Paul Sarbanes Delivers Lecture at RIT’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business

Maryland’s former senior senator Paul Sarbanes led the charge to reform the business world and restore public confidence in Wall Street by holding companies such as Enron, Worldcom and Tyco liable for unethical actions.

Sarbanes, who served five terms in the U.S. Senate, will share his insights on “Sarbanes-Oxley and the Future of American Business” from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 4, in Webb Auditorium in the James E. Booth Building at Rochester Institute of Technology. Presented by the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, the event is co-sponsored by the William D. Gasser Distinguished Lecture Series in Business and The Presidential Colloquium, the Center for Consumer Financial Services and the Graduate Management Association.

Now known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, “The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act” was signed into law on July 30, 2002, and has been referred to as “the most far-reaching reforms of American Business practices since the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

“Throughout his 36 years in the U.S. Congress, Sen. Sarbanes set the standard for public service,” says Professor Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation and director of RIT’s recently established Center for Consumer Financial Services in the Saunders College of Business. “As a testament to his leadership, the senator swiftly forged bipartisan support for the sweeping reform of business accounting and governance policies that re-established investor confidence during a turbulent period of massive corporate fraud.”

Manning notes that, “as an exemplary combination of professional excellence and business ethics, cornerstones of the Saunders College of Business, it is with great pleasure that we will be honoring the distinguished career of Sen. Sarbanes at RIT.”

A reception will immediately follow the Sarbanes lecture, which is free and open to the public as well as the RIT community. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The William D. Gasser Distinguished Lecture Series in Business is hosted by the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology to advance interaction and dialogue between business and academic communities. The lecture series is made possible by a gift from the late John Wiley Jones, former honorary member of the RIT Board of Trustees and founder of Jones Chemicals Inc., in memory of William D. Gasser. Gasser taught accounting at RIT from 1967 until his death in 1977.