Emory University News Release

Release date: Jan. 10, 2003
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0640 or nseidem@emory.edu

Kenneth Cole, Robert Redford Speak on Public Trust

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

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 long-time environmental activist, opened the forum at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 29 in Glenn Memorial Auditorium with a conversation with WSB-TV's Monica Kaufman about the nation’s commitment to the common good. Three panels and two keynote speakers the following day highlighted 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. Thursday, Jan. 30 featured: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; Pierre Ferrari, president of Hot Fudge Venture Fund Inc. and chairman of SweatX; Thomas S. Robertson, dean of Emory’s 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, delivered the forum’s luncheon address 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, gave the forum’s plenary address on "An Age of Distrust" at 3:15 p.m. Hardin is professor of politics at New York University and Stanford University and co-chairman of the Russell Sage Foundation Working Group on Trust.

Donald Keough, retired president of The Coca-Cola Co. and current chairman of Allen & Co., closed the conference starting 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 Kenneth Cole on "Reflections —Whom Do We Trust?"

Emory launched the fellowship program, the first of its kind in the United States, in 2001 with a lead gift from 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.

The Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum is an initiative of Emory’s Office of University-Community Partnerships. Visit the Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum Web site for full program details at oucp.emory.edu/Info/kennethcolefellows.html.