All Fields Need Moral Leadership

Something is “extremely wrong” (to borrow Mr. Greenhill’s words) in equating a career in finance to “creating unconscionable … misery.” That certainly wasn’t my experience during my 50-plus-year career as a financial executive.

As a chief financial officer and a public company audit committee chair, priority was placed on being a trustworthy steward of company assets. All stakeholders — employees, customers, investors, and the community — benefited from ensuring that resources went to financially sound projects. Was I creating misery when I pioneered project financings to build hydro and geothermal power plants, or invested to grow a chain of rural hospitals, or ensured capital was available to maintain a fleet of U.S.-flagged Great Lakes vessels, or raised capital for startups developing environmentally friendly technologies, or oversaw investigations of employees that didn’t follow the rules?

If Princeton graduates leave Old Nassau with a good moral compass, what direction they head in their career is of little consequence.