The Business of Spirit: A Conversation on Meditation and Leadership

Wednesday, October 12, 2011
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. EDT
Location: Rafik B. Hariri Building Room 415 Map

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 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, John Main Center for Meditation and Inter-Religious Dialogue, McDonough School of Business, and Trust for the Meditation Process.

SCHEDULE

Enlightened Leadership | Prem Jain, Peter Ng Kok Song

Introduction to Meditation | Fr. Laurence Freeman, O.S.B.

Contemplation and Action | Sean Hagan, Katherine Marshall

Remarks | David Thomas

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The Business of Spirit: A Conversation on Meditation and Leadership

Featured Participants

Sean Hagan Toggle

About 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.

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Peter Ng Kok Song Toggle

About 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.

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Other Participants

Katherine Marshall Toggle

About Katherine Marshall

Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, leads the center’s work on religion and global development. She is also a professor of the practice of development, conflict, and religion in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching diverse courses on the ethics of development work and mentoring students at many levels. She helped to create and now serves as the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, an NGO that works to enhance bridges between different sectors and institutions. In September 2022, she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Marshall has five decades of experience on a variety of development issues in Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East, particularly those facing the world’s poorest countries; one way she shares her expertise is through her blog Faith in Action. She was a World Bank officer from 1971 to 2006, and she led the World Bank’s faith and ethics initiative between 2000 and 2006. Marshall is a member of the Working Group on Child Rights and Family Values and the Working Group on Displaced Persons and Hospitality to the Stranger, both part of the Culture of Encounter Project.

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David Thomas Toggle

About David Thomas

David Thomas was appointed Georgetown McDonough School of Business Dean and William R. Berkley Chair in 2011. A recognized thought leader in organizational behavior and strategic human resource management, Dr. Thomas’ research focuses on issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership, and organizational change. Dr. Thomas has co-authored two books: Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America (Harvard Business Press, 1999) and Leading For Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County (Harvard Education Press, 2009), and more than 60 case studies and articles for leading academic journals and practitioner publications. He received his PhD from Yale University.

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