WASHINGTON -
WHAT: Today’s global business climate requires business leaders to make decisions and stimulate growth within the context of increasingly complex social and environmental issues. To achieve greater competitiveness in tomorrow’s markets, strategies will need to be based on an integrated set of corporate values and on people with the knowledge and skills to tackle not only financial, but also social and environmental challenges.

As part of WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit, business leaders from the corporate, academic and recruiting sectors will explore the importance of values and skills within a company and the state of corporate education and training on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 2004 from 8:30-9:30 am

WHERE: Watergate Hotel
2650 Virginia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037
(800) 289-1555

WHO: Hilary Bradbury, assistant professor of organizational behavior and associate director, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University

Caitlin McLaughlin, director of campus recruiting, Global Investment Bank, Citigroup

Heather McDonald-Walker, alliance manager, emerging markets, Hewlett-Packard

Gretchen A. Winter, vice president, business practices, Baxter International

Moderated by: Meghan Chapple, manager, Business Education, WRI

WHY: Increasingly, firms are embracing sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals at the strategic level. The challenge to these firms lies in tapping into employees’ values and leadership capabilities on these issues.

Business leaders will discuss ways to bring sustainability and CSR to life. Discussion topics will include weighing existing corporate structures and people versus recruitment of new talent with sustainability training; how to integrate sustainability into an existing firm; and the role of new leadership in implementing these strategies.

WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit will take place on March 17-18, 2004 at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. “Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Markets” will bring together innovative corporate leaders and sustainability experts to explore solutions that corporations can provide in response to today’s most pressing global challenges, and, in so doing, position themselves as the competitive enterprises of the future.

For more information on WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit, please visit http://summit.wri.org.

World Resources Institute

World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Because people are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding, WRI provides—and helps other institutions provide—objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. WRI organizes its work around four key goals:

People & Ecosystems: Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services.

Access: Guarantee public access to information and decisions regarding natural resources and the environment.

Climate Protection: Protect the global climate system from further harm due to emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change.

Markets & Enterprise: Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment.

More from World Resources Institute