By Cole Hatcher
Retired Columbus Blue Jackets executive Greg Kirstein will discuss “Players, Agents, Unions, Owners … and Fans: The Business Ethics of Professional Hockey” when he speaks at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Kirstein, who served the National Hockey League team for 23 years as its senior vice president and general counsel, will speak at 7:30 p.m. March 23 in Benes Room B of OWU’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. His free public presentation is Ohio Wesleyan’s 2023 Heisler Business Ethics Lecture, sponsored by The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.
During his career, Kirstein devoted more than 30 years to bringing professional hockey to Columbus, joining the Blue Jackets in 1998 and retiring in 2021.
With a core group of visionaries, he also has been a catalyst in the construction of nine ice rinks and the formation of some 25 high school teams and youth programs. He has served as president of the Chiller LLC ice rink company, secretary of the Blue Jackets Foundation, and an adjunct professor of sports law at The Ohio State University.
A graduate of Ohio State’s Journalism School and Duquesne’s Law School, Kirstein received Business First’s Top Corporate Counsel Award in 2012, Duquesne Law School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2016, and the 2017 Outstanding Alumnus Award from Ohio State’s Stadium Honors Dorm. He was inducted in 2018 into Bethel Park High School Great Alumni Hall of Fame.
Since his retirement from the Blue Jackets, he continues to consult with the organization and teach classes at Campbell University School of Law.
Ohio Wesleyan’s annual Heisler Business Ethics Lecture is funded by the Heisler Family Endowment for the Study of Ethics, which honors university graduates James Heisler, Class of 1938; Robert Heisler, Class of 1942; and Bruce Heisler, Class of 1949.
The lecture is sponsored by The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship, which helps OWU students to integrate business theory and practice, and provides lectures and other resources to benefit students, faculty, and the local community. The mission of The Woltemade Center is to enhance academic programming and provide real-world opportunities to create future business and world leaders. Learn more at owu.edu/woltemade.
Source: OWU
