Still Running Off at the Keyboard

CONNECTING THE DOTS

I recently came upon an unexpected association. It seems that the/a manager of the Templeton funds has spoken at a University of Virginia conference, and a trail can be uncovered from the conference to an Opus Dei university. Perhaps it's a spurious connection. Perhaps it means nothing. Or perhaps it does. Here are the links:

First the conference:

Valuation in Emerging Markets. It took place in May 2002. On the first-day speaker's lineup in the #6 slot was Mark Mobius, PhD, Managing Director, Templeton Asset Management.

A brief bio of Mobius can be read here, including his connection with John Templeton. Templeton, funder of the Templeton prize, the largest in the world, which is given for research in the field of religion-science interface, has an interest in the Swedenborgian Church as I reported earlier this year on

January 10 - The Libertarian Right

January 25 - Swedenborg to New Thought and Beyond

January 26 - Sir John Templeton

January 28 - Templeton Continued

February 1 - Swedenborg and Freemasonry

February 4 - Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

February 5 - Templeton Supported Science and Religion Lecture Series

The conference, as you can see by the upper left-hand insignia on the conference website, was given by the Batten Institute at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, at the University of Virginia. Among the graduates mentioned in the Wiki entry is Mark B. Templeton. The Batten Institute is mentioned in the entry. It was founded by UVa alumnus Frank Batten, Sr., retired Chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications.

The Batten Institute is mentioned in a communication from the IESE Business School.

IESE and Batten Institute Sign Research Agreement
April 28, 2004

IESE and the Batten Institute of the University of Darden have recently signed a research agreement. This agreement joins IESE with a team of global research partners working to complete a study in Europe about leading growth companies. IESE Professors Rama Velamuri and Maria Julia Prats lead IESE's participation in the study.

This project, which is in line with other research projects IESE has been working for several years, examines business leaders in established organizations who have sustained high levels of growth.

This is where Opus Dei steps in. Notice in the lower left corner, the top left corner, and the top right corner of that website that IESE belongs to the University of Navarra.

University of Navarra is an Opus Dei University.