The Business of Spirit: A Conversation on Meditation and Leadership

Two successful leaders from the financial world shared their insights on leadership and in particular how the practice of meditation has helped them form and apply these insights both in their work and across their lives. Peter Ng Kok Song, Chief Investment Officer at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, spoke on the attributes of leadership and how meditation bears fruit in self-transcending leadership. Sean Hagan, General Counsel of the International Monetary Fund, spoke about how the practice of meditation has made him a better decision maker and manager. This event, held at the Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and Policy, was sponsored by the John Main Center for Meditation and Inter-Religious Dialogue, Meditatio, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, McDonough School of Business, and Trust for the Meditation Process.

Schedule

5:30 Refreshments
5:45 Welcome and introduction from Host Speakers
5:50 Peter Ng Kok Song - Enlightened Leadership
Response: Prof. Prem Jain, McDonough School of Business
6:20 Introduction to Meditation, Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB
6:35 Sean Hagan - Contemplation and Action
Response, Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center
7:05 Dean David Thomas - Remarks
7:15 Questions and Answers
7:25 Thank you from the Resident Director, John Main Center

Featuring

Peter Ng Kok Song

Peter Ng Kok Song is the Chief Investment Officer at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. He leads a team of several hundred investment professionals in investing the nation’s savings in global financial markets. He is a trustee and Guiding Board member of The World Community for Christian Meditation and its National Co-ordinator for Singapore. He has been a practitioner of Christian meditation for 23 years, leads a weekly meditation group and conducts introductory workshops for newcomers.

Sean Hagan

Sean Hagan is General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department at the International Monetary Fund. He advises the Fund’s management, Executive Board, and membership on all legal aspects of the Fund’s operations, including its regulatory, advisory, and lending functions. He has published extensively on both the law of the Fund and a broad range of legal issues relating to the prevention and resolution of financial crisis, with a particular emphasis on insolvency and the restructuring of debt, including sovereign debt.