The KPMG Peat Marwick / Stanley R. Klion Forum
The KPMG Peat Marwick / Stanley R. Klion Forum was established in memory of the late Stanley Ring Klion (1923-1994), a former Columbia Business School executive-in-residence from 1986 to 1994. Klion was a retired executive vice chairman and chief operating partner of Peat Marwick International, one of the world’s largest accounting and management consulting firms.
Klion graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1942, where he won Best Company Award in ROTC and achieved the rank of second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. By the age of 22, he was the youngest major in the U.S. Army and had served in the Phillipines, Okinawa and mainland Japan.
After serving in the military, Klion took a job with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Philadelphia, where he began his career as a methods engineer. He later moved to New York and joined Peat Marwick in 1955. During his 31 years with the firm, he was in charge of numerous consulting assignments. These ranged from problem solving for small companies to major financial institutions and government agencies.
Klion’s activities at Columbia Business School included counseling students, participating in seminars, guest lecturing in ethics and advising the Dean’s Office and faculty. “He was a great help to students seeking a career in management consulting,” says Bob Lear, executive-in-residence at the School and a close friend of Klion. He was dedicated to helping students find and achieve their career goals. His contribution to the executives-in-residence program, particular in the field of ethics, is his lasting legacy at the School.
At the time of his death, Klion was chairman of the Wilson Council, a national advisory organization to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., vice chairman of the business committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a trustee and treasurer of the Greenwich Library in Connecticut, where he lived.
In his memory, former students, colleagues, the KPMG Peat Marwick Foundation and his many friends at he firm, contributed to the Klion Memorial Ethics Fund. This fund was established at the behest of the Klion family, to carry forward his ideals and values. The Fund ensures that the KPMG Peat Marwick / Stanley R. Klion Forum continues as a regular feature of the School’s academic calendar and as an annual reminder of Mr. Klion’s ethical leadership at Columbia Business School.
Past speakers include:
2007
Stanley Litow, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, and President of IBM International Foundation
2006
Dan Reingold, former Managing Director and telecom analyst at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston
2005
Leo Hindery Jr., Chairman of InterMedia Advisors and Executive-in-Residence at Columbia Business School
Read student article
 Professor David Beim and Paul Volcker with MBA students |
2003
Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board’s oversight committee
Read student article
2002
Jack T. Ciesielski, publisher of The Analyst’s Accounting Observer
Laurence M. Downes, chairman and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Resources Corporation
Bevis Longstreth, senior partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton
Marc Sternfeld, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School
Read student article
2001
Rosamond Rhodes, director of Bioethics Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Richard Juelis, chief financial officer of Cellegy Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Monsignor Maloney, Catholic Chaplain at Columbia and Pastor of the Church of Notre Dame
Professor Peter Juviler, co-chair and co-director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights
1999
Jens Neumann, chairman of North American Operations of Volkswagen
Moderated by Professor David Beim
1998
Richard B. Fisher, chairman of the executive committee and director of Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co.
Moderated by Professor David Beim
1997
Frank N. Newman, chairman and chief executive officer of Bankers Trust Company
Moderated by Professor David Beim
1996
Herbert F. Aspbury, senior managing director of Chemical Bank
Richard Blackburn, president and group executive of NYNEX Worldwide Services
James Marpe, partner at Andersen Consulting
Moderated by Mr. Robert Callander, Executive-in-Residence
1995
Anne Busquet, executive vice president of American Express
David Howe, partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion & Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute
Moderated by Professor David Beim
1994
Paul Van Orden, executive-in-residence at the Chazen Institute
Robert Callender, executive-in-residence at Chemical Bank
Wayne Cherner, president of Smokefree Services, and former VP of Kidder Peabody Co.
Carol Einiger, vice president and chief financial officer of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Schon Beechler, professor of International Management at Columbia Business School
John Whitney, professor of Quality Management at Columbia Business School
1993
Jack Welch, chairman of General Electric Company
Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, chairman of Merck & Co.
