Paul D. Merrill Lecture Series - Audio

Joe is President and Chief Executive Officer of Pax World Funds and its investment adviser, Pax World Management LLC, as well as its majority-owned subsidiary, Pax Ellevate Management LLC. Under Joe’s leadership, Pax World has become one of the leading innovators and asset managers in the rapidly growing field of sustainable investing. Prior to joining Pax World, Joe was President of NewCircle Communications, a strategic consulting and communications firm specializing in corporate social responsibility and public policy-oriented communications. He served as Senior Adviser for Strategic Social Policy at Calvert Group from 2003-2005 and as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Citizens Advisers from 1997-2000. He is a former member of the Board of Directors (2000-2006) of US SIF, the trade association representing asset managers and investors engaged in sustainable investing throughout the United States. Joe has written and spoken widely on the subjects of sustainable investing and women’s empowerment. Recent thought leadership papers include “Gender Equality as an Investment Concept” and “Women and Impact Investing.” He is Co-Chair of the Leadership Group for the Women’s Empowerment Principles, a joint program of the United Nations Global Compact and UN Women and also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Women Thrive Worldwide, a leading non-profit organization shaping U.S. international assistance and trade policy to help women in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty. Joe was named by Ethisphere Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” in 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2015. In 2012, he was recognized by Women’s eNews as one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century,” where he was the sole male honoree and in 2014 Joe was honored at the United Nations as one of five recipients of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award. In 2015, Financial Times named him one of its “top feminist men” for his work helping women succeed in business and beyond. He is a former Democratic Nominee for United States Congress in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District and a former Chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and member of the Democratic National Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

As president of Hancock Lumber Company, Kevin Hancock leads a sixth-generation family business that has operated since 1848. Headquartered in Casco, Maine, the company has 10 retail stores and three sawmills, and employs 425 people. The company also owns and manages 12,000 acres of timberland in Cumberland and Oxford counties. In 2014, Timber Processing Magazine recognized Kevin as its forest products industry “Person of the Year.” He is past chairman of the Northeast Retail Lumber Association, 
the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association and the Bridgton Academy Board of Trustees. Under his leadership, Hancock Lumber has been recognized as the Maine International Trade Center’s Exporter of the Year and the Maine Family Business of the Year. Additionally, the company received the Governor’s Award for Business Excellence and most recently became a 2014 “Best Places to Work” recipient. A graduate of Lake Region High School and Bowdoin College, Kevin travels often to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he has connected with residents and key organizations. Kevin has created a nonprofit called “The Seventh Power” to support initiatives on the reservation and is currently writing a book, titled Not For Sale: Finding Myself in the Land of Crazy Horse, about the history and modern day life of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Matthew R. Simmons, M.B.A., author, co-founder of the Ocean Energy Institute and chairman emeritus of Simmons & Company International, spoke on "Our Fragile Energy System: Is It sustainable? If not, Where Do We Turn Next?" on Apr. 8, 2010.

Diana Henriques, author of the best-selling The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, and a contributing writer for The New York Times, spoke on "What Bernie Madoff Can Teach Us About Business Ethics" on Apr. 12, 2012 as part of the UNE's annual P.D. Merrill Business Ethics Lecture Series.

Robert A. G. Monks, pioneering shareholder activist and one of the founders of the field of corporate governance, spoke on "Shareholder Responsibility" on Feb. 26, 2009 as part of the UNE's P.D. Merrill Business Ethics Lecture Series.

Chris Argyris, Ph.D., James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Grad School of Business, spoke on "I-Traps, Leadership, Culture" on Mar. 27, 2008 as part of the UNE's P.D. Merrill Business Ethics Lecture Series.