Responsible Leadership: CEO Perspectives

There has been a lot of talk of responsible leadership lately among business, nonprofit organizations, NGOs, academics, and government officials. What does responsible leadership mean to you? How can we develop responsible leadership? How do we build and maintain an organizational culture to encourage responsible leadership and practices? How does responsible leadership help organizations in the hyper-competitive world of today?

Date: Thursday, November 7, 2013

Location: Commonwealth Club, San Francisco

595 Market Street, Second Floor

San Francisco, CA

Time: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Cost: Free for Current and Prospective Students

Paul Gaffney, President and CEO, AAA NCNU

President  and CEO of AAA of Northern California, Nevada, and Utah, a membership organization that provides emergency road service, auto insurance, homeowners’ insurance, travel services, and other financial products to over 4 million members. General management responsibility for over $2.5B in gross sales, and over 2,000 employees in over 100 locations. Previously CIO of a Fortune 200 company, head of a multi-billion-dollar global retail supply chain, head of technology strategy for one of the most admired financial services firms in the world, and creator of one of the most substantial global e-commerce businesses, Paul provides visionary leadership that inspires people to deliver great results. Paul also held the title of Chief Operating Officer at Desktone, Inc. Paul was the vision behind Desktone's product and he built product development, software engineering and QA, operations, support, and the CTO function from scratch. Desktone is the basis for IBM's Smart Business Desktop Cloud.

Gregory Adams, Executive Vice President, Kaiser Permanente

Reporting to the CEO, Adams is one of three Kaiser Permanente group presidents, with direct responsibility for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Region. He has additional accountability for the successful performance of the Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States Region. Adams was appointed president of the Northern California Region for Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. in April 2008. He oversees a region that serves more than 3.3 million members and operates 21 hospitals and 67 medical office facilities throughout Northern California. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Adams held several executive roles in the health care industry, providing strategic and operational leadership for hospitals, health systems and medical groups throughout the country. He was senior vice president of Strategy and Business Development for Catholic Healthcare West in Southern California; president and CEO of St. Bernadine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif.; chief operating officer for Baptist Healthcare System of Southeast Texas; and director of Critical Care Services for the Mayo Clinic’s St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn. He also owned a health care firm that provided strategic and operational improvement consulting for health care organizations.