May 22, 2009 - Do international financial institution-the IMF, World Bank, IFC-- need reform or reinvention? What are the most promising innovations to vastly upscale the flow of capital to socially-purposeful corporations? What management strategies and policy options are most capable of taming short-termism and fostering management practices aimed at long-term wealth creation?

"A surge of initiatives has raised critical choices concerning the future of finance," says Allen L. White, Director of Corporation 20/20 and Senior Fellow, Tellus Institute. "The situation is both momentous and fluid. Rarely does an historic moment present itself when fundamental institutional change is within reach. Corporations in the "real economy," and their allies in civil society, progressive finance and labor, need to raise a collective voice in support of a policy agenda that will transform finance from its casino-like behavior into an agent of long- term wealth creation."

How to achieve this is the theme of at the 2nd Summit on the Future of the Corporation: Restoring the Primacy of the Real Economy, Boston, June 9-10, at historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market (www.summit2020.org). Organized by Corporation 20/20, thought leaders from business, civil society, finance, labor, and law will convene for two days of visioning, debate and agenda-setting for restructuring the relationship between capital and corporations.

Selected speakers include:
Robert Johnson (Keynote) - Member, UN Commission, Former Chief Economist, US Senate Banking and Budget Committees, Managing Director, Soros Fund Management
Peter Blom, CEO, Triodos Bank, Netherlands
Leslie Christian, President, Portfolio 21 Investments Mark Goyder, Founder Director, Tomorrow's Company, UK, Jeffrey Hollender, CEO, Seventh Generation
Roger Saillant, Former CEO and Plug Power; former VP Ford Motor Company
Judith Samuelson, Executive Director, Business and Society Program Aspen Institute
Peter Senge, MIT, Society for Organizational Learning

The Summit marks the 5th anniversary of Corporation 20/20, an initiative to vision, design and advocate for innovative corporate design that seamlessly blend social and financial purpose.

"The financialization of the economy has reached historic proportions, diverting huge quantities of capital and talent from the real economy," say White. Reversing this trend is one of the paramount challenges of the coming decade, one that is inseparably linked both to economic recovery and to fostering corporations aligned with the great challenges of sustainable development that lie ahead."

Agenda and registration information is available at: www.summit2020.org

Corporation 20/20

Corporation 20/20

Corporation 20/20 seeks to: create a forum of leading thinkers, practitioners and advocates; construct positive and plausible visions of the future corporate form, and translate such visions into broad-based advocacy. Toward those ends, the initiative aims to create international benchmarks to inspire and guide corporations, governments, multilateral organizations and civil society toward transformative change in corporate design, including ownership structures, governance, corporate law reform, capitalization and internal incentives and rewards. Corporation 20/20 is rooted in the premise that societal expectations of business in the 21st century demands a major elevation in corporate contributions to urgent global problems—economic, environmental, and social.

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