CEBC IN THE NEWS

St. Thomas to be Sole Sponsor of Ethics Group

Published Saturday, June 5, 2004 in the Star Tribune.

By Neal St. Anthony

The University of St. Thomas in July will assume full sponsorship of the nationally prominent Center for Ethical Business Cultures, raising endowment funds for the group, which has struggled in some years.

The center, started in 1978 and housed at St. Thomas' downtown Minneapolis business school, has been sponsored jointly since 1998 with the University of Minnesota. Under the new arrangement, St. Thomas will expand the center's consulting, research and education initiatives.

However, St. Thomas has provided space and other in-kind support valued at more than $100,000 annually and last year provided $23,656 cash to balance the CEBC's $557,000 budget, according to the center's financial statement.

More than 70 local corporate and individual members provide about 40 percent of the center's budget, with fees from seminars and consulting providing most of the rest.

The center, headed since 2000 by Ron James, a veteran Twin Cities executive, has markedly increased its profile through 100-plus presentations and consultations in the last year alone as the business community has tried to deal with the fallout from corporate scandals.

"CEBC's purpose has never been more relevant than in these times, when restoring trust and confidence in the integrity of business is so critical," James said Friday. "This relationship with St. Thomas brings more financial stability, expanded academic focus and will allow us to bring more resources to the business community.

"We are being called on by more and more organizations to work with their senior executives as they do reality checks and examinations of their culture and try to get an outside look at their cultures."

CEBC plans to expand its public programs, such as last year's "White-Collar Crime Symposium" that featured several big-name felons who'd lost their wealth and reputations. Christopher Puto, dean of the St. Thomas business school and a CEBC board member, called the center "a leading authority in diagnosing healthy organizational cultures, and the [St. Thomas College of Business] has emerged as one of only a few schools in the nation to devote significant resources to business ethics research, curriculum and outreach. By creating a permanent home for the center at St. Thomas, we're better linking scholarly examinations of business ethics to the concrete dilemmas encountered in workplaces across the country."

CEBC was founded in 1978 as the Minnesota Project on Corporate Responsibility by now-retired CEOs such as Dave Koch of Graco, Chuck Denny of ADC Telecommunications, the late Kenneth Dayton of what was then Dayton Hudson Corp., and Tony Andersen of H.B. Fuller. The executives wanted a group that could set standards and promote ethical business conduct and good corporate citizenship.

The center, known previously as the Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility, may be best known for developing the "Minnesota Principles," which evolved into a set of global business principles known as the Caux Round Table Principles for Business. The center has an ongoing relationship with the Caux Round Table, a Swiss-based organization of senior business leaders from the Americas, Europe and Asia.

© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Center for Ethical Business Cultures

1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 331 ▪ Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005 ▪ USA

Phone: 651 962 4120 or 800 328 6819 Ext. 2-4120 ▪ Facsimile: 651 962 4042

Email: mail@cebcglobal.org

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Business Partnering with the University of St. Thomas - Minnesota