The roundtable brought together experts working to develop and promote alternative corporate forms from the fields of business and human rights (BHR), corporate governance, impact investing, and social enterprise. (See the end of this Discussion Summary for a list of participants.) It was co-chaired by Joanne Bauer of Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights (which hosted), Erinch Sahan of Oxfam Great Britain and Liz Umlas of the University of Fribourg.   

The purpose of the meeting was to begin a discussion on alternative corporate forms that lend themselves to integrating human rights, including the elimination of extreme inequality, into business practice. With the diversity of perspectives around the table and the fact that few participants had previously interacted with one another, the meeting was largely aimed at “synchronizing watches” around language, root concerns, and change objectives.