FOUNDING PARTNERS
The Business Ethics Alliance is a unique, Omaha-grown ethics initiative. With the 2001Enron scandal as a backdrop, in 2005 Beverly Kracher, Ph.D., holder of the Robert B. Daugherty Endowed Chair in Business Ethics & Society in Creighton University’s Heider College of Business, began organizing Omaha business leaders to support local business ethics education. Butch Ethington, ethics and compliance at UP Railroad, was an early collaborator.
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Bev Kracher
Professor and Robert B. Daugherty Endowed Chair in Business Ethics and Society, Creighton University |
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In Spring 2006 through 2007, Beverly and Bob Bates, former CEO of Jefferson Pilot and business community leader, worked with Anthony Hendrickson, Dean of Creighton University Heider College of Business, David Brown, then President and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and Jim Hegarty, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau Midwest Plains, to begin formalizing a unified business ethics initiative. Initial business ethics programs were tested for interest in the local community, and a larger strategic committee met regularly to create the structure needed to run business ethics programs long-term. Laura Larson led program operations and became the first Alliance employee.
Robert Bates
Business Community 
Jim Hegarty
Better Business Bureau Midwest Plains |
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In March 2008, the Greater Omaha Alliance for Business Ethics was legally established as a stand-alone, independent, not-for-profit entity with three founding partners- the Heider College of Business, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and the Better Business Bureau Midwest Plains. A fourth partner, the Greater Omaha Business Community, communicates that the organization is for-and-by the business community. The partnerships comprising the Alliance's foundation make it a unique and highly innovative organization; there is no other organization like the Business Ethics Alliance anywhere!
Dr. Bev led the Alliance for over 12 years as Executive Director and CEO, building a full range of community programs, ethics-based products and services, and the Alliance’s premier conference- EthicSpace. In 2020, Michael Robinson took the helm as Executive Director. Today, Dr. AnnMarie Marlier leads the Alliance as the Executive Director to ensure the Alliance continues its legacy and reputation of providing relevant ethics education to the Omaha business community.
Dr. Bev led the Alliance for over 12 years as Executive Director and CEO, building a full range of community programs, ethics-based products and services, and the Alliance’s premier conference- EthicSpace. In 2020, Michael Robinson took the helm as Executive Director. Today, Dr. AnnMarie Marlier leads the Alliance as the Executive Director to ensure the Alliance continues its legacy and reputation of providing relevant ethics education to the Omaha business community.
