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John A. Gent, Former CEO of JP Morgan International, Joins Board of Governors

The LRI is delighted to welcome John A. Gent, PhD, to its Board of Governors. Dr. Gent has over forty years’ experience in the financial services sector. Among numerous career highlights, he was the first CEO of JP Morgan International bank for private clients and conceptualized and designed the JPMIB platform. Today, he is a post-doctoral researcher in economic history and consults with family office managements on matters of asset allocation, investment process, operations and governance.

For more details and a downloadable press release, click HERE.

John A. Gent, Former CEO of JP Morgan International, Joins Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:19-04:00

Dr. Mary A. O’Sullivan, Renowned Historian Specializing in Capitalism, Profit & Governance, Joins Board of Governors

The LRI is honoured to welcome internationally recognized economic historian Dr. Mary A. O’Sullivan to its Board of Governors, effective immediately. Dr. O’Sullivan is a professor of economic history at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Her research focuses on the history of capitalism, with particular attention to enterprises, industries and financial institutions, as well as the history of economic thought with regard to profit, finance and capital.

For more details and a downloadable press release, click HERE.

Dr. Mary A. O’Sullivan, Renowned Historian Specializing in Capitalism, Profit & Governance, Joins Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:19-04:00

Dr. Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger, Leading German Business Historian, Joins Board of Governors

The Long Run Initiative (LRI) is delighted to announce that Dr. Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger, CEO since 1996 of the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte (GUG) (Business History Society), is joining its international Board of Governors, effective immediately. GUG has a lengthy and impressive record of connecting the worlds of academia, business and government in the German speaking nations. For more details about the appointment and a downloadable press release, click HERE.

Dr. Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger, Leading German Business Historian, Joins Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:19-04:00

Dr. Gillian K. Hadfield, Internationally Renowned Economist, Law Professor and AI Governance Expert, Joins Board of Governors

The Long Run Initiative (LRI) is honoured to welcome one of North America’s pre-eminent legal and technology scholars to the Board of Governors. Dr. Gillian K. Hadfield is the inaugural Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society, Professor of Law and Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Her research has had a seminal influence on several fields. Dr. Hadfield has developed innovative legal and dispute resolution systems in advanced and developing market economies. She has also contributed in multifaceted ways to developing a governance model for artificial intelligence (AI), in addition to her pioneering work on other legal questions.

“We are just elated that Dr. Hadfield has agreed to join our governing board. She is a brilliant scholar with unparalleled range and depth. Dr. Hadfield’s work in legal systems, regulatory markets and AI stand out as both a model and an example of how outstanding scholarship can be put to work to respond to some of the great challenges we confront as a society. She has an uncanny ability to weave together interdisciplinary perspectives into an integrated, holistic view. The LRI is honoured to have her aboard at an important inflection point for our organization,” says Dr. Laurence B. Mussio. Dr. Mussio is a Co-Founder/Director of the Long Run Initiative, along with Prof. John Turner and Prof. Michael Aldous, both of Queen’s University Belfast.

“I’m delighted to join the LRI’s Board of Governors, an impressive and accomplished group steering LRI’s course to tackle the big challenges facing business and society today,” says Dr. Gillian K. Hadfield. “One of our biggest challenges right now is adapting our legal, regulatory and economic systems to ensure powerful technologies develop in ways that are safe, fair and beneficial for all. The world is undergoing immense change in our era of digital globalization, and I very much look forward to contributing to the dialogues, reflections and visions for the future that the LRI is working hard to foster.”

Among Dr. Hadfield’s most recent publications is the critically acclaimed Rules for a Flat World: Why Humans Invented Law and How to Reinvent It for a Complex Global Economy (Oxford University Press, 2017). In addition to her roles at the University of Toronto, Dr. Hadfield is also a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, based in Toronto, and a faculty affiliate at the Center for Human-Compatible AI at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Hadfield received her B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from Queen’s University, Ontario, her Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, both in Economics, from Stanford University.

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Dr. Gillian K. Hadfield, Internationally Renowned Economist, Law Professor and AI Governance Expert, Joins Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00

LRI & CLI Webinar – Precedents in an Unprecedented World: Insights for Pandemic Era Leaders

What, if anything, can decision-makers learn from looking to the North Atlantic’s collective long-run experience in dealing with the Great Pandemic of 2020?

In partnership with the William J Clinton Leadership Institute, the Long Run Initiative is delighted to bring together the business historian Dr Laurence B. Mussio and a panel of business and economics historians, to discus how a long-run perspective helps them think about how Covid-19 will affect business, the financial system, inequality and globalisation. In particular they will consider what today’s leaders can learn from past pandemics, economic depressions and national crises.

Panelists include:

Professor John Turner

Dr Chris Colvin

Dr Michael Aldous

Webinar June 2 2020 at 2pm (BST)

More details and registration for the event can be found here

LRI & CLI Webinar – Precedents in an Unprecedented World: Insights for Pandemic Era Leaders2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00

The Globe and Mail Editor-in-Chief David Walmsley Appointed to Long Run Initiative (LRI) Board of Governors

The Long Run Initiative (LRI) is pleased to announce that Mr. David Walmsley, Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto The Globe and Mail Canada’s national newspaper, will be joining its international Board of Governors, effective immediately.

David brings a powerful and unique perspective to the LRI board. “On behalf of our Founder-Directors Professor John Turner and Dr. Michael Aldous, I am delighted to welcome David to the LRI,” Founder-Director Dr. Laurence B. Mussio said. “His career experience, his remarkable leadership in Canadian and international journalism and his intuitive understanding of the importance of connecting hindsight to insight about contemporary challenges makes him a perfect addition to the LRI.”

Uniquely among LRI Governors, David has connections to both city reference points of the LRI – Belfast and Toronto. Indeed, his late father George was Dean of Science and Agriculture at Queen’s University, Belfast (2003). David began his journalism career at The Belfast Telegraph in 1992. He was named young journalist of the year for Northern Ireland in 1995 for investigative work. He worked as a reporter and editor at a series of market-leading news organisations in Scotland and London before moving to Canada and assuming the leadership of The Globe and Mail. During his editorship, The Globe and Mail has twice won The Michener Award (Canada’s Pulitzer) for public service journalism.

David is the also chair of the non-profit Canadian Journalism Foundation and is a founding member of The Trust Project (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, University of Southern California). In 2017 he created World News Day – a global initiative that puts the audience on stage to explain how journalism improved their lives, and in December 2019 David is to be appointed a board member of the World Editors’ Forum, Paris. He also sits on the advisory council of the digital media zone at Ryerson University and is a media member of the World Economic Forum, Davos.

Included in David’s UK reporting was his role as Associate Producer of the Cutting Edge Channel 4 documentary (UK) The Final Flight of Zulu Delta 576 (1997). He was also contributing author to the anthology Reporting the Troubles (2018). Sir Harold Evans, the veteran editor and author, has described Walmsley as “the Man Who Might Save Newspapers” (Town and Country magazine, Sept 2016).

On behalf of the LRI, please join us in welcoming David to the Board of Governors.

Download the Press Release
The Globe and Mail Editor-in-Chief David Walmsley Appointed to Long Run Initiative (LRI) Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00

BMO Financial Group Chief Talent Officer Mona Malone named to Long Run Initiative Board of Governors

The Long Run Initiative (LRI) is delighted to announce that Mona Malone, Chief Talent Officer for BMO Financial Group, will be joining its international Board of Governors, effective immediately.
Mona brings a deep skill set and a unique perspective to the Long Run Initiative’s Board. “On behalf of our Founder-Directors Professor John Turner and Dr. Michael Aldous, I am delighted to welcome Mona to our new initiative,” Founder-Director Dr. Laurence B. Mussio said. “Her career experience, her remarkable leadership in her field and her extraordinary understanding of the importance of connecting hindsight to insight about contemporary challenges makes her a perfect fit for the LRI.”

Mona is Chief Talent Officer for BMO Financial Group and leads the team responsible for talent, learning, diversity & inclusion. She holds company-wide accountability for organization design, talent planning and recruitment, diversity, executive succession and leadership development, and she leads BMO’s corporate university – the Institute for Learning (IFL) – and enterprise learning programs such as orientation and risk management.

Mona has led roles in human resources and in the business over her 20 years at BMO. Mona was a Retail Banking Sales Leader at BMO in the Greater Toronto Area and VP Product and Marketing Officer at ePost (a joint venture between Canada post and BMO) in addition to a range of senior HR roles such as CHRO of Canada’s Personal and Commercial Banking group.

Mona lives in Toronto with her husband and three children. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her community service with youth development organizations. She holds an Honours Business Administration degree from Ivey Business School at University of Western Ontario. She is an Advisory Council member for the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership at the Ivey Business School.

About The Long Run Initiative (LRI)
The Long Run Initiative is a not-for-profit forum linked to the Queen’s University Belfast Centre for Economic History and SIERC. The Initiative is founded on three precepts:
• To demonstrate the practical value of historical expertise to contemporary decision makers.
• To create dialogue between academics, businesses and government.
• To provide an independent and international perspective on the challenges facing business and society.
Currently, the LRI achieves these aims through the organisation of high impact roundtable events that bring together speakers and participants from a range of academic, corporate and policy backgrounds to discuss historical trends that shape key contemporary challenges.

Download the Press Release
BMO Financial Group Chief Talent Officer Mona Malone named to Long Run Initiative Board of Governors2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00

Why History?

The Long Run Initiative has been established to help guide executives and policymakers understand the importance of history to their decision making. Why should business leaders and policymakers care about economic history? Can the past really help us make decisions in the present and for the future? A study of the economic past is useful for at least four reasons.

Trajectory

First, economic history helps us understand trajectories. In other words, it gives us an insight of where the economy has come from and where it is headed. Demographic changes have major effects on markets and public policy, but it is only by looking at the long run that we can understand the trajectory of demography. Without it, businesses have no idea of the size and shape of future demand for their products and services and governments cannot plan infrastructure and major capital projects. Trade wars, Brexit, and Trump can only be understood by looking at the trajectory of wealth inequality and globalisation over time.

Volatility

Second, past economic events provides lessons for businesses and governments today, particularly when they are faced with volatility. During the global financial crisis in 2008, where did U.S. bankers and policymakers go for advice? They went to the Great Depression and all the great work that economic historians have done studying that cataclysmic event. However, in the case of the UK, there was no such playbook to hand. Indeed, the subsequent Parliamentary enquiry into the banking collapse in the UK recognised the importance of economic history not just in informing firefighting, but in fire prevention. It made the bold claim that the crisis may not have happened had bankers and policymakers been better educated about past crises and it recommended that the Bank of England become better acquainted with financial history.      

Disruption

Third, in an era of constant change and major disruption from the Big Data revolution and the rise of the robots, economic history provides contextual understanding and lessons for organisations in terms of how technological revolutions in the past have affected firms and workers. Technology is simply the replacement of human exertion, whether physical or cognitive, with machines. Over the past 250 years, there have been three occasions when technology has taken a major leap forward – the steam engine, electrification and computerisation. The introduction of each of these technologies had major ramifications for workers, firms, capital markets and governments. Each of these technologies has made redundant multitudes of workers, but they have also created new industries and new work opportunities.  

Origin

Fourth, every organisation has its own history and it is incumbent upon present leaders to ‘indoctrinate’ employees regarding the story of their organisation. Where has it come from? How has it changed over time? The origins of the organisation inform and shape its mission. It can also be used to create a strong brand identity among all its stakeholders. Furthermore an organisation’s history can provide current executives with great leadership training material. How did the organisation deal with volatility and new technology in the past? How did it penetrate new markets in the past? How did it build customer and employee relationships?

The Rhyme and Meter of History

It is the Long Run Initiative’s contention that every organisation and every leader in an organisation needs to learn from the past. This is why top business schools like Harvard Business School have courses for their MBA students on the history of capitalism and business history. Mark Twain said that ‘history never repeats itself, but it does rhyme’. We set up the Long Run Initiative to help leaders understand the rhyme and the meter of history so that they are better placed to lead their organisation.

Why History?2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00

Announcing the Official Launch of the Long Run Initiative

New Global Forum Created to Bring Corporate Executives, Policymakers and Historians Together to Connect Long-Run Context to Contemporary Challenges

TORONTO, Canada and BELFAST, Northern Ireland, 1 October 2018 – Signal Influence Executive Research & Communications, Inc., (SIERC), Canada, and Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Economic History announced today the creation of the Long Run Initiative, (LRI) a new, not-for-profit global forum bringing together academic experts, business leaders and public policy makers to provide context and deepen understanding from history of the grand challenges facing business and government.

LRI analysis focuses on connecting where we have been to where we are now, and where we are going on a range of specific issues. We believe that by understanding the past we can better appreciate the forces that have created the present and how they will shape the trajectory of future business, economies and societies.

The LRI connects academic experts with business and policy decision makers to uncover how long-run forces connect to present and future challenges facing your organization.

Through the organisation of short, high-impact roundtable events, the LRI creates a dialogue to exchange knowledge and stimulate ideas, giving participants the opportunity to reflect on and discuss parallels from the past, and consider how these lessons apply to their own organisations. In May 2018, the LRI hosted its first event, at Queen’s University Belfast, on a grand challenge topic: information revolutions. Events are being planned in the UK, the United States and Canada in 2019 and 2020, with plans for expansion.

THREE PRECEPTS

The Initiative is founded on three precepts:

  • To demonstrate the practical value of historical expertise to contemporary decision makers.
  • To create dialogue between academics, businesses and government.
  • To provide an independent and international perspective on the challenges facing business and society.

The LRI brings together the capabilities of two organisations to create a unique set of interests and expertise.

THE FOUNDER-DIRECTORS

The Long Run Initiative is led by its co-founders and directors: Prof. John Turner (UK), Dr. Laurence B. Mussio (Canada) and Dr. Michael Aldous (UK). Their combined experiences as academics, senior consultants and advisors and historians led them to believe there was a huge opportunity to bring together people who don’t normally have space or time to interact with each other. They conceived the Initiative as a forum to build new connections and create a dialogue that encourages reflections on the long-run.

THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS

The LRI’s Board of Governors are drawn from the upper echelons of business, government and the academy in the North Atlantic World. The Board includes:

  • Sir Jonathan Stephen Day, CBE (former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, UK) (United Kingdom)
  • The Hon. Kevin Gordon Lynch, former Clerk of Her Majesty’s Privy Council for Canada and Chairman of the Board of SNC Lavalin (Canada);
  • William Arthur Downe, CM, Immediate and Past Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Montreal Financial Group (Canada);
  • Dr. Judy Stephenson, The David Richards Fellow in Economic History, Wadham College, Oxford (United Kingdom)
  • Dr. Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard University (USA)

QUOTABLE QUOTES

Professor Turner remarked on Queen’s University Belfast’s role in LRI’s foundation and development: “Queen’s University Belfast has been shaping a better world since its charter was granted by Queen Victoria in 1845. The university’s Centre for Economic History is recognised as one of the leading centres in the world for the study of business and economic history. The LRI is the next step in its evolution as it seeks to shape a better world by helping business and public-sector leaders understand the usefulness of the past to their decision making today.”

Policy makers and civil servants face numerous complex challenges. Whilst history cannot provide solutions to today’s problems, it does offer vital context to understand the processes and long-run trends that shape our world.

The LRI provides opportunities for experts from the worlds of academia, politics and business to discuss and learn from historical episodes and experiences, and consider how these lessons affect our responses to current and future challenges. I hope many decision makers can take advantage of this important forum.

– LRI Governor Sir Jon Day, CBE

SIERC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mussio remarked that the LRI is a “both an exciting and potentially important initiative. It’s exciting because this is among the first initiatives of its kind in the North Atlantic world. Our plans are to bring together some of the best scholars in the field to discuss some of the practical grand challenges executives and government policy makers must deal with. It’s potentially important because our vision is to apply ‘insight from hindsight’ so we can understand the challenges before us. SIERC is therefore delighted to partner with Queen’s University Belfast in the LRI. We are in it for the long run.”

Dr. Michael Aldous explains that “examining historical roots provides rich context, and understanding of patterns and trends. It is important to connect historians, policymakers and corporate executives, to facilitate evidence-led discussion on long-run trends to help make sense of critical contemporary challenges.”

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Please visit our website for more information at www.longruninitiative.com.

ABOUT

The Centre for Economic and Business History at Queen’s University Belfast

The Centre for Economic History at Queen’s University Belfast is one of the largest groups of Economic and Business Historians in the world. Amongst the group and its wider network, are academic experts working on a diverse range of issues including economic development, globalization, corporate governance, banking crises, bubbles, corporate failures, demography, and political economy. The Centre’s mission is to explain the past to understand the present by understanding the trajectory of the economy and drawing lessons from past experiences for present global challenges. Visit us at www.quceh.org.uk.

SIERC

Signal Influence Executive Research & Communications, Inc. (SIERC) is a boutique consulting firm specializing in the strategic application of organizational experience for senior leadership. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, we are connected to a global network of scholars, researchers and consultants. Together, we help transform insight into strategy. Since 2002, SIERC has served elite clients in financial services, telecommunications and information technology, as well as in the government and university sectors. Visit us at www.sierc.ca.

For further information: SIERC Contact: Dr. Laurence B. Mussio, CEO, Signal Influence Executive Research & Communications, Inc., laurence.mussio@sierc.ca, Tel: +001 416-729- 9173; QUB Contact: Dr. Michael Aldous, Queen’s Management School, m.aldous@qub.ac.uk, Tel: +0044 (0)28 9097 4549.

Download the Press Release
Announcing the Official Launch of the Long Run Initiative2023-04-12T12:25:20-04:00
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