16th Annual Ethics Conference

The 16th Annual Networks Ethics Conference took place virtually on Wednesday, March 24th, 2021. The conference featured a keynote speaker and multiple breakout speakers - all on the topic of Ethics. Speakers are from a wide variety of careers and backgrounds and will highlight important ethical topics impacting society today.

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10:00 am Breakout Session

Jake Brown, Indiana Attorney

Title: Place Your Bets!: A Look into How New Jersey Changed the Sports Gambling Landscape in Indiana and Across the Country

Summary: In 2018, the United States Supreme Court entered a landmark decision that paved the way for state by state authorization of sports gambling. With no federal regulation or oversight, each state across the country has the option to craft its own version of a sports gambling scheme. As of today, nearly 20 states have authorized sports gambling within their states. This breakout session will take a look at the ethics behind sports betting and the regulations that have been put in place.

Pamela Malone, Innovation, Strategy, and Engagement Professional

Title: From Bystander to Beacon: Ethical, Empowered Leadership

Summary: When ethical dilemmas occur, it is often easier to look away and not get involved. Understanding the bystander effect and deciding on core values that responses will be based on can significantly improve decision-making. This high-energy, interactive session explores how to be an ethical, empowered leader when ethical dilemmas occur.

Rick Ainsworth, Relations and Staff Development Manager at Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance

Title: Developing Your Own Ethical Leadership Plan

Summary: There is HOPE for planning a lifelong career path.  Join Rick to learn about HOPE as a process, the steps to identifying your talents and skills and how to use them to develop a plan for after ISU. Rick works with graduating seniors on entering the insurance industry and he will share with you the lessons he has learned that will help you put together your own individual guide to successful living.

11:00 am Breakout Session

Anne Fischgrund, Promoter and Media Partner Relations Senior Manager at INDYCAR

Title: Live Sporting Events vs COVID-19

Summary: What is right and wrong when dealing with COVID-19 when planning live sporting events? Learn how the NTT INDYCAR SERIES managed to race a full season in 2020, what it took to get there, and the key stakeholders who had the final say.

Chad Thompson, Corporate Human Resources General Manager at North American Lighting, Inc.

Title: Ethical Hiring and Employment Practices

Summary: This breakout session will focus on how to instill an ethical company culture to support hiring, promotion and termination decisions.

Todd Bess, Executive Director at Indiana Association of School Principals

Title: Building Ethical Leadership

Summary: School administrators are entrusted with educating our children, and this responsibility entails leadership in human relations, public trust, financial matters, and individual actions.  Dr. Todd Bess, Executive Director for the Indiana Association of School Principals will draw upon over 30 years in education to share ways in which we can model ethical leadership, and build this within all staff.   Building ethical leadership begins with examining our own practices and beliefs, and then portraying this internal model within our setting, so that others know and understand the organization’s culture.

Keynote Speaker (12:00 pm) - Megan Miller

The keynote speaker will be Megan Miller, Executive Director, Spencer Educational Foundation

Unity through Altruism – How Volunteering Your Time and Resources Brings Us Together and Fosters Equity

It seems that everywhere we look today, we see division and inequity.  The dehumanizing language directed at “others” that has become so commonplace on social media can tear our social fabric apart.  Through active altruism – volunteering your time and resources to better the lives of others – you have the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes and understand the “why” behind their ways.  By immersing ourselves in these experiences, we can begin to accept our differences and perhaps even celebrate them.

Megan Miller is the Executive Director of the Spencer Educational Foundation, a 41-year-old non-profit whose mission is to fund the education of tomorrow’s risk management and insurance leaders.  No stranger to the industry, Megan worked for 16 years in various technical and sales roles at large Property & Casualty companies.  Concurrent to this professional experience, Megan has been an avid fundraiser, traveling to Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Tanzania, Malaysia, and India to work as a volunteer.  She also spearheaded fundraising to build a community center in Zambia.  Megan’s current role at the helm of Spencer allows her to merge her understanding of the insurance industry with her passion for a worthy cause.