Dixie State University Business and Ethics Forum

Dixie State University’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business will begin its bi-monthly Business and Ethics Forum series, featuring a presentation by St. George-area entrepreneur Glenn Bingham.
 
A self-described “serial social entrepreneur,” Bingham has founded three different organizations over the past 15 years that focus on providing solutions to different social issues. He founded the Corrective Education Corporation, which works with corporations to reduce shoplifting and employee theft, and the Ashby Foundation, a provider of employment assistance to Cape Verde, West Africa. In addition, Bingham is the founder of Humanitarian Experience for Youth, which sends thousands of high school and college age youth on humanitarian aid projects to more than ten countries around the world.   

Bingham’s business background includes 20 years of software development management, including serving as founder and president of the group travel division of Sabre Corporation, the world’s largest travel services company. He also served in the same capacities for Federal Software, a Washington D.C. based firm that developed the first document system that created electronic signatures and electronic documents.

Bingham holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and as part of his research in 1984, he invented the business management concepts that are known today as Activity Based Costing (ABC) which has been utilized by thousands of major corporations worldwide. Bingham has also worked as a certified public accountant and a certified government financial manager.
 
The series will continue Oct. 3, with a presentation by Erik Sorenson, president of Sorenson Advertising in St. George. In addition, SunRiver developer Grant Marsh will address Oct. 17; Jacob Decker, CPA and auditor with Ernst and Young, will speak Nov. 7; Village Bank vice president Louise Zeenati will present to the forum Nov. 21; and Washington County Economic Council director Scott Hirschi will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation Dec. 5.

The DSU Business and Ethics Forum is held every other Thursday throughout the fall and spring semesters, with each guest lecturer speaking on business matters in their respective professions and how ethics are introduced into the discussion.

The bi-monthly forum, along with campus’ Institute for Business Integrity, was created by former DSU president Dr. Robert Huddleston in 2006, as a way to integrate ethics into the curriculum, and have it serve as a blueprint to ensure that students graduate with a set of ethical tools to help them get along in the professional world.

In 2006-07, Dixie State’s business program sought initial accreditation with the high profile Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). In order to become accredited with the AACSB, ethics were required to be integrated into the college’s business curriculum. As a result, each business class on the DSU campus now includes an ethical component.

Dr. Huddleston noted that the business forums will give students – and current and prospective local business owners – an added dose of ethics training that is so sorely needed into today’s business world. His hope is that by the time students leave Dixie State, they have been exposed to enough ethical cases that, when they get out in the workforce, they will have the wherewithal and the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing, even when their job might be on the line. 

“The Institute for Business Integrity has brought an important opportunity for the business community, as well as DSU faculty and students, to emphasize the significance of social responsibility for business and industry in Washington County,” said Huddleston. “As research indicates, ethics contribute to employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction and to profits.”

The Dixie State University Institute for Business Integrity is a partnership between the DSU Udvar-Hazy School of Business, the Small Business Development Center, the Washington County Economic Development Council, and the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce.