The Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership

The Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership leverages the intellectual capital of Columbia Business School to design innovative courses and programs that equips future leaders with the tools and frameworks necessary to build high-performing, principled, and collaborative organizations. The Initiative was established through a generous gift from Reuben Mark, former chairman and chief executive officer at the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Centralized within the Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics, the Initiative brings together students, faculty, alumni, and the greater Columbia community to integrate the principles of effective organizational leadership into the School’s curriculum, programming, and research.

Programming

Organizational Leadership Series

The series hosts top executives from a range of industries who share how they lead with purpose to promote and drive strong, values-driven cultures throughout their teams and organizations.

C-Suite Conversation Series

This annual series offers a rare view into how senior leaders work together to build effective organizational cultures and highlights the competitive advantage that exists when cross-functional partnerships are strong and symbiotic.

Organizational Leadership Case Competition

This unique competition challenges teams of students to step into the roles of senior leaders and collaborate to develop strategic recommendations based on real-world business scenarios.

Curriculum

Leadership Development Series

Helping to bridge theory to practice, the Leadership Development Series features a set of workshops offered throughout the year. Each co-curricular session complements the CBS curriculum by providing actionable tools and strategies to strengthen our students’ leadership skills.

2025 Workshops

Past Workshops

Influence Without Authority: A Follow-Up to "Harnessing You Personal Influence as a Student Leader"
Managing Difficult Conversations
Managing Stress to Enhance Performance as a Leader
Mapping Ourselves: A Foundation for Teamwork in a Tech-Driven World
Power and Influence as a Student Leader

Active Listening Workshop: The Superpower of Leadership
Building Better Team Dynamics
Building Your "Leadership User Manual"
Building Your Personal Brand
Exerting Influence Without Authority in the Workplace
Finding Your Purpose Through Work
Harnessing Your Personal Influence as a Student Leader
Leadership in Sensitive Times—A Guide for Corporate Social Activism
Leading a High-Performing, Flexible Work Team in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond
Learn to Leverage Your Network
Thinking Critically About Race and Racism in Business
Three Principles for a Purposeful and High-Impact Career
Transform Your Leadership Practice with Reflective Feedback
Unpacking Diversity Dynamics in Organization: Learning Together

Course Development Grants

Each year, the Initiative awards Course Development Grants for core courses and electives to help infuse essential insights about organizational leadership, the future of work, and workplace culture, into the curriculum. Grant funding has been used for a wide variety of teaching enhancements, including new case material and experiential learning simulations.

2025 Grantees

2024 Grantees

2023 Grantees

Eric Abrahamson
- Course: Power & Influence
Modupe Akinola
- Course: Global Immersion Program (TBD)
Nelson Fraiman and Angela Quintero
- Course: Process Improvement and Growth
Simon Oh
- Course: Capital Markets and Investments

Sandra Matz-Cerf and Moran Cerf
- Course: Digital Foresight
Steve Winshel
- Courses: Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Foundations of Entrepreneurship; Launch Your Startup I; Launch Your Startup II

Ashli Carter
- LEAD: People, Teams, and Organizations
Valerie Purdie-Greenaway
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Organizations

Research

On an annual basis, the Initiative awards faculty members and doctoral students with research grants for projects pertaining to the topics of organizational leadership, the future of work, and workplace culture. In line with the mission of the Initiative, the research will develop new tools and frameworks to better prepare future leaders in business. The Initiative presents its research findings at semesterly symposiums and develops research briefs for leaders to share critical findings with a broader audience.

2024-2025 Faculty Grant Recipients

2024-2025 Doctoral Grant Recipients

Mabel Abraham, Barbara and Meyer Feldberg Associate Professor of Business, Management Division
- Research Project: "Paying—and Punishing—It Forward: How Misrecognized Evaluators Reproduce Their Unmeritocratic Experiences in Peer Evaluations"
Daniel Ames, Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Business, Management Division
- Research Project: "Listen Up!: Tackling Barriers to Listening during Ethical Disagreement"
Wei Cai, Assistant Professor of Business, Accounting Division
- Research Project: "Generative AI and Workplace Culture"
Moran Cerf, Adjunct Professor of Business, Marketing Division
- Research Project: "How Leaders Can be Better Trained to Make Critical, Life-Altering, Ethical Choices"
Adam Galinsky, Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Management Division
- Research Project: "The Universal Roots of Inspiring Leadership"

Genevieve (Vivi) Gregorich, PhD Candidate, Management Division
- Research Project: "The Strategic Consequences of Sociopolitical Activism"
Shunsuke Matsuno, PhD Candidate, Accounting Division
- Research Project: "Leadership and Conformity and in Organizations"
Christine Nguyen, PhD Candidate, Management Division
- Research Project: "The Effect of Status on Apology Likelihood and Quality"
Joaquin Peris, PhD Candidate, Accounting Division
- Research Project: "Voluntary Disclosure and the Internal Information Environment of the Firm"

About Reuben Mark

Reuben Mark with students Reuben Mark is the longest-serving leader in the history of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, having served as CEO for more than 25 years. He led the company through remarkable growth, global expansion, and sustained market leadership, driven by a sharply focused business strategy. A strong example of human-centric leadership, Mr. Mark championed Colgate’s distinctive culture based on caring, inclusivity, and courage, which endures today.

Mr. Mark's extensive career at Colgate provided him with global experience across all regions of the company’s operations, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, the U.S., and Canada. He joined Colgate in 1963 as a marketing trainee and rose through the ranks, becoming CEO in 1984 and Chairman of the Board in 1986, positions he held until 2009.

Mr. Mark served on the boards of major U.S. and international companies, including Citigroup, Time Warner, Inc., Toys "R" Us, International Can Company, Cabela's, Inc., and Pearson plc. In 2009, Portfolio magazine named him one of the "Twenty Best All Time CEOs."

Mr. Mark holds an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.