Ethisphere names Dean Turney Stevens one of business ethics most influential people

Lipscomb University College of Business Dean Turney Stevens was recently named one of 2009’s Most Influential People in Business Ethics by the Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think-tank dedicated to the advancement of best practices in business ethics.

 

Stevens, a long-time Nashville business leader, has been a major force in keeping business ethics at the forefront of Lipscomb's business school curriculum as well as part of community conversations through the Dean Institute for Corporate Governance and Integrity.

 

Ethisphere’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics features those who have impacted the world of business ethics in ways that will continue to resonate for many years and includes such people as SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, Harvard Fellow Ben W. Heineman Jr. and GreenBiz Editor Joel Makower (both of whom have spoken at Lipscomb events), and the President of the United States.

 

Stevens, listed at number 79, was nominated in the category of Thought Leadership: individuals “who conceive of new approaches or otherwise materially contribute to the field of business ethics theory in a way that could be easily applied by corporate leaders.”

 

Stevens led the creation of Lipscomb’s Dean Institute for Corporate Governance and Integrity, formed in the fall of 2008 as a national forum to integrate best practices in governance with integrity and faith for public and private company executives, board members and other top-tier corporate leaders.

 

According to the Ethisphere Website: “The Institute’s mission will explore the idea of implementing integrity in business operations, even if that comes at the expense of ‘undesirable’ short term consequences.”

 

Stevens, a Nashville native, retired in 2007, after 35 years as an investment banker, corporate executive and entrepreneur. He was named Dean of the College of Business in 2008 following a national search. During his business career, he led the financing of many well known companies and also founded two siginificant enterprises of his own: a magazine publisher with five titles which was sold in 1982 to a public company and a national commerical printing company with $240 million in revenues which began with the acquisition of a $7 million company in Nashville. He led Rodgers Capital Corporation, the investment banking firm founded by the late U.S. Ambassador to France, Joe M. Rodgers, and he co-founded Harpeth Capital with Nashville attorney Sam Bartholomew and health care executive Clayton McWhorter in 2000.

 

The Lipscomb University College of Business has established several ethics-focused programs under Stevens’ leadership, such as the:

 

The research-based Ethisphere Institute is a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. Ethisphere Magazine, which publishes the globally recognized World’s Most Ethical Companies Ranking™, is the quarterly publication of the Institute.