Ethics on the Stage: Fiddler on the Roof

Rabbi Ira Bedzow

Executive Director of the Emory Purpose Project at Emory University

Ira Bedzow PhD is a leading voice on purpose-driven leadership, ethical decision-making, and the role of values in shaping lives, organizations, and society. As the executive director of the Emory Purpose Project at Emory University, he helps students—and audiences of all kinds—reflect on meaning, align their choices with their core values, and live with greater intentionality.

Bedzow brings a unique perspective that bridges higher education, healthcare, business and organizational culture, and moral leadership. He is an associate professor in the practice of organization and management at Goizueta Business School, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine, and a core faculty member at Emory University’s Center for Ethics. He also serves as a senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion.

His work focuses on how individuals and institutions can cultivate ethical cultures, especially in the face of complexity. Whether unpacking the ethical implications of biotechnology and healthcare policy or helping leaders move from asking “What should I do?” to “How can I act on my values effectively?”—he offers practical insights grounded in deep philosophical thought.

Bedzow is also a senior scholar at the Aspen Center for Social Values and co-director of the Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust. He brings the depth of a philosopher, the clarity of a communicator, and the heart of a teacher—and, as an Orthodox rabbi, he speaks fluently across traditions, sectors, and audiences.

Professor Edward Queen II 

Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership at the Emory University Center for Ethics

Edward L. Queen is Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership at the Emory University Center for Ethics. He also serves as a co-director of Emory’s Institute of Human Rights. Previous positions include founding director of the Religion and Philanthropy Project at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy and program officer at Lilly Endowment, Inc.

He received his B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College, his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Divinity School of The University of Chicago, and his J.D. from Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. While in law school, Queen led an Innocence Project team that freed a wrongly convicted man after 20 years in prison. Between 2000 and 2003 he worked at a human rights organization in Macedonia and served as the faculty and curriculum development consultant for the law faculty of that country’s newly founded South Eastern European University.

Queen’s work focuses on applied and professional ethics and the development and implementation of ethics programs in businesses, nonprofits, and governmental agencies. As a teacher, his goal is the formation of ethically informed and publicly engaged citizens. Queen has trained and advised numerous organizations on management and ethical issues including: the Federal Home Loan Bank, Atlanta; Belk: AECOM; Ethisphere; Voya; Coca Cola; USAID; SunTrust; Philanthropy Southeast; DeKalb County, Georgia; and Atlanta Public Schools. He currently serves as an advisor to Merlynn Intelligence Technologies on AI and ethical decision-making and a trainer for the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

He is frequently called on by the media to comment on ethical issues in government, nonprofits, law, and business.

Queen is a recipient of the Laura Jones Hardman Award for Excellence in Service to the Emory Community, given to those who serve “as role-models to students and others by offering an unselfish, time-consuming, and appreciable service to the university community.” Additionally, he has been recognized by Emory University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter as a professor “who has encouraged and helped students to excel, and who exemplifies intellectual rigor and enthusiasm for scholarly pursuits.”