“Old sayings like ‘greed is good’ and ‘the end justifies the means’ are just that – old sayings,” says Lester J. Fernandes, MBA’82. “We need men and women in business to go in a different direction.”
Over the course of his career in finance, Fernandes has acted with integrity in an environment where cutting corners is not uncommon. Now, he is helping the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity build momentum with a generous gift to fund new research on the role that ethical considerations play in guiding business decisions.
Founded in early 2022 with a gift from McGill Desautels alumnus David Laidley, BCom’67, the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity aims to improve ethical decision-making for current and future business leaders through teaching, research, and community outreach. The Centre is anchored in the McGill Desautels Faculty of Management, where it serves as an interdisciplinary hub for McGill researchers to explore the nuances of areas like corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethical leadership practices. Since its inception, it has organized a wide range of events from discussions on AI ethics in business to its 2023-24 conference that focused on ethics in medicine and healthcare practices.
“With the establishment of the Lester J. Fernandes Chair in Business Ethics, we will be able to expand our presence in the community by welcoming a world-class scholar who shares Mr. Fernandes’s dedication to driving positive change in management,” says Lindsay Holmgren, Director of Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity. “We are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to build on the foundation we have laid over the past two years.”
Finding the moral high ground
Coming from modest beginnings, Fernandes says that his gift was inspired in part by the opportunities he and his family received to earn a high-quality education in Canada. After earning his MBA from the Desautels Faculty of Management, he went on to build a successful career at the Bank of Montreal and Nuvei Corporation (formerly Pivotal Payments Corporation).
It didn’t take long for Fernandes to notice the difference between those who held themselves to higher standards and those who did not. “When we’re talking about the moral high ground, legality is just one element,” he reflects. From maintaining supply chain transparency to championing diversity and equity in the workplace, businesses face countless challenges that require careful expertise to maneuver.
Fernandes hopes that the new chair will challenge conventional wisdom and probe into tough questions. “There are so many shades of grey in business ethics,” he says. “It is important that the professional who occupies the chair has the will, integrity, and experience to investigate issues that are not always straightforward or transparent.”
As the population ages and business leaders retire, McGill Desautels graduates will encounter more employment options than ever before, Fernandes points out. In the long run, it is the firms that uphold and exemplify the highest standards of ethical leadership in their businesses that will attract top talent.
In addition to establishing the Lester J. Fernandes Chair in Business Ethics, Fernandes has also supported the Faculty of Arts and is a guest lecturer within the McGill Desautels MBA program.
“Lester has played an instrumental role in supporting the Desautels community,” says Yolande Chan, Dean of the McGill Desautels Faculty of Management. “Thanks to his vision and generosity, we can move forward with research that holds a magnifying glass to the most pressing ethical issues of our time.”