April 23, 2010

Gold Hall, Room B208 - Anderson School of Management

Agenda:

9:00 Breakfast

9:30Welcoming remarks-Dean Judy Olian

9:45 Remarks on the work of the Fink Center
Introduction of Laurence Fink-Richard Roll

10:00 Remarks-Laurence Fink
Discussion around Mr. Fink's remarks

10:30 Session 1: Encouraging Long-Term Perspectives and Innovation
Where do the origins of short-termism lie? How does human behavior contribute to market-wide shorttermism? If it is true that a short-term focus discourages productive investments, and encourages risk taking, how can we encourage a greater focus on the long-term and foster innovation and productive investment?

Setting the context: Margaret Blair (Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Entreprise, Vanderbilt Law School)

11:45 Session 2: Exploring the Contribution of Financial Intermediaries (Lunch Served)
How do financial intermediaries (in particular managers of mutual funds, hedge funds and pension funds) contribute to an increasingly short-term focus? What are the multitude of incentives and pressures that face financial intermediaries, and how might these be addressed?

Setting the context: Lynn Stout (Distinguished Professor of Corporate & Business Law, Cornell University Law School)

1:15 Session 3: Brainstorming Solutions
The Aspen Institute’s Corporate Values Strategy Group has offered ideas that address voluntary practice of investors and operating companies, as well as a more recent public policy statement focused on the role of shareholders. What solutions seem to offer the most impact?

1:15 – 1:25 Setting the context: Judith Samuelson (Executive Director of Business and Society Program at The Aspen Institute) and Henry Hu (Allan Shivers Chair in the Law of Banking and Finance at University of Texas, Austin Law School)

1:25 – 2:30 Small group discussions

2:30 Concluding Session
What role can we, as scholars and/or business practitioners, play in encouraging healthy business and investor behavior?

3:30 Reception