Patricia E. Dowden and Philip M. Nichols Column

We propose to defend this principle: “A basic duty of every organization is to earn stakeholder trust.” Patricia E. Dowden is President and CEO of Center for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance and Managing Director of the Russian Compliance Alliance, an online compliance self-evaluation system. Ms. Dowden’s Russia/CIS experience includes managing consulting projects, conducting business seminars, and lecturing at major Russian conferences and universities on ethics issues. She has extensive U.S. commercial bank management experience. She holds a BS from University of North Carolina (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA (Finance) from Georgia State University. More information is available at http://www.ethicsrussia.org/index.php/who-we-are/organization/119-who-we-are/our-organization/106-patricia-dowden Philip M. Nichols is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics and Director of the Social Impact and Responsibility Program, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on emerging economies and corruption. Professor Nichols has been active in Russia in promoting business ethics, where he has lectured, conducted roundtables, and presented papers at major universities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yaroslavl. Dr. Nichols holds a JD, Duke University; LLM, Duke University; AB, Harvard University More information is available at https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/1135/