Governance and Shared Responsibility Take Center Stage at Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute Symposium

Governance and Shared Responsibility Take Center Stage

ALHAMBRA, CA, UNITED STATES, October 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Leaders, scholars, professionals, students and community members gathered at The Alhambra on September 19 for the Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute’s (MLARI) 2026 Annual Symposium, “Governance and Shared Responsibility in Organizations and Society.”

Presented as a partnership initiative between MLARI and the California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM), the annual symposium brought together distinguished leaders from corporate governance, ethics and compliance, technology, healthcare, academia and public service to examine how organizations and their leaders can navigate increasing complexity while remaining accountable to the people and communities they serve. The program featured keynote speaker Scott Mitchell, founder of OCEG, the organization behind the widely adopted concept of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and a global community of more than 225,000 members.

An accomplished group of panelists brought diverse perspectives to the conversation:

• Vera Cherepanova, Executive Director of Boards of the Future^®, is an internationally recognized ethics and compliance expert whose insights have appeared in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Thomson Reuters.
• Stanton J. Rowe, a pioneering medical-technology executive, was a founder and CEO of Percutaneous Valve Technologies, which developed groundbreaking transcatheter heart-valve technology before being acquired by Edwards Lifesciences.
• Dr. Carol J. Geffner is a nationally recognized authority on executive leadership and organizational transformation and directs the Executive Master of Leadership program at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
• Jill Ingram made history as the first woman to serve as City Manager of Seal Beach, where she led the city through major crises and more than a decade of organizational and community change.
• Dr. Kristine Kawamura, Academic Director for Societal and Global Impact at Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management, has built her scholarship around responsible management, values-based leadership and organizational impact.
• Bob Zukis, founder and CEO of Digital Directors Network and a former PwC senior partner, was named to the Financial Times Agenda Digital 50 recognizing digitally savvy corporate directors.

Throughout the afternoon, conversations explored the distinction between ethics and compliance, building ethical organizational cultures, balancing long-term responsibility with immediate pressures, board performance during crises, and the growing need for digital and AI literacy among organizational leaders.
The symposium was moderated by Dr. Karen Linkletter, Research Director of MLARI, and Dr. Maria C. Akopian, CIAM Associate Vice President of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer. Linkletter studied under Peter Drucker at Claremont Graduate University and later co-authored Drucker’s Lost Art of Management with Drucker’s longtime colleague Joseph A. Maciariello.

“Governance is ultimately about responsibility—not only who has authority, but how that authority is exercised and whom our institutions are meant to serve,” said Dr. Linkletter. “This symposium brought together leaders from very different sectors to examine governance through the lens of human judgment, ethics and shared responsibility. That dialogue is at the heart of Management as a Liberal Art.”

Dr. Jack Paduntin, President of CIAM, delivered the symposium’s closing remarks and presented each speaker with a Certificate of Distinguished Contribution, recognizing their insights and contributions to the day’s dialogue.

“Organizations are strengthened when people come together around a shared purpose. Authority carries a responsibility to advance that purpose—not simply to manage the organization, but to make it better. The value of this symposium is in bringing diverse perspectives together to help leaders see, think and act with greater responsibility for the organizations they serve.”

The symposium was supported by a distinguished group of event partners spanning business, corporate governance, technology, engineering, science, healthcare, civic leadership and community engagement, including the Regional San Gabriel Valley Chamber of Commerce, Boards of the Future^®, IEEE Women in Engineering – San Fernando Valley, Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA), California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Armenian American Medical Society (AAMS), and the City of Glendale. Together, these partners reflected the symposium’s interdisciplinary approach to advancing dialogue around governance, leadership and shared responsibility.

The Annual Symposium reflects the shared commitment of MLARI and CIAM to advancing Management as a Liberal Art by bringing scholarship and practice together around the challenges facing organizations and society. Through research, dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration, the initiative continues to advance the human-centered principles of management championed by Peter Drucker while examining their relevance to the complex realities facing today’s leaders.

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About the California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM)

Founded in 2011, the California Institute of Advanced Management is a nonprofit, WSCUC-accredited graduate institution dedicated to teaching the practice of management as both a science and an art. Guided by the principles of Peter F. Drucker, CIAM’s experiential learning model equips students to become effective, ethical, and socially conscious leaders in a rapidly changing global economy. Learn more at www.ciam.edu.

About the Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute (MLARI)

The Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute (MLARI) advances the principles of Management as a Liberal Art through research, education, and interdisciplinary dialogue. Inspired by Peter F. Drucker’s human-centered approach to management, MLARI brings together scholars, practitioners, and thought leaders to explore responsible leadership, ethics, and the role of organizations in society. Learn more at www.ciam.edu/mlari.

Dr. Maria C. Akopian
California Institute of Advanced Management
maria.akopian@ciam.edu
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