Business for a Better World Center Events

Upcoming Events

Connecting Today’s Experts with Tomorrow’s Problem Solvers 

Tomorrow’s leaders must act with the understanding that the purpose of business extends beyond creating short-term value for shareholders.

One of the primary ways we reinforce that message is by connecting today’s top professionals with the problem solvers of tomorrow. Our students learn from experts who have changed their companies and industries for the better so that they can apply those lessons throughout their own careers.

Our event programming has concluded for the fall 2021 semester, but check back soon for the spring 2022 listing of events. In the meantime you can learn more about our recurring series below.

Recurring Programs

Ideas to Impact Program

Bringing leaders to campus, and to our students specifically, is central to the Business for a Better World Center’s mission. It is essential for student to hear from and have access to those who are changing the world. Our Ideas to Impact program (formerly the Semester Speaker Series) brings social impact and sustainability thought leaders from top-tier organizations directly to our students. Speakers during the 2020-2021 academic year included Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation; authors Robert Putnman and Shaylyn Romney Garrett; and Dymphna van der Lans and Jean-Louis Racine of the Clean Cooking Alliance. 

Stakeholder Capitalism Discussion Series

The belief that the sole purpose of a corporation is to make money for its shareholders—or “shareholder capitalism”—is currently experiencing a long-overdue reexamination and upheaval in favor of “stakeholder capitalism”—the belief that corporations should be oriented to serve the interests of all of their stakeholders. The Business for a Better World Center launched the Stakeholder Capitalism Discussion Series in 2021 to explore stakeholder capitalism and how it can be applied to businesses in a world rife with persistent inequality, social injustice, racial bias, and environmental degradation, and to drive stakeholder capitalism further into the mainstream, thereby changing the trajectory of our corporations.

Lunchtime Conversations 

The Business for a Better World Center’s Lunchtime Conversations engage and connect with expertise available across George Mason University. These informal sessions are a place to share unique perspectives and knowledge on topics surrounding the intersection of business and sustainability to drive research, curriculum, and policy action at Mason. 

The Center hosts three Lunchtime Conversations each semester. Conversations during the 2020-2021 academic year focused on Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. Sessions showcased Mason researchers focused on the many facets of this critical issue. 

Past Events On-Demand