Kevin McKnight, chief sustainability officer and vice president of EHS at Alcoa, will give a keynote address on sustainability and business at Penn State at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 4. The public is welcome to McKnight’s address and a luncheon to follow at the Lewis Katz Building in University Park, Pa.
"At Alcoa, sustainability is an integral part of how we do business,” said McKnight. “Alcoa’s focus on sustainability — through increasing the energy efficiency of our operations, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and manufacturing environmentally friendly products, for example — helps both drive our company’s competitive advantages and mitigate risks.”
“Kevin’s leadership at Alcoa has been exemplary and he seemed like the perfect keynote for our whole conference,” said Jamison Colburn, a professor of law at Penn State who is organizing this event along with Dan Cahoy, a professor of business law the Smeal College of Business. “His talk will open a series of papers being presented at Smeal and the law school over the weekend dissecting the roles of government and business in making greater strides toward true sustainability.”
After joining Alcoa as an attorney focused on environmental and commercial litigation, McKnight took on roles in product safety, environmental remediation, procurement and business services. In 1998, McKnight led Alcoa's European Business Support Services, bringing together Financial Accounting, Credit and Treasury, Procurement, EHS and People Services.
McKnight graduated from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, with a bachelor's degree in economics and a major in finance. He received his juris doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
McKnight’s presentation is the keynote address to an interdisciplinary group of researchers gathered for a symposium at the Smeal College of Business on sustainability. The scholars, listed below, are collaborating on a book that will summarize their findings and make recommendations for business sustainability going forward.
Registration is required in order to reserve a space at the keynote address (at 11:30 a.m.) and luncheon (at 1 p.m.). Seating is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Symposium Participants
David Hess, Ross School of Business, University of MichiganTimothy Malloy, UCLA School of LawEric Lane, Thomas Jefferson School of LawGerlinde Berger-Walliser, University of ConnecticutDarren Prum, Florida State University School of BusinessAtalay Atasu, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of TechnologyDara Bloom, North Carolina State UniversityJoachim Monkelbaan, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)