Thriving in a Changing World Faculty
World class experts to lead the way
Thriving in a Changing World: Strategies for Family Business offers a special opportunity to learn from internationally recognized leaders in the fields of family enterprise, strategy, DEI, impact advising, sustainability and more!
This certification provides you with leading edge tools and knowledge aimed at assessing and responding to today’s most pressing generational, social, environmental and economic issues – enabling you to build successful strategies specific to family business.
You will learn how to guide your family – or family enterprise clients – through their decision-making process, and to support them as they move towards balancing value and profit with making an impact.
Meet the Faculty
Gaia Marchisio
Ambra Mazzelli
Robert Nason
Pramodita Sharma
Gaia is a family-enterprise researcher, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer with over 25 years of impact across global family enterprises, academic institutions, corporations, public-sector organizations, and others. She not only advises on and researches family enterprise, but is a fourth-generation successor in her own family business.
Gaia holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Bocconi University and a Ph.D. in General Management from Università Degli Studi di Pavia (both based in Italy). Originally from Italy, she is a naturalized US citizen who speaks fluent English, Italian, and Spanish.
Gaia is a Senior Lecturer in Discipline, Management Division and Faculty Director, Global Family Enterprise Program for Columbia Business School in New York City. Prior to this, she was Executive Director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center, the US’s first family business center, and the Aronoff Professor of Family Business at Kennesaw State University. Gaia has been a visiting scholar at educational institutions worldwide, including large Family Business Centers in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.
Ambra Mazzelli is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizations at SKEMA Business School. Originally from Italy, Ambra lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Boston (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Lancaster (UK). Before joining SKEMA Business School, she was an Assistant Professor at the Asia School of Business and an International Faculty Fellow and Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan.
Ambra’s research investigates the psychological underpinnings of firms’ strategic decisions. She is also interested in the role of entrepreneurship in society. Her work has appeared in numerous top journals, including Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Long Range Planning.
Besides her research, she has actively and enthusiastically advised on more than fifty projects in large international firms and conglomerates, at both strategic and operational levels, and continues to consult for managers and executives at publicly listed companies and large private firms in Asia and Europe.
Robert Nason is a William Dawson Scholar and associate professor of Strategy and Organization at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Robert’s research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in society covering areas of family business, behavioral strategy, growth and the informal economy. His current research initiatives are particularly focused on entrepreneurship and economic inequality – examining entrepreneurial activity in contexts of poverty and wealth. Robert has received awards for research, including the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s Emerging Scholar Award in 2020 and teaching, including Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors (2022) and the Desautels Core Strategy MBA Teaching Award (2022).
Robert’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FRQ-SC). His work has been published in leading academic outlets such as Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. In his commitment to research with practical relevance, Robert is actively collaborating in his research and its dissemination with non-governmental organizations, including the Family Enterprise Foundation in Canada and the Sustainable Livelihood Foundation in South Africa.
Dita is the Schlesinger-Grossman Chair of Family Business at the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont. She is a visiting scholar at the Family Business Centers at Kellogg School of Management, USA and Indian School of Business, India, and is an advisory board member of the Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden.
Dita served as the editor of Family Business Review from 2008-2017. Her research on succession, governance, innovation, next generation commitment, entrepreneurial leadership and sustainability in/by family enterprises is published in over fifty articles and ten books. Since 2015, she has published Entrepreneurs in Every Generation & Patient Capital: The Role of Family Firms in Sustainable Business, and ten articles in journals like ET&P, FBR, JBE, JBR & JFBS. Pioneering Business Families of Sustainable Development is her most recent book. She is the co-founder of the Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC).
Gaia Marchisio
Ambra Mazzelli
Gaia is a family-enterprise researcher, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer with over 25 years of impact across global family enterprises, academic institutions, corporations, public-sector organizations, and others. She not only advises on and researches family enterprise, but is a fourth-generation successor in her own family business.
Gaia holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Bocconi University and a Ph.D. in General Management from Università Degli Studi di Pavia (both based in Italy). Originally from Italy, she is a naturalized US citizen who speaks fluent English, Italian, and Spanish.
Gaia is a Senior Lecturer in Discipline, Management Division and Faculty Director, Global Family Enterprise Program for Columbia Business School in New York City. Prior to this, she was Executive Director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center, the US’s first family business center, and the Aronoff Professor of Family Business at Kennesaw State University. Gaia has been a visiting scholar at educational institutions worldwide, including large Family Business Centers in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.
Ambra Mazzelli is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizations at SKEMA Business School. Originally from Italy, Ambra lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Boston (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Lancaster (UK). Before joining SKEMA Business School, she was an Assistant Professor at the Asia School of Business and an International Faculty Fellow and Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan.
Ambra’s research investigates the psychological underpinnings of firms’ strategic decisions. She is also interested in the role of entrepreneurship in society. Her work has appeared in numerous top journals, including Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Long Range Planning.
Besides her research, she has actively and enthusiastically advised on more than fifty projects in large international firms and conglomerates, at both strategic and operational levels, and continues to consult for managers and executives at publicly listed companies and large private firms in Asia and Europe.
Robert Nason
Pramodita Sharma
Robert Nason is a William Dawson Scholar and associate professor of Strategy and Organization at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Robert’s research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in society covering areas of family business, behavioral strategy, growth and the informal economy. His current research initiatives are particularly focused on entrepreneurship and economic inequality – examining entrepreneurial activity in contexts of poverty and wealth. Robert has received awards for research, including the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s Emerging Scholar Award in 2020 and teaching, including Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors (2022) and the Desautels Core Strategy MBA Teaching Award (2022).
Robert’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FRQ-SC). His work has been published in leading academic outlets such as Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. In his commitment to research with practical relevance, Robert is actively collaborating in his research and its dissemination with non-governmental organizations, including the Family Enterprise Foundation in Canada and the Sustainable Livelihood Foundation in South Africa.
Dita is the Schlesinger-Grossman Chair of Family Business at the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont. She is a visiting scholar at the Family Business Centers at Kellogg School of Management, USA and Indian School of Business, India, and is an advisory board member of the Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden.
Dita served as the editor of Family Business Review from 2008-2017. Her research on succession, governance, innovation, next generation commitment, entrepreneurial leadership and sustainability in/by family enterprises is published in over fifty articles and ten books. Since 2015, she has published Entrepreneurs in Every Generation & Patient Capital: The Role of Family Firms in Sustainable Business, and ten articles in journals like ET&P, FBR, JBE, JBR & JFBS. Pioneering Business Families of Sustainable Development is her most recent book. She is the co-founder of the Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC).
Gaia Marchisio
Ambra Mazzelli
Robert Nason
Gaia is a family-enterprise researcher, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer with over 25 years of impact across global family enterprises, academic institutions, corporations, public-sector organizations, and others. She not only advises on and researches family enterprise, but is a fourth-generation successor in her own family business.
Gaia holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Bocconi University and a Ph.D. in General Management from Università Degli Studi di Pavia (both based in Italy). Originally from Italy, she is a naturalized US citizen who speaks fluent English, Italian, and Spanish.
Gaia is a Senior Lecturer in Discipline, Management Division and Faculty Director, Global Family Enterprise Program for Columbia Business School in New York City. Prior to this, she was Executive Director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center, the US’s first family business center, and the Aronoff Professor of Family Business at Kennesaw State University. Gaia has been a visiting scholar at educational institutions worldwide, including large Family Business Centers in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.
Ambra Mazzelli is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizations at SKEMA Business School. Originally from Italy, Ambra lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Boston (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Lancaster (UK). Before joining SKEMA Business School, she was an Assistant Professor at the Asia School of Business and an International Faculty Fellow and Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan.
Ambra’s research investigates the psychological underpinnings of firms’ strategic decisions. She is also interested in the role of entrepreneurship in society. Her work has appeared in numerous top journals, including Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Long Range Planning.
Besides her research, she has actively and enthusiastically advised on more than fifty projects in large international firms and conglomerates, at both strategic and operational levels, and continues to consult for managers and executives at publicly listed companies and large private firms in Asia and Europe.
Robert Nason is a William Dawson Scholar and associate professor of Strategy and Organization at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Robert’s research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in society covering areas of family business, behavioral strategy, growth and the informal economy. His current research initiatives are particularly focused on entrepreneurship and economic inequality – examining entrepreneurial activity in contexts of poverty and wealth. Robert has received awards for research, including the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s Emerging Scholar Award in 2020 and teaching, including Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors (2022) and the Desautels Core Strategy MBA Teaching Award (2022).
Robert’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FRQ-SC). His work has been published in leading academic outlets such as Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. In his commitment to research with practical relevance, Robert is actively collaborating in his research and its dissemination with non-governmental organizations, including the Family Enterprise Foundation in Canada and the Sustainable Livelihood Foundation in South Africa.
Pramodita Sharma
Dita is the Schlesinger-Grossman Chair of Family Business at the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont. She is a visiting scholar at the Family Business Centers at Kellogg School of Management, USA and Indian School of Business, India, and is an advisory board member of the Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden.
Dita served as the editor of Family Business Review from 2008-2017. Her research on succession, governance, innovation, next generation commitment, entrepreneurial leadership and sustainability in/by family enterprises is published in over fifty articles and ten books. Since 2015, she has published Entrepreneurs in Every Generation & Patient Capital: The Role of Family Firms in Sustainable Business, and ten articles in journals like ET&P, FBR, JBE, JBR & JFBS. Pioneering Business Families of Sustainable Development is her most recent book. She is the co-founder of the Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC).