As the global financial markets continue to fluctuate, five of the leading thinkers in the field of socially responsible investing will gather at the Marlboro College Graduate School for a public symposium, "Beyond SRI: The Future of Socially Responsible Investing" at 5:00 pm on Friday, December 11.

This event is co-produced by the Marlboro MBA in Managing for Sustainability and Sea Change Media. The panel will be moderated by Anders Ferguson of VERIS Wealth Partners, and will feature Peter Kinder, founding president of KLD Research and Analytics; Cary Krosinsky of Trucost; Terry Mollner of Stakeholders Capital and the Trusteeship Institute; and KC Burton of Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Additional biographical information can be found at gradschool.marlboro.edu.

A special invitation was extended to prominent sustainable business leaders in the region to enhance the depth and relevance of audience dialogue. The event will be video and audio recorded for sharing with a broader audience. In addition, a consensus paper documenting ideas and conclusions from the discussion will be issued after the event.

Socially responsible investing, or SRI, is experiencing a period of exciting transition. The practice of factoring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into investment decisions, introduced some four decades ago, is now integrating into mainstream investing, according to recent reports from Business for Social Responsibility and Netherlands-based asset manager Robeco. The field is re-defining itself with the emergence of distinct strategies such as sustainable investing and common good investing. Consolidations, re-organizations, and leadership transitions are shifting the SRI landscape. Shareowner advocacy, traditionally an adversarial practice pitting activist investors against companies, is now more collaborative, with companies actively engaging all their stakeholders.

Under the guidance of program director Ralph Meima, the Marlboro MBA in Managing for Sustainability is taught in person and online, with students and faculty coming together for three days each month at the downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, campus of the Marlboro College Graduate Center. Over the course of two years, MBA students earn 60 credits in classes, internships and independent research.

Sea Change Media, a division of the Trusteeship Institute, produces projects independently and through partnerships that advance its mission of social, environmental and economic transformation. Their flagship project, Sea Change Radio, is a nationally syndicated show and global podcast that covers the shift to sustainability.

The Marlboro College Graduate Center is located at 28 Vernon Street in Brattleboro, Vermont. For more information, contact the Marlboro College Public Relations department at 802-251-7644 or pr@marlboro.edu.

Marlboro College Graduate School

Marlboro College Graduate School

MARLBORO COLLEGE GRADUATE SCHOOL, BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT, USA Master of Business Administration in Managing for Sustainability The Marlboro MBA combines the core competencies of a traditional MBA program with process and content attuned to social and environmental responsibility, triple or multiple bottom-line performance measurement, a global perspective on commerce and economic justice, and the overall notion of sustainability. There are three particular groups of people for whom the Marlboro MBA is specifically designed:

• Those who are convinced our society must follow a more sustainable path, and seek knowledge, skills, perspectives, and a network to help them point their business careers in that direction.
• People who want to immerse themselves in the socially responsible business movement by working at one of the leaders - many of which are located in or near Vermont - or perhaps starting the next trend-setter themselves.
• People who are interested in becoming a corporate social responsibility (CSR) professional for a corporation, auditing firm, consulting firm, or NGO, working to change the system from within

At 60 credits, this full-scale, accredited MBA can be completed in two years, and does not require students to live near the campus. Its hybrid limited-residency format combines attendance of ten 3-day intensive weekends per year and online coursework. The Marlboro MBA in Managing for Sustainability brings the model pioneered by several West Coast MBA programs to Vermont and the Northeast for the first time. Key features include an emphasis on accounting and finance, systems thinking courses, exploration of the policy and business implications of climate change, priority for clear written and verbal communication, mentoring in personal leadership development, and international study.

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