"It Is Not about the Money: The other face of succession in family business" presented by Gaia Marchisio, Ph.D., Executive Director, Cox Family Enterprise Center, Kennesaw State University

Our 4th Annual Celebration of Family Business continues on November 14 at The Legacy Centre Speaker Series with Dr. Gaia Marchisio, an expert in family business from the Cox Family Enterprise Center in Georgia.

Too often families in business find themselves in trouble during succession due to a lack of communication and understanding of specific relational interactions. This session will introduce participants to the complicated emotional world of family business in an interactive and effective way.

Raised as a 4th generation successor in her family’s business, Dr. Marchisio will show how old family dynamics might play a fundamental role in current business-related decisions, especially in a critical time, such as succession, and how understanding these same old family dynamics becomes the key to improve relationships and the transition between generations.

The speaker will make some concluding remarks regarding more specific elements that family members need to develop to become more effective problem solvers and therefore more successful with both their families and businesses.

This is a great opportunity to talk about everything you’ve always wanted to know about family business but were afraid to ask!

Meet Our Speaker: Dr. Gaia Marchisio

As a tenured Associate Professor of Management at Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business, Gaia developed several curricula for family business classes, and teaches undergraduate and MBA courses on family business, management and behavioral sciences, and provides consulting services. She has been a visiting professor under numerous Family Business Centers in Latin America, Asia, Europe and New Zealand.

Gaia’s academic experience allows her to be rigorous and up-to-date in dealing with family business topics. She has been participating in research projects with international partners from Academic and Professional environments (including McKinsey & Company and the Italian Stock Exchange); and has strong global experience in collaborating with financial institutions and associations working with family firms, such as International Finance Corporation (IFC - World Bank Group), Inter-America Investment Corporation (IIC – Member of the IDB Group), Credit Suisse, and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group, to name few. In particular, Gaia has experience working with financial institutions, both consulting with them on family business related topics and training their clients and/or associates.

Gaia just returned from her sabbatical leave, in which she served as the Chief Learning Officer for FBN Academy, an initiative by the Family Business Network in Asia. Gaia is an active international speaker and family business advisor. She regularly presents and/or advises families on various topics in family business management around the world, including facilitating some of the owners meetings. These families are from around the world including Europe, North and Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Gaia brings a unique combination of knowledge and experience from the fields of management and entrepreneurship to her work with family businesses, combined with a growing expertise in family dynamics and communication.

Gaia was raised as a 4th generation successor in her family’s business. This experience helped her understand the emotional challenges and responsibilities of being a young member of an entrepreneurial family. She earned her degrees from Bocconi University, Milano, Italy, and the Università degli Studi di Pavia. After finishing her BBA, she joined the SDA Bocconi School of Management where she served as Assistant Director of the full-time MBA Program, as Coordinator of the first Chair in Strategic Management in Family Business, and as a Coordinator of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurs’ Research Center. Gaia earned her Doctorate in Business Administration on Family Business. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 2006. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.

Coffee, light breakfast, and TLC served.

Please join us for other special events during our Celebration of Family Business...