Marcy Murninghan Email & Phone Number

Through usable knowledge, design thinking, collaborative engagement, social entrepreneurship, digital media, networked education, action research, scholarly research, and writing, TLIG’s primary focus addresses how corporate and capital power can be leveraged to expand opportunity and bridge the equity gap, so that all may share in inclusive, sustainable prosperity and justice, particularly in urban areas where the gap is most pronounced. Projects and publications involve: • corporate governance and accountability, • the civic moral obligations of financial capital markets, and • how tax-exempt institutions acting as civic stewards can fulfill carefully their duties as civic fiduciaries, with loyalty to the public interest. Themes running throughout TLIG’s cross-sector, context-conscious work include: the integration and impact of civic moral values into institutional governance and behavior, particularly corporate social responsibility; ethical fiduciary governance and asset management, responsible / impact investing, and shareholder activism; organized philanthropy as ethical fiduciary; the media’s role in fulfilling democracy’s promise; and social enterprise / nonprofit governance and accountability. TLIG’s current emphasis also is on the application of rapidly evolving information / digital technology, social media, “serious game” design, online simulations, and other forms of augmented reality to these issues. The goal: strengthen collaborative interaction, build community, and improve performance accountability. The mission: invigorate democracy and active citizenship through education, engagement, and empowerment throughout the economic ecosystem.

ESG advisor to Skysail Advisor Ltd., which combines knowledge and know-how of maritime, logistics, and commodity trading industries. Skysail Advisors works with shipowners, shippers and financial institutions to deliver innovative solutions. Its services include M&A advisory, strategy consulting and data analytics.

Since its inception, have written (recently sporadic) 123 blogs for The Murninghan Post, a highly regarded gathering place for information, ideas, deliberation, and strategic action for reforming our corporate structures and capital markets. The aim: to assist in the transition to a prosperous, sustainable, and just world, in keeping with human and ecological well-being. It provides regular briefs that distill, analyze, and aggregate the most salient developments on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, and the geopolitical context in which they exist. Its pedagogic goal: educate and engage readers in a manner that is accessible and pragmatic, and equip them for improving their communities. In 2016 MurnPost will unveil a number of interactive projects and tools that foster wider knowledge and engagement about how to leverage billions of dollars in local investment capital toward public interest priorities. Because the topics covered have profound civic moral consequences, MurnPost’s aim is to demystify and inspire in ways that are constructive, inclusive, and enduring.

Wrote in-depth background briefs on corporate board oversight and diversity (2015, 2016) and decent work / pay parity (2016). Wrote corporate action reports for 2016 shareholder proposals on board diversity and pay parity for the following companies: Alphabet; TJX; ExxonMobil; Discovery Communications; eBay; LinkedIn; CVS Healthcare; Continental Resources; Waste Connections; Kinder Morgan; and Citigroup.Wrote corporate action reports analyzing 2015 shareholder proposals on sustainability disclosure, board diversity, and pay parity that involved the following companies: eBay; Chipotle Mexican Grill; Discovery Communications; Skechers U.S.A.; ExxonMobil; Royal Caribbean; and LinkedIn.

Boston

The Bay State Banner is Boston’s newspaper and multimedia platform for African Americans. The Banner, founded by Melvin B. Miller in 1965, began as a weekly newspaper, but when I worked there, it also included two quarterly publications — Banner Biz and Be Healthy — and a quarterly magazine for metropolitan women called Exhale.My work there explored issues related to socially responsible investing and sought to bridge the gap between the world of ethical finance and corporate accountability—much of which originated here in Boston—and the day-to-day life of concerned Bostonians. In other words, I viewed the Banner (and still do) as a platform from which to promote racial and economic justice, and foster civic education, empowerment, and engagement.In 2023, the paper was purchased by Ron Mitchell and André Stark of Mitchell Stark Enteprises.

At the request of Dr. Jean Rogers, SASB founder and director, developed a draft blueprint for SASB-certified professional education, which built upon the SASB framework for corporate reporting on material sustainability issues. Also served as member of SASB Advisory Board. (In mid-2021, SASB merged with the International Integrated Reporting Council [IIRC] into the Value Reporting Foundation; in July 2022 the Value Reporting Foundation consolidated into the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, or IFRS Foundation, to help establish the International Sustainability Standards Board, or ISSB.)

Securing Change offers security consulting and information for organizations that foster social good, such as non-profits, NGOs and B-Corps. We believe that digital security should not be limited to those who can afford it — organizations that initiate social change should have the same amount of digital security as large, well-funded organizations. We aim to help organizations in a number of ways: educating them about easy-to-implement solutions as well as providing consultants for urgent and non-urgent security needs.

Collaborated with corporate governance pioneer Bob Monks in later 2013 / early 2014 on a monograph that presents a series of policy options for Harvard University and Harvard Management Company to consider, so Harvard can become an “ethical, integrated fiduciary” leader. Published Trusting Harvard: The Cost of Unprincipled Investing (Miniver Press, 2014; republished here in 2018). Also collaborated on an essay chronicling Harvard’s history as a responsible investor, titled “An Outsider’s History of Harvard and Responsible Investment: 1970-2014,” February 2014..

As a Senior Research Fellow, wrote or co-wrote with Bill Baue numerous trend reports on a range of topics and sectors, including materiality; gender; integrated reporting; corporate governance; resource constraints and climate impacts; collaborative governance; the use of digital tools; disaster readiness; social sustainability; demographics and population matters; challenges to the pharmaceutical industry; financial services and the restoration of trust; and "new" (e.g., "sustainable") definitions of materiality.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, worked with community banking pioneers Ron Grzywinski and Mary Houghton (co-founders of Chicago’s ShoreBank, the nation's first and largest certified Community Development Finance Institution, or CDFI), social venture finance expert Carol Atwood, and social business development expert Megan Hryndza to organize a 21st century fiduciary forum aimed at helping banks advance a sustainable and just American economy. Managed two roundtable discussions—one in Milton, Massachusetts, the other in Chicago—with leading community bankers, finance experts, and policy advocates, including Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). CABB’s animating idea: strengthen not only our financial stock, but our human, social, and natural stock of resources, as well through attention to the full economic ecosystem.

In 2010, advised ICCR Program Director Rev. David M. Schilling on the development of an assessment tool for measuring the “social sustainability impact” of companies. The result served as the centerpiece of "Building Sustainable Communities Through Multiparty Collaboration: ICCR Social Sustainability Resource Guide", published in May 2011. See especially Chapter 2. The ICCR Social Sustainability Resource Guide can be accessed here: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/human_rights/Resources/2011SSRG.pdf.

In collaboration with Bill Baue, carried out a six-month research project through December 2009 for the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative that mapped the intersection of Web 2.0 and corporate accountability / sustainability. With Baue, conceived and developed a new framework for collaborative stakeholder engagement that utilizes digital media to advance collaborative multiparty accountability, education, and innovation, consistent with democratic values and the common good. This model of blended engagement, called The Accountability Web, published in 2010, has powerful implications for organizational transformation and learning, as well as broader social impact. The report can be accessed here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/mrcbg/programs/cri/files/workingpaper_58_bauemurninghan_full.pdf.

Throughout the spring of 2009, served as Senior Advisor, North America for the GRI, an Amsterdam-based nonprofit, co-founded in 1997 by the Rev. Dr. Robert K. Massie, Jr. and Dr. Allen White, that has developed the world’s premier framework for sustainability reporting, e.g., corporate disclosure of material environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) information. Responsible for helping to raise the GRI’s profile and engage more companies, policy makers, nonprofit organizations, and others seeking to increase corporate sustainability disclosure.

Responsible for mentoring undergraduate students on corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing issues and projects; initiated research pertaining to greater private sector and institutional investor engagement with disaster prevention, resilience, and sustainable development, due to increase in catastrophic weather events caused by climate change; responsible for mapping program options in this area, in conjunction with current initiative on civilian-military education, in partnership with military academies.

Conducted workshop in November 2005 on strengthening tax-exempt institutional investor fiduciary duty, care, and loyalty to the public interest for deputy state attorneys general charged with oversight of charitable organizations. The session connected issues regarding responsible ownership and charitable values to ongoing concerns about charitable governance and accountability, and provided state regulators with a blueprint for better oversight of endowment asset management consistent with charitable mission and values.

From 1985 to 2005 was retained to write research reports, participate in panel discussions, and help organize workshops on integrating civic moral values into investment decision making, in keeping with philanthropic purpose and operations. In 1987, was commissioned by CoF President James A. Joseph to examine the moral compass of grantmaker program and process. Researched and wrote "Moral Values, Philanthropy, and Public Life: Recasting the Connections," which relied on numerous interviews with foundation presidents, trustees, and staff to stimulate discussion and leadership about the future of organized philanthropy, especially the alignment of investment and program policy with core values.In 1992, was retained to conduct a national study of the impact of the 1992 Los Angeles riots on foundation grantmaking and urban policy, while also chronicling the history of urban innovations since World War II. The study, entitled "Undimmed by Human Tears: American Cities, Philanthropy, and the Civic Ideal," included interviews with 47 foundation presidents and urban experts. A summary can be accessed at https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol30/iss1/6/In July 2005, designed and ran a CoF annual conference session called “A New Kind of Voter Education Project: Organized Philanthropy, Responsible Ownership, and the Democratic Ideal.” It was based on my article, "Common Sense and Civic Virtue: Institutional Investors, Responsible Ownership, and the Democratic Ideal", published in the New England Journal of Public Policy (2003) that can be accessed at http://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol18/iss2/8/.

Throughout 2001 – 2004, assisted in various activities pertaining to teacher professional development and student learning involving Dorchester high school and middle schools, as part of the UMass Boston / Boston Public Schools partnership, which originally was ordered by Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. Designed and organized innovative summer teacher training program; helped make and oversee mini-grants to innovative teacher projects aimed at curricular enhancement; performed outreach connecting program to Boston area nonprofit leaders and institutions.

Throughout 2001 – 2004, assisted founder Dale Coudert in program development and education for the Institute’s annual Palm Beach seminar series, which included writing several monographs on seminar discussions. Patterned after the Aspen Institute, the Coudert Institute seeks to engage participants in informed dialogue on significant public policy issues, including media and society, genetic science, corporate governance and responsibility, and international relations.

Throughout 2002 – 2003, provided advice and counsel to social entrepreneur Carol Atwood, founder and CEO. Helped develop program, mobilize educational materials, and led several panel discussions for 2003 Sundance conference on “Investing in Media That Matters: A Gathering at Sundance Village,” co-sponsored by Spartacus Media Enterprises, the Hollywood-based Environmental Media Association, and Investors’ Circle. Subsequently, served as discussion leader for donors’ and funders’ e-Forum on investing in responsible media projects.

At the request of then-executive director Robert K. Massie, Jr., helped build first substantive bridge between corporate governance and CSR professionals for this nonprofit network of investors, companies, and public interest groups that advocates for sustainable leadership and a healthy global economy. Provided program planning and design assistance for Ceres’ 2002 annual conference The Future of Wealth on Earth: Opportunities and Risks for Investors, Corporations, and Activities in a Changing Global Climate. Authored white papers on the civic moral responsibilities of institutional investors and their implications for economic globalization. Helped create basis for major initiative on sustainable corporate governance, particularly regarding the role and responsibility of institutional investors.

Throughout 1998 – 2000, designed, analyzed, recommended, and facilitated support for a “responsible ownership” fiduciary policy, rationale, and set of guidelines for Investment Committee and Board, affecting the Foundation’s $550 million endowment. The effort concentrated on ways in which TBF charitable values could be brought into greater alignment with its investment practice, utilizing responsible ownership techniques and a model of “civic stewardship” promoting community well-being as well as setting a positive, constructive standard for other institutional investors to emulate. In December 2000 the TBF board adopted these recommendations, resulting in a landmark proxy voting policy and set of guidelines that continues to serve as a national model. The policy and the story of its formulation was featured in “The Other 95 Percent: How a Community Foundation Uses Proxy Voting to Advance Its Mission,” by Alessandra Bianchi in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2005), which can be accessed here: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_other_95_percent#.

In 1999-2000, assisted KLD principals in the development of a broad market index fund integrating civic moral and financial values. This entailed extensive research, analysis, and strategic development of a broad market index fund emphasizing performance, social responsibility, and responsible ownership. Authored a series of mini-essays articulating the philosophy and rationale of the index fund, and its practical implications for responsible ownership, corporate governance, operations, and citizenship. Served as Senior Associate at Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co., Inc. in the early 1990s, when KLD was formed.

Designed and taught courses on moral values and American public life; American philanthropy, voluntarism, and service learning; and nonprofit / social enterprise management. The course, entitled Individualism and Philanthropy in American Public Life, balanced theory with practice by exposing students to the historical evolution of the charitable impulse as well as the management needs of Boston-area nonprofit institutions—particularly those working to alleviate homelessness and hunger. Course also featured numerous guest speakers who are leaders in their respective field. Partner organizations included the Pine Street Inn, the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans, Rosie’s Place, St. Francis House, Project Bread/Walk for Hunger, and Casa Nueva Vida.

Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life. Conceived and directed research project on the spiritual values held by prominent corporate CEOs in the entertainment / media / journalism and financial services industries AND the impact of these values on business policy, practice, and public life. Author of "Money, Media and Morality: From Personal Commitment to Public Obligation." Designed and taught "Morality and Money: Investing in the Civic Good" and "Wealth, Power, and the Public Interest: Toward a New Stewardship Ethic" for graduate students from Harvard, the Nieman Foundation, and Boston University. With Dudley Rose, HDS director of field education and instructor, and the late J. Gregory Dees, associate professor at Harvard Business School, co-taught and co-supervised the Field Education Consulting Project, a values-based initiative for nonprofit agencies that involved student teams from the Harvard Divinity School and the Harvard Business School.

Conducted research and analysis concerning growing influence and civic moral responsibilities of institutional shareholders on corporate governance, and the constructive ways they can facilitate better corporate social impact. Authored Corporate Civic Responsibility and the Ownership Agenda: Investing in the Public Good, published by UMass Boston in 1994. Helped to organize and run a special symposium at the Kennedy Library honoring Robert F. Kennedy on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his assassination. Provided assistance to Padraig O’Malley’s multiyear project examining the political transition in South Africa. Helped to organize and implement a two-day symposium on "The Role of a Bill of Rights in Divided Societies: Northern Ireland and South Africa" at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston that involved 30 participants from both Northern Ireland and South Africa.

Designed and implemented a research project investigating the views of black South African trade union leaders regarding equity ownership schemes in a post-apartheid state. Relied upon extensive contacts made through anti-apartheid work, and collaborated with Padraig O’Malley in conducting in-depth, on-site interviews. Authored subsequent report, Discovering Union Voices: Corporate Disinvestment and Black South African Trade Unions, submitted to the Ford Foundation in 1988.

Conducted corporate equity research for fledgling social responsibility mutual fund, with two former Harvard deans (Education, Law) as trustees. Developed, implemented social screens on a range of issues. Provided ethical investing, corporate social responsibility strategy services, especially re: South Africa but also Northern Ireland. Designed innovative model for corporate disinvestment resulting in black South African employee ownership, management participation, and community funding. Clients included corporations, legislative and anti-apartheid groups, public pension fund trustees. Performed numerous speaking engagements throughout nation, particularly before state and local legislative bodies, pension funds, endowments, and academic institutions. Cultivated and served as popular source for national media network on ethical investing and South Africa-related investment topics, including “dollar tallies” and corporate disinvestment “owners outcome scorecard” of companies affected.

Commissioned in 1986-1987 by Edward V. Regan, sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, to investigate, analyze, and report on implications for practice of newly-passed legislation restricting investment activity in Northern Ireland (the “McBride Principles”). Collaborated with Padraig O’Malley in conducting numerous structured, in-depth interviews with a wide array of officials, community leaders, and political actors in Northern Ireland on impact of McBride Principles within Northern Ireland’s cultural, economic, and political environment. Authored Survey of U.S. Corporations’ Employment Policies and Practices in Northern Ireland, released by the New York State Common Retirement Fund in 1987.

Supervised 14-person staff, including managers of all externally funded projects; was legislative liaison with local, state, federal officials; initiated new programs. In a highly charged political and bureaucratic environment, reported to Superintendent Robert C. Wood with primary responsibility for strategic planning, design, and implementation of a comprehensive administrative reorganization and decentralization of the school system, in compliance with new statutory provisions and court-ordered desegregation goals. Helped School Department achieve historic compliance with affirmative action rulings. Was Superintendent’s primary designee to work with all nine parties to the school desegregation case presided over by Federal District Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. Used this experience as basis for Harvard doctoral thesis which advanced the idea of “restorative law” as opposed to “remedial law”, including the restoration of public trust as well as rightful administrative authority.

Provided research and consulting assistance to founding partners Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Barry Stein on corporate restructuring projects concentrating on productivity and innovation, especially related to workplace diversity. Provided research and analysis for a Ford Foundation-sponsored study of multi-foundation grantmaking to women's programs--which at that time was considered innovative.

Designed, and directed a college-funded education and job development program for female clerical and factory workers.

Conducted human relations sensitivity training on gender and racial inequality issues manifest in groups and organizations, for public, private, and non-profit clients.

Co-founded and co-directed a statewide empowerment program for single parent welfare recipients that focused on education, training, job placement, and retention. This involved outreach and partnership arrangements between New Hampshire's Division of Welfare and postsecondary institutions throughout the state. Designed, secured funding for, and managed experimental educational program for female ex-offenders, an offshoot of this program.

Online Teaching + Learning

As a post-doc scholar practitioner, participated in three semester-long seminars on the use of interactive information technology.

Special Student (Post-Doc), Religion + Values In Economic Public Life

As a post-doc scholar practitioner, focused on role of civic moral values, Christian social ethics, and philosophical traditions.

Doctor Of Education - Edd, Administration, Planning + Social Policy

Study areas: org + adaptive learning; higher ed policy + practice; organized philanthropy + social innovation; constitutional law.

M.A., Organizational Management

Developed an alternative model of adult education and training, drawing upon direct experience as co-founder and co-director.

B.A., Religion; Art History Minor

Activities and Societies: Delta GammaAcademic work concentrated on interrelationships among religion, philosophy, art, literature.