On Thursday evening, January 26, the Laspa Center for Leadership will host “Leading for Good,” the first in a series of biannual leadership summits intended to deepen the Claremont community’s engagement with topics related to women’s leadership. For this inaugural event, Laspa will host a panel of successful corporate, political, and nonprofit leaders to discuss the ethics of leadership in the workplace and how working toward a common good need not be relegated to the not-for-profit world.
“The summit will demonstrate that ethical leadership isn’t just for one type of industry,” says Lindsey Martinovich, assistant director of Laspa. “In both for-profit and nonprofit contexts, good leaders challenge the status quo, create diversity within their organizations, and cultivate influence with their peers.”
Two of the center’s Scholars in Action, Suki White ’18 and Alex Hansen ’19, played a vital role in selecting the panelists and organizing the event. The keynote speaker, Julie Hanna, serves as the presidential ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and the executive chair of the board of Kiva, a nonprofit lending institution. Other panelists include Los Angeles–based artist Rebecca Campbell, Scripps Associate Professor of Economics Sean Flynn, Congressional Budget Office assistant director Teri Gullo ’79, Morten T. Hansen, UC Berkeley management professor and bestselling author, Los Angeles Community College District trustee Sydney K. Kamlager, and Luz Rivas, founder and executive director of DIY Girls and a commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works.
White believes the event will stand out because it will be “rooted in intimate conversations;” after the discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to converse with the panelists one-on-one at a dessert reception. Martinovich also stresses the significance of Scripps’ role as a woman’s college in hosting the event.
“Although there are other leadership centers and events on campuses across the country, there is not an abundance of events and centers focused solely on women’s leadership [stressing the] importance of closing the gender gap in leadership,” she says. “This is the Laspa Center’s main purpose.”
White agrees, saying, “Although not all of the guests identify as women, I think the audience will learn how feminist ideals are important to the future of our workplaces and our concepts of leadership.”
While the event is open to all Claremont students, faculty, and staff, Martinovich especially urges students thinking about post-graduate life to attend.
“I think it’s a common thought that students believe they have to choose between making money or doing something for the good of society,” she says. “It’s important to know that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.”
“Leading for Good” will take place Thursday, January 26, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Hampton Room. Please RSVP to Lindsey Martinovich at lmartino@scrippscollege.edu to attend. For those eager to explore more topics in leadership, be on the lookout for future leadership summits by the Laspa Center for Leadership?, such as the upcoming “Leading to Zero” this April.