Ethics Resource Center: President

Dr. Harned became President of the Ethics Resource Center in 2004 and has led ERC to become the leading independent research organization dedicated to advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions. As President and in earlier roles at ERC, Dr. Harned has led landmark ethics research and become a nationally prominent speaker on ethics issues.  She is among a handful of American women trained in the ethics field working in the academic and nonprofit sectors.

Dr. Harned co-authored the 2007 National Business Ethics Survey, ERC's benchmark measure of the effectiveness of ethics and compliance programs – and its companion, the 2007 National Government Ethics Survey, which spurred public discussion of the need for stronger ethics programs in the public sector.  In 2002, she was an advisor in the crafting of federal legislation to prioritize character education research. She spearheaded ERC's review of proposed federal regulations for management reports on internal control of financial reporting, and of the Security and Exchange Commission's proposed rules for codes of conduct at publicly traded companies.  Dr. Harned supported the Federal Sentencing Commission's Advisory Group formulation of recommendations for Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations.  She has testified before several congressional committees, as well as the Federal Sentencing Commission.

Dr. Harned is a regular columnist for Compliance Week and a consultant to the Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education, co-authoring the ethics module for the Regulatory Element delivered to all registered broker/dealers in the United States.  Her published writings include Creating a Workable Company Code and Common Sense & Everyday Ethics, as well as chapters on character development in middle school textbooks published by Harcourt, Brace & Co.  Her published articles include Leading the Effort to Teach Character in Schools (NASSP Bulletin, 83(609)), Partnering Character Education and Conflict Resolution (Kappa Delta Pi Record, 35(3)), and Creating a Culture of Development for the New Professional (New Directions for Student Services, Jossey-Bass Pub.).

She is also an accomplished speaker on ethics issues and serves on the editorial board of the referred journal Public Integrity.

After initially joining ERC in 1999 as Director of Character Development, she went on to serve as Director of Research, Managing Director of Programs, and Vice President and Acting President before being appointed President.  

Before coming to ERC, Dr. Harned was a Teaching Fellow and Director of Research at the Heartwood Institute, a character education curriculum development organization in Pittsburgh, PA.  She also served as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Comparative Analysis in Education at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Harned began her career as an Assistant to the Dean of Student Affairs at Carnegie Mellon University.  She holds a doctorate in the Philosophy of Education from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Education degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Elizabethtown College.