Smith Family Business Initiative faculty & fellows

The Smith Family Business Initiative (SFBI) at Cornell has brought together faculty, scholars, and practitioners to provide multidisciplinary guidance and expertise to help equip well-established, emerging, and aspiring family businesses with the knowledge and skills essential to navigate the multi-generational dimensions and family influence of these organizations. Through thought leadership, practice and teaching the SFBI faculty and fellows leverage their expertise and knowledge to shape the landscape of family business as well as provide new ideas and paradigms for understanding family business.

More In This Section

Faculty leadership

  • Photo of Wesley David Sine

    Wesley David Sine

    John and Dyan Smith Professor of Management and Family Business; Academic Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative

    Wesley Sine is professor of management and organizations. His research focuses on the emergence of new economic sectors and entrepreneurship in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and…

Smith Family Business Initiative Fellows

Smith Family Business Initiative Faculty Fellows, Family Business and Practitioner Fellows are distinguished family business thinkers and leaders from the foremost institutions and businesses across the globe. All are selected for their breadth of experience, knowledge and understanding of family business. Collectively, our faculty, fellows and practitioners are helping to create curriculum, programs and opportunities for our students and alumni.

Cornell Faculty Fellows

Faculty Fellows are Cornell faculty members engaged in research or collaborative projects related to family enterprises.

  • Photo of Lourdes S. Casanova

    Lourdes S. Casanova

    Associate Teaching Professor; Gail and Roberto Cañizares Director for the Emerging Markets Institute; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business
  • Headshot of Karl Pillemer.

    Karl Pillemer

    Hazel E. Reed Human Development Professor in the College of Human Ecology; Professor of Gerontology in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; Founding Director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging

Family Business Fellows

Our Family Business Fellows are faculty members and practitioners affiliated with other higher ed institutions or business organizations.

  • Rania Labaki

    Associate Professor of Management at EDHEC Business School

  • Ambra Mazzelli

    Associate Professor of Strategy at SKEMA Business School; Cornell SC Johnson Smith Family Business Initiative Fellows

  • Greg McCann

    Senior Professor of Family Enterprise at Stetson University

  • Alessandro Minichilli

    Professor of the Department of Management & Technology at Bocconi University | SDA Professor of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Governance
  • Headshot of Michele Williams.

    Michele Williams

    Keynote Speaker; Trust and Negotiation Expert; Henry B. Tippie Research Fellow in Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor in Management and Entrepreneurship at University of Iowa

Family Business Practitioner Fellows

Our Family Business Practitioner Fellows are leading family businesses.