Mailing address
Littauer 362
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Ben Heineman
Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: 617-496-7305
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: ben_heineman@harvard.edu
Experience
Mr. Heineman is a graduate of Harvard College (1965), Oxford University (1967 -- graduate degree/political science) and Yale Law School (1971). A former Rhodes Scholar, editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal and law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, he practiced law in Washington before serving at HEW from 1977-1980, ending his tenure there as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Mr. Heineman was then managing partner of the Washington office of Sidley & Austin, focusing on Supreme Court and test case litigation. He is the author of books on British race relations and the American presidency. In 1987, Mr. Heineman became Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the General Electric Company located in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2004, he was named GE's Senior Vice President for Law and Public Affairs. Mr. Heineman is a member of the American Law Institute; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; a member of the Board of Transparency International-USA; a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center; and a member of the Board of Managers and Overseers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
While at the Belfer Center, he will research and write on a wide variety of public and private sector issues, including the global anti-corruption movement, corporate citizenship and social responsibility, the changing role of the corporate general counsel and the inside legal department, the corporate response to terrorism, corporate governance, and corporations and public policy.
istock
November 4, 2008
"Financial Leaders Go AWOL in the Meltdown"
Op-Ed, Bloomberg
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"What's happening is a crisis of capitalism, though not because there is a debate about the ultimate virtues of capitalism over socialism -- that argument is long over. Rather, the failure of business leadership on an almost cataclysmic scale has brought front and center the issue of how government should rein in business."
AP Photo
September 26, 2008
Boards Fail -- Again
Op-Ed, BusinessWeek
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Sadly, it is clear that the boards of our major financial institutions did not understand the risks the entities were taking. It may be that the CEOs and top management didn't understand, either, but it is the board's job to press management. As experienced individuals, it is board members' duty to ask hard questions when things are going extremely well as well as when they are going badly.
Angel Herrero de Frutos
September 22, 2008
"Don't Get Blindsided By Your New Job"
Op-Ed
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"In the past 20 years, many dimensions of the general counsel's job have changed dramatically for the better: responsibilities, challenges, value to the corporation, compensation, stature in the profession.
But one has not: GCs are still dependent on the CEO and constrained by company culture."
March 2008
The Lost Generation?
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Corporate Counsel
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Demoralized and dispirited, big-firm associates are defecting in droves. Here's how law firms - and their clients - can change that.
April, 2007
Caught in the Middle
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Corporate Counsel
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Corporate counsel must guard their company's reputation and work well with the business side. GE’s former GC explains how to reconcile those often competing roles.
April, 2007
Avoiding Integrity Land Mines
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
An inside look at how GE has worked to build a culture that sustains both high performance and high integrity.
October 1, 2006
Hand Across the Water
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Corporate Counsel
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
A case study on GE's legal "foreign policy."
May / June 2006
The Long War Against Corruption
Journal Article, Foreign Affairs
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Corruption is widely acknowledged to distort markets, undermine the rule of law, damage government legitimacy, and hurt economic development. The global anticorruption movement has gained ground since the mid-1990s, but its key agents -- developed and developing countries, international organizations, and MNCs -- must do more to prevent and punish misbehavior systematically.
April, 2006
In the Beginning
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Corporate Counsel
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
GE's legendary lawyer explains how he revolutionized the role of in-house counsel.
April, 2006
China: The Balance Sheet, What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower
Book
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
An investigative analysis of China's critical role in the world today.
