DELAND, FL – This week, Tom Christopher spoke to Stetson University’s Business Ethics class about his career, organizational culture, ethics and the importance of servant leadership.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation by Thomas Christopher,” a student of the class mentions. “He brought forward a very refreshing perspective on the way business should be done. Many of the points he made resonated with me and the way I was raised and to see them not just in the business world, but being very successful in the business world was very inspiring for me.”
This is part of a Dynamic Speaker Series held within the class, where students are provided an opportunity to listen and network with top business professionals. Students are able to become very engaged with outside, real-life applications and perspectives.
“It’s so important for our students to hear from business leaders in the real world, with real-life experience,” says Associate Professor & Chair of the Management Department at Stetson University, John Tichenor. “Tom brought that real-life experience to the classroom and shared real-life stories on what it takes to run a successful business and how important it is to do business the right way. I am completely on board with Tom’s approach to servant leadership.”
About Stetson University’s Business Ethics Class
The course introduces the student to the contemporary legal, social, regulatory and ethical issues confronting businesses today. Specifically, students will discuss the role of business and government in a capitalist environment, the American legal system, the U.S. regulatory structure and process, Affirmative Action programs, employees’ rights, consumer protection, product liability, and environmental protection.
About Thomas Christopher
Thomas earned both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cleveland State University. He has served in several adjunct faculty positions as well as featured lecturer at several Colleges and Universities across the United States including Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He serves as the Chairman of the Stetson Business School Advisory Board, on the Stetson University Board of Trustees, and has held numerous Board positions for a variety of non-profit organizations.
Tom and his wife, Paula Christopher are the founding members of The Christopher Group an Executive HR Search Firm that was established in 1998. His practice is focused on placing talent at the VP, SVP, and CHRO levels. With over 30 years of experience in human resources and executive search, Tom’s deep understanding of business strategy, organizational structures, talent acquisition/assessment/development, have allowed him to become an invaluable search and business partner to senior executives at a list of most impressive Fortune 500 organizations.
Prior to The Christopher Group, Tom held multiple executive HR leadership roles across diverse organizations and industries. Tom began his career as a member of the GE HR Development Program and was an HR Manager at GE in both unionized and non-unionized facilities within the lighting business. He went on to continue his career at PepsiCo within their Food Services Division and was an HR Director in both corporate and field locations. He was then recruited into TriArc Companies (Private Equity Firm – Arby’s, RC Cola and Snapple) as the HR Sr. Director for its headquarters office and then VP for all global field HR teams. Tom then went into the financial services industry as the VP of HR for Citibank’s North American retail business and later became the SVP of MD/LD/OD for supporting roughly 60% of Citibank worldwide. In his last corporate HR executive role, Tom was the VP of HR for AutoNation leading the field HR teams in both union and non-union locations.
Both of these men, Tom Christopher and John Tichenor, provide daily to the Stetson community an example of ethical, servant leadership. It is an honor to have them as such a vital part of the the Stetson Business School.