At a time when corporate scandals and economic upheaval continue to shake consumer confidence, leaders in business, philanthropy and community building will gather at Emory Jan. 29–30 to discuss “The Public Trust: Building Community in an Age of Uncertainty” during the second annual Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum, a project of the Office of University-Community Partnerships.

The forum is the capstone event for the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change, a comprehensive, 12-month program designed to prepare Emory undergraduates to become the next generation of community builders.

Academy Award-winning actor and director Robert Redford, a longtime environmental activist, will deliver the forum’s opening address at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 29, in Glenn Auditorium with an in-depth look at the nation’s commitment to the common good. Three panels and two keynote speakers the following day highlight such issues as the ethical challenges facing philanthropists, the value of distrust in a healthy democratic society, and the power of community-based investment and decision-making.

The forum’s opening session on “Doing Good While Doing Well,” from 9–10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, will feature: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; Pierre Ferrari, president of Hot Fudge Venture Fund Inc. and chairman of SweatX; Thomas Robertson, dean of the Goizueta Business School; and Cathy Cox, Georgia secretary of state.

Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and president of PolicyLink and former senior vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation, will deliver the forum’s luncheon address Thursday at 12:15 p.m. on the ways communities are rebuilding themselves with and without the help of corporate America.

Russell Hardin, an expert on issues of moral and political philosophy and trust, will give the forum’s plenary address on “An Age of Distrust” at 3:15 p.m. Hardin is professor of politics at New York and Stanford universities and cochairman of the Russell Sage Foundation Working Group on Trust.

Donald Keough, retired president of the Coca-Cola Company and current chairman of Allen & Co., will close the conference at 4 p.m. with a challenge for a return to ethics-driven management and a renewed focus on what’s best for the community in a conversation with Cole and Redford on “Reflections: Whom Do We Trust?”

The fellowship program is a partnership between Emory and the Kenneth Cole Foundation. Cole, chairman, CEO and creative director of Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. and a trustee of the Kenneth Cole Foundation, has long used social-consciousness messages in marketing his products. He is a 1976 graduate of Emory College.

All events are free and open to the public, but participants must pre-register at http://
oucp.emory.edu/Info/kennethcolefellows.html or by calling 404-712-9893. Forum participants will be issued tickets.