Rania Labaki

Dr. Rania Labaki is Associate Professor of Management at EDHEC Business School and Director of the EDHEC Family Business Centre (France). Her current research interests revolve around the interplay between family dynamics and family business behavior, in relation with entrepreneurial, financial, socio-cultural and succession decisions. 

A passionate advocate for family business, Rania developed throughout her career a unique mix of academic and practical knowledge on family business. She is actively involved in the leading international organizations dedicated to family business. She serves as Board member of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), Head of the Scientific Committee of FBN France and Program Content Advisor of BFF. She is the FFI Fellow, past-programme committee member and Research & Education Symposium co-chair. She also serves as Advisory Committee member of the EIASM Workshop on Family Firm Management Research, Women in Family Business (WIFB) and New York City Family Enterprise Centre (NYCFEC). She is co-editor of the Entrepreneurship Research Journal and serves on the review editorial boards of the leading journals specialized in family business. 

Among her past appointments, Rania was Associate professor and Director of the Financial and Wealth Management Master Program at the University of Bordeaux, Director of the Family Business Global Executive MBA at EDHEC Business School and Visiting Scholar at Baruch College – The City University of New York, Zhejiang University (China), Zeppelin University (Germany) and Salerno University (Italy). She was also Academic Expert of The Family Business Network International for 7 years, in charge of developing and facilitating programs for the Next Generation international conferences and trainings and providing guidance and support on strategic activities related to education, research and entrepreneurship.

A regular speaker at academic and practice-oriented conferences and institutions, Rania lectured and made presentations on family business in more than 50 countries across continents (including Cornell University, INSEAD, Egon Zehnder and KPMG). She also chaired or co-chaired 14 conferences on family business and contributed to the development of numerous partnerships with family business stakeholders, intended to support and promote family business research creation and dissemination. She enrolled in both quantitative and qualitative research projects, including in-depth interviews on family business issues with more than 250 family business members.

Her contributions to the family business field have been awarded many times by the international community, including the Family Business Review Best Article in 2015 and the Emerald Literati Network Outstanding Reviewer Award in 2014. In addition to her numerous academic publications ranging from articles, book chapters to research reports and pedagogical cases, her insights have been featured in the media, professional and practice-oriented journals, blogs and podcasts internationally. She is currently a regular contributor to the family business expert columns of the French journals Droit & Patrimoine and Les Echos Solutions. 

Rania holds a Master of Business Administration from The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (Lebanon), a Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the University of Bordeaux (France) and the Advanced Certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising from the Family Firm Institute (USA).

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