About
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? (Mark 8:36)
Spoiler alert: Nothing.
This bible verse has endured over the centuries as a reminder that we can’t put our price tag on what matters most.
Yet, time and again, businesses have put profits above all — leading our world to the brink of a climate catastrophe, an inequality crisis, and the greatest extinction of other creatures since the dinosaurs.
Can we align growing returns with the greater good? Former investment banker turned business ethicist Dawn Carpenter believes we can — and that figuring out how will shape the future.
In What Does It Profit? Dawn talks with the world’s leading thinkers, researchers, entrepreneurs and executives, exploring the most innovative ways we can reconcile capitalism’s demand for profit with the long term well-being of people and the planet.
From socially-responsible investing to conscious consumerism to business ethics in this age of extremes, Dawn is your guide to the cutting-edge ideas and experiments driving the purpose-driven business revolution. What Does It Profit? Can conscious capitalism save the world?
After finding herself sharing an elevator ride with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, our host, Dr. Dawn Carpenter, was struck by a sobering question– what was she doing with her life? She loved being a banker and derived great satisfaction in bringing together those who needed capital with those who had excess to invest. But was this all she was called to do? Her answer was an energetic “not even close.”
Motivated by a higher purpose, Dawn set out to find the answer to the challenging questions of why do we work and what responsibility do we have for the wealth that is generated by that work? After a 25 year career in finance and a doctorate in ethics, Dawn engages in dialogue about the morality of the impact of business and investment.
The Host
Producer
Jordan Gass-Poore’ is a podcast producer and investigative journalist with more than a decade of experience in the industry in the US and UK. She’s also the co-founder of the women-led audio collective Local Switchboard NYC, a freelance producer with Bloomberg, the executive producer of the Queens Memory podcast, and the associate producer of SPLC’s “Sounds Like Hate” podcast, among others.
Production Consultant
Founded by veteran public media producers Josephine Holtzman and Isaac Kestenbaum, Future Projects is a multimedia production company with a specific focus on audio quality. Clients include Audible, NPR, The Guardian US, and the Sierra Club. They have created experimental audio tours, serialized true crime podcasts, and have reported deeply on climate change. Honors include a Peabody Award, a DuPont award, an Online News Association award, as well as a Goldie Award from the Alaskan Broadcasters Association.
Strategy Consultant
Nate Tobey is a duPont award-winning executive producer and digital innovator with particular expertise in podcast development and digital content strategy. He led the podcast and national cultural programming division at American Public Media, launched the hit Downton Abbey/Masterpiece podcast for WGBH, built the award-winning social media strategy for FRONTLINE, and led the digital transformation of Penn State Public Broadcasting.
Strategic Business Advisor
Barbara Landes founded Landes Strategy LLC, a strategic CFO advisory consultancy to help CEO’s address strategic, financial, and operational challenges in their business. A former public and private company CFO and operating executive with experience in for-profit and not for profit media, technology and professional service companies, she has worked with entities from pre-revenue to $600M on a broad scope of issues including funding strategy; organizational structure and culture; strategic planning; finance/accounting and budgets; treasury and investment matters; M&A; governance; and risk management.
Producers and Researchers
Niels Ruigrok is a Dutch undergraduate student at Georgetown University studying History, Economics, and Business Administration. For What Does It Profit?, Niels leads outreach to speakers, market and business research, and drafts scripts for episodes.
Professionally, Niels works as a consultant for Hilltop Consultants, an undergraduate-run management consulting firm that focuses on non-profits. Niels also works as a financial analyst for the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union and serves as the Secretary on the board of the Washington Field Hockey Association.
Academically, Niels is interested in the contemporary US political economy.
Nate Kral is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University studying Sociology, Journalism, and Spanish. For What Does It Profit?, Nate manages digital media, social outreach & research, and business partnerships.
Professionally, Nate works as the Senior Multimedia Editor for The Hoya, and has worked as a social organizer for The San Francisco Day Labor Program & Women's Collective, as a research assistant for Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service, and as the director of social media and media relations for SoFlo, an SAT tutoring company.
Academically, he is interested in Labor, Migration, Global Health, Digital Media, and News Production.
Graphic Designer
River Castaneda is an artist from San Francisco, California. He works mostly with illustration and photography, though, he spends the rest of his time as an ecology student at Bennington College in Vermont, focusing on the botanical methods of his indigenous community, the On Akimel O’odham.
River has been working with various art mediums in professional spaces since 2015 starting as an artist’s assistant. Most recently, River spoke at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles about his last photo series which was featured in Graphite Magazine. River is the youngest member of the Indigenous Arts Coalition from San Francisco.
Pre-launch Research Assistants
Brooke Stanley served as a Business Podcast Fellow during the Spring of 2019. Originally from Vermont, Brooke came to Georgetown to study Finance. During her time at Georgetown she was very fortunate to intern in both the public and private sectors and was a proud member of the Georgetown Scholars Program for first-generation and low-income college students. Brooke graduated in May of 2020 and will be starting her career at Credit Suisse in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Jack Reichert was a writer for the podcast during the Spring of 2019 from Houston, Texas. In addition to writing on business ethics, he does stand-up comedy and screenwriting. When he's not busy, he likes to swim, read, and draw.
Friends and Allies
