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November 13, 2006, at 4:45 p.m.
University Events Room
Glickman Family Library, 7th floor
Portland USM Campus (map)

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This is the Age of the Corporation. No discrete political creed was the victor of the Cold War, but it is certain that the God Capitalism triumphed and its prophet is the global corporation and its religion the language of economics with its apparent precision and impartiality. The hegemony of economics has increasingly dominated other languages in the formulation of policy with the result of expanding the role of corporations in the public life around the globe. The accumulation of wealth has been agreed as the principal objective of society. The corporate form of organization has been accepted as the most efficient means to achieve that objective. Wealth does not come without its cost. Only sovereign countries can create corporations and each has evolved institutions and standards to assure that corporate power does not involve unacceptable costs to its society.
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Robert A.G. Monks is the publisher of http://www.ragm.com,which is focused on the assembly and dissemination of information and opinion about global issues of corporate governance. Mr. Monks is a substantial shareholder in, and advisor to, Trucost, the environmental research company. He is also the founder of Lens Governance Advisors, a law firm that advises on corporate governance in the settlement of shareholder litigation and his principal occupation is the development of ideas harmonizing corporate energies with the long-term interests of Global society. He is also the board chairman of Governance for Owners, for both the London and U.S. based share-ownership services venture formed by former Hermes directors Peter Butler and Steve Brown. Mr. Monks was the deputy chairman of Hermes Focus Asset Management in the UK. He also was the founder of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc., and served as its president from 1985-1990. ISS is now the leading corporate governance consulting firm, advising shareholders with assets in excess of $1 trillion on how to vote their proxies. He founded the investment fund known as LENS, which since 1992 has developed the "institutional activist" mode of investment. The fund has achieved returns in excess of the S&P average throughout its life and has exceeded them by over 100% during the three-year period from 1998 to 2000.

The colloquium is sponsored by the L.L. Bean/Lee Surace Endowed Chair in Accounting.

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USM Professor Jeffrey Gramlich was appointed the first L.L. Bean/Lee Surace Chair in Accounting in the USM School of Business in 2003. His appointment was made possible by a $1 million gift from L.L. Bean, Inc., its board chair, Leon Gorman, his wife Lisa, Jim and Maureen Gorman, and Tom Gorman, who established the chair in memory of L.L. Bean CFO Lee Surace '73, '81, who died in March of 2001. Surace was chair of the USM School of Business' Advisory Council and was a frequent guest lecturer.

The USM School of Business is accredited by the prestigious AACSB International. For students seeking the finest education and companies seeking the highest caliber talent, partnership, and educational opportunities, AACSB International accreditation is one of the most important affirmations of sustained quality in the word. For more information about School of Business programs, call 780-4020.