Authors Directory

She then earned a Marketing traineeship at the largest Swiss bank UBS and also pursued Ph.D. in family business institute at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany.

Claudia has been leading the Family and Business Program at Lucerne School of Business since 2014, and continues to provide research-based and peer-oriented learning opportunities for family-owned companies in Switzerland even after her move to the United States in 2013. In 2019, she joined Andrew Keyt as the Head of the Governance Practice at Keyt Consulting – a role that she continues to hold at Generation6. In this capacity, Claudia worked extensively with the boards of some of the largest private family companies in the United States.

Claudia’s research and practice are informed and shaped by her understanding of the role of family cohesion, effective communication and conflict management, and family and business governance that align with the values, culture, and objectives of the owning family.

She has received awards for her research from scholarly and business organizations alike. Claudia is a board member of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy and a former family business chair at the European Academy of Management. She is a visiting scholar at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany, and an affiliated researcher at Jönköping University (CeFEO) in Sweden.

David’s experience includes founding and building multiple businesses from the ground up, and expanding and leading operations into new markets. He is recognised by colleagues as a creative problem-solver and strategist with expertise in coming up with ideas and creating new ways of improving business, strategy, operations, and results.

As a business and family advisor, he provides clients with expert business advice on intergenerational business and wealth transition, advancing entrepreneurial efforts, setting up good governance, improving financial and operational results, and strategic direction. He is also a seasoned program leader with an aptitude for providing governance in corporate and philanthropic pursuits with a strong focus on culturally focused non-profits.

He is also the author of the book Transition, and the Founder and Chairman of Billing Bureau, one of the leading Australian Telecommunications Recurring Billing Software companies. He has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The Wall St. Journal, USA Today and most recently has been speaking for high net worth groups in Macao, Singapore and New Zealand.

David is an adjunct professor of Swinburne University, has completed a Masters of Entrepreneurship and used his knowledge to expand several successful businesses in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industries. He currently mentors and advises family businesses, CEOs, and top-level entrepreneurs on how to successfully systemize their businesses so that they can increase revenue, scale, and even exit their business. He also launched his own Family Office. David lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and five children.

Rania is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), a member of the Scientific Council of FBN France, and a member of the Advisory Board of Women in Family Business (WIFB).

She is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneurship Research Journal and a member of the editorial boards of the main academic journals dedicated to family businesses. She has published extensively in academic and professional books and journals on family businesses, including the expert sections of Droit & Patrimoine magazine and Les Echos solutions.

She holds a PhD in Management Sciences from the University of Bordeaux and has received several international awards in recognition of her contribution in the field of family businesses including the prestigious Barbara Hollander Award in 2020. Her current interests focus on the role of family and emotional dynamics in financial, social and philanthropic, intra/entrepreneurial, and family business succession decisions.