Kirk Hanson

Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University

Kirk O. Hanson is University Professor of Organizations and Society and the Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. The Markkula Ethics Center is one of the most active ethics centers in the world, working in the fields of business, biotechnology and health care, K-12 character education, government and global ethics. Kirk is regarded as a global leader in the study of business ethics and business responsibility. He serves as Honorary Chair of China’s first business ethics center, the Center for International Business Ethics in Beijing. He also serves on the scientific Board of VIGEO, the Paris-based corporate social rating agency.

Previously, Kirk was a Senior Lecturer in Business Administration at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business for 23 years. His current research interests are the ethics audit, the design of corporate values programs and the role of ethics in international diplomacy. He was the founding President of The Business Enterprise Trust and the first Chairman of the Santa Clara County Political Ethics Commission, and he has written a weekly column for the San Jose Mercury News.

Kirk has served on the boards of the Social Venture Network, Net Impact and American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley. He has twice chaired Stanford's Committee on Investment Responsibility, which advises the Stanford Board of Trustees on social investment issues. Kirk is a graduate of Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has held graduate fellowships and research appointments at the Yale Divinity School and the Harvard Business School.