Katz advocates business role in service

Community involvement is probably not the first thing that comes to mind in connection with investment banking or management consulting, but there is more of an association than most people realize, and the trend, unlike the stock market, is on the rise. Corporate civic responsibility -- that was the emphasis of a presentation given yesterday afternoon by Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz and President of the PNC Financial Services Group J. William Mills III. "In my opinion, the role of business leadership as civic leaders is a very critical part of the job description of a chief executive officer of a major company," Katz said. "This is a very political place, and the politicians have sucked up and filled the vacuum of the power centers of this city, and in my mind it's critical that the business leadership step up and occasionally push back against the politicians and try to get things moving in a positive direction." Katz cited the Pennsylvania Convention Center debacle as just such an opportunity. "The business community has an important role to play," Katz continued. "It's difficult because business interests have as a first concern the management of their companies and their obligations to their stockholders." Mills, however, is the president of a company that has managed to keep civic involvement a priority despite the general state of the economy. "It's really tough to be socially responsible as a corporation today," Mills said. "PNC believes that we have four constituents -- our customers, employees, stockholders and the communities that we live and work in." And the commitment to community is one the company takes very seriously. PNC is currently sponsoring the Degas exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and contributes annually to the Philadelphia Flower Show, which brings $75 million in revenue to the city each year. But Mills stressed that these actions are not altruistic gestures -- they are business decisions, investments in Philadelphia. "If Philadelphia doesn't do well in the long run, there is no way that we're going to do well in the long run," Mills said. Katz, who is embarking on his fourth run for public office, just finished a successful term as the chief executive officer of Greater Philadelphia First, a civic organization representing Philadelphia's largest employers, most influential financial and health institutions and universities. His main project while at GPF was the formulation of a strategy to "transform the region from a service-based economy to a knowledge-based economy," focusing heavily on student retention in the process. Both Katz and Mills found themselves at the top relatively early in their careers. At what he deemed the "ripe old age of 27," Katz was already president of the Public Financial Management Company. At the age of 28, Mills was the treasurer for one of the 25 largest banks in the country. Mills stressed the importance of the "hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves approach" popular among many politicians and businessmen his age. Having reached maturity during the tumultuous decades of the '60s and '70s, Mills, Katz and their peers were deeply affected by the crisis and social upheaval surrounding the issues of civil rights and Vietnam. Both men cited these experiences as motivation for future involvement in civic matters. An audience of almost 50 people, consisting mostly of Wharton MBA candidates, gathered to listen to the talk, which was part of the Wharton Leadership Lectures series. The presentation was very well-received. "I thought it was good," second-year MBA candidate Jamie Sharples said. "There is a mass exodus of talent leaving the city, and I think that it's going to take corporate leadership and citizenship to really make Philadelphia an attractive place to keep talent here."

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