Kent D. Fairfield: What’s the Role of Business in Global Sustainability? Villain or Savior?

Dr. Fairfield will begin with a description of what we mean by “sustainability,” continuing with a brief overview of the state of sustainability today. He will discuss what businesses are doing today regarding sustainability — and unsustainability — and what more could be done.
Kent Fairfield is Associate Professor of Management at the Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University. A long-time resident of Maplewood and married with two grown children, Kent spent his early career at the Chase Manhattan Bank. Most of that time involved lending money and marketing services. Working in training and development led him to be prepared when he left Chase and set up Kent Fairfield Associates, consulting on organizational effectiveness.
He later added to his Harvard MBA by earning his Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology at Columbia. After four years at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, he joined Fairleigh Dickinson 13 years ago. He soon became a Principal in the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, which does research, public outreach, and education on sustainability issues.
In addition, Kent has served a key role in experiential and applied learning for Silberman students. This entails arranging mentor experiences and requiring management students to do “learning management by doing management” through community service projects. He has been named New Jersey Teacher of the Year and FDU’s Distinguished Professor for Education.