Established through a generous gift from Reuben Mark, former chairman and chief executive officer at the Colgate-Palmolive Company, Columbia Business and Law Schools are pleased to announce that the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership launched this past fall. This joint initiative leverages the intellectual capital of Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School to develop and design curricula and programming which teach crucial leadership lessons and the skills and strategies necessary to create an optimal organizational culture.
The Mark Initiative provides a platform for the Schools to work individually and collaboratively towards its goals. Centralized within The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics at the Business School, the Initiative will further integrate organizational character and culture into the School’s leadership development curriculum, programming, and research. Complementing this effort, the Law School has concentrated on new curriculum development, creation of a Leader-in-Residence program that brings experienced in-house lawyers or executives to teach at the Law School, and the establishment of the In-House Counsel Lab, which focuses on research and experiential study opportunities.
Jointly, the Business and Law Schools are developing cross-listed curriculum as well as unique programming that reaches internal and external audiences. Programming includes the Reuben Mark Leadership Series, which welcomes Elaine Paik ’92, Vice President and Corporate Treasurer, Colgate-Palmolive Company and Doug Satzman, Chief Executive Officer, Joe Coffee Company this spring. Featuring Bruce Sewell, former General Counsel of Apple, the Mark Initiative will also host its first public event featuring a panel discussion on successful working relationships between in-house counsel and business leaders within an organization. Looking ahead, the Business and Law Schools are collaborating on the development of an inter-school student case competition, Executive Round Table Working Group, and a biannual conference.
Columbia Business and Law Schools are extremely grateful to Mr. Mark for his extraordinary support and dedication to fostering groundbreaking research, innovative curricula and programs.
For more information and a list of upcoming events, please go to: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/leadership/reubenmarkinitiative
About Reuben Mark
Reuben Mark was the longest serving leader in the history of the Colgate-Palmolive Company. He served as chief executive officer for two and a half decades, leading the company through a period of exceptional progress and growth, global expansion and ever-increasing worldwide market-share leadership, resulting from a sharply focused business strategy. Mr. Mark was a champion of the distinctive Colgate culture that sustained this success with a deep commitment to managing with respect, developing all Colgate people and instilling them with Colgate values and ethics.
About Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School is renowned for the intellectual rigor of its curriculum and the groundbreaking scholarship of its faculty. Drawing strength from the vast interdisciplinary resources of its distinguished research university—and the global stage of New York City—students complete their legal training ready to engage the world’s most challenging issues across borders, jurisdictions, subject matters, sectors, and industries.
About The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics
The Bernstein Center is a globally recognized vanguard for the promotion of ethical leadership in business school curricula and the development of innovative research and programming on values-based leadership, governance, and corporate social responsibility. Engaging students, faculty members, alumni, and the greater Columbia community, the Bernstein Center aims to equip current and next-generation leaders with the tools and frameworks necessary to think critically about conflicts in order to develop ethical business practices.
