Solutions, KPMG, UnitedHealth Group and Exelon Corp., who will speak on a range
of topics pertaining to business ethics and corporate leadership.

Lectures, which are free and open to the public, begin at 7
p.m., with the exception of the Sept. 10 event which begins at 6:30 p.m.

The 2012 Berges Lecture Series schedule and locations are as
follows: 

·       
Aug. 29: Ann
Rhoades, president of People Link; “Built on Values.” To be held in Room 141 in
the Edward J. DeBartolo Hall.

·       
Sept. 10: James
Sinegal, CEO of Costco Corporation; “Shared Success: Corporate Values in Action.”
To be held in the Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business.    

·       
Sept. 18: Lord
Hastings of Scarisbrick, global head of Citizenship and Diversity, KPMG; “Leading
with Values.” To be held in Room 141 in the Edward J. DeBartolo Hall.

·       
Oct. 25:
Anthony Welters, executive vice president, UnitedHealth Group; “The Challenges
of Ethics in Leadership.” To be held in the Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza
College of Business.   

·       
Nov. 14:
Kristopher Keys, vice president of Compliance, Exelon Corporation; “Ethics and
Energy.” To be held in the Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of
Business.   

The Berges Lecture Series is presented by the Center for
Ethics and Religious Values in Business and Institute for Ethical Business
Worldwide. The series features senior executives speaking on their experiences
of the ethical dimensions of business.

For more information, contact Deb Coch at (574) 631-6072 or coch.1@nd.edu, or visit
the series website at http://business.nd.edu/news_and_events/speaker_series/berges/.

 

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