VANCOUVER – “Socially Responsible Investing: Integrating Investors, Creditors, Community and Values” is the topic of a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, in Undergraduate Classroom 1, WSU Vancouver.
Carl Talton, CEO of Portland Family of Funds, will discuss how his company creates opportunities for profitable investments while enhancing social and environmental enterprises. The talk is part of the fall 2010 MBA Social Issues in Business Speaker Series.
Joseph Cote, professor of marketing, sees the speaker series as a great way for WSU Vancouver master of business administration (MBA) students to understand the importance of considering social and stakeholder topics when making business decisions.
“Seeing how businesses have achieved success using a stakeholder focus helps reinforce the ideas the MBA program is teaching. The students also learn about the limitations organizations face when trying to address stakeholder issues,” said Cote.
WSU Vancouver’s MBA Social Issues in Business Series brings business leaders to campus once a semester to highlight and discuss corporate social responsibility efforts with faculty, students and community members.
Talton has served as an executive with Portland General Electric and Pacific Power, is a former chairman of the Portland Development Commission and serves as a commissioner with the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission.
Portland Family of Funds is a financial services company dedicated to generating “triple bottom line” returns. PFF investments include an industrial center that provides affordable work space for small manufacturing companies, expansion funds for several nonprofit medical centers and hospitals, the Museum for African Art, the Community Transitional School for homeless children and a six-megawatt wind farm that provides funding for a low-income home energy assistance program.