Congratulations to the 2024 Achievement Award Recipients

Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

June 07, 2024

I

n 1992, to further enhance its multidisciplinary and global approach to family enterprise advising, consulting, and research, FFI began to establish awards for professional achievement. Today there are four: Richard Beckhard Practice Award, Barbara Hollander Award, Interdisciplinary Award, and International Award. These prestigious awards are the pinnacles of achievement in the field, and we are pleased to announce this year’s recipients. The awards will be formally presented as part of the FFI annual global conference in October.

Richard Beckhard Practice Award

James Grubman, FFI Fellow

James Grubman, PhD, is an internationally recognized consultant to multigenerational families of wealth, family enterprises, and their advisors. He has over forty-five years’ experience in healthcare and financial psychology as a practitioner, educator, author, researcher, and speaker. His books include Strangers in Paradise: How Families Adapt to Wealth Across Generations and Wealth 3.0: The Future of Family Wealth Advising (with Dennis Jaffe and Kristin Keffeler). He has published widely, including in the Journal of Wealth Management, International Family Offices Journal, and Trusts & Estates. He recently was honored with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Family Wealth Report.

In addition to being an FFI Fellow, Jim’s FFI leadership includes his work as a mentor in the Global Education Network (GEN) program, contributing to FFI Practitioner, and presenting at FFI Global Conferences. As an industry thought leader, he has developed multiple training programs in family dynamics and psychological aspects of financial advising. He currently helps lead The UHNW Institute, a nonprofit think tank, where he oversees content and curriculum development.

From the nomination

Whether facilitating a family meeting or training advisors in the complexities of wealth, [James Grubman] draws on his deep knowledge of psychology, family dynamics, and family business, with specialty interests in trusts and estates law and family governance. His goal is to help integrate life and wealth for the benefit of the family and society. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Jim has worked hard to incorporate psychological and social/cultural perspectives into the field of family wealth advisory. Jim’s leadership in this effort, coupled with clear and practical guidance, advances the advice for multigenerational families.

James Grubman

The Richard Beckhard Practice Award was established in 1992 to honor a founding FFI member and distinguished practitioner in the family business field. It recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of family business practice.

View the complete list of recipients of the Richard Beckhard Practice Award

Barbara Hollander Award

Francesco Barbera, FFI Fellow

Dr. Barbera is an associate professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is also the founding academic director of the Family Business Institute at the Ted Rogers School of Management. His research interests encompass a wide range of topics related to family business, entrepreneurship, small business management, and family business education. Francesco is an award-winning author, educator, and regularly presents at international conferences and workshops. His research has been published in various top-tiered academic journals and industry reports. Francesco’s expertise in the family business field also includes designing and delivering various family business curricula in Australia, Canada, and the USA, and directing the family business centers at the University of Adelaide as well as Stetson University. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Family Business Review, is a trainer of advisors via the Family Firm Institute’s GEN program, and regularly coaches at the annual Family Enterprise Case Competition at the University of Vermont.

From the nomination

Francesco has been an avid promoter, educator, and researcher in the family business field for the last 10 years and across three countries (Australia, the USA, and more recently Canada). During that time, he has developed and taught a wide range of family business courses and programs with the intention of raising awareness about family system dynamics, how they affect family businesses and business families, as well as the broader societal impacts of family-owned enterprises. Francesco continues to strive to conduct interesting and relevant family business research and currently leads various industry and academic-based projects all over the world.

Francesco Barbera

The Barbara Hollander Award was created in 1995 to honor the late founder and first president of FFI by perpetuating her profound interest in family business and her love for education and learning.

View the complete list of recipients of the Barbara Hollander Award

Interdisciplinary Award

Lloyd Steier, FFI Fellow

Lloyd Steier, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Strategic Management and Organization at the University of Alberta School of Business. He formerly held a Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise and was the founding Academic Director of both the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise and the Alberta Business Family Institute. His research interests span family business, strategic management, organizational theory, and entrepreneurship. As a researcher and family business advisor he has long been an advocate of celebrating family advantage in business.

He was co-founder of the annual Theories of Family Enterprise Conference and has been a co-editor of numerous special issue publications on family business, including in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, the Journal of Business Venturing, and the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Lloyd is an active reviewer for most leading journals in the field. He was recently recognized by the Family Enterprise Research Conference (FERC) with the Lifetime Influence and Impact Award for providing sustained and distinguished leadership toward the growth and development of family businesses as well as family business research. His many FFI credentials include FFI Fellow, GEN faculty, the 2010 Barbara Hollander Award, contributions to FFI Practitioner, FBR, the Global Conference, and former vice chair of the FFI board of directors.

From the nomination

Dr. Steier has developed and led educational programs focused primarily on family-owned enterprises with an international or global presence and demonstrated continued efforts to engage educators, advisors, and students in cross-cultural family business research, and has published research on family-owned enterprises’ contribution to the global economy. He has devoted much of his career to further developing family business as a field of study and practice. he is particularly interested in how entrepreneurs use family as a resource during new venture creation, as well as the ways in which “family-based” approaches to organizing economic activity confers strategic advantage at both firm and societal levels. His current interests involve studying family enterprises as “adaptive systems.”

Lloyd Steier

The Interdisciplinary Award was established in 1999 and recognizes individuals or organizations for outstanding achievement in the advancement of interdisciplinary services to multi-generational family-owned enterprises.

View the complete list of recipients of the Interdisciplinary Award

International Award

Peter Jaskiewicz, FFI Fellow

Peter was born into a business family in Poland and grew up in Germany. Wanting to understand why succession failed in his family’s business, Peter decided to research best practices for enterprising families and their businesses. Today, he is a full professor of family enterprise at the Telfer School of Management in Ottawa, where he holds a University Research Chair in Enduring Entrepreneurship. He is the founder and academic director of the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute (FELI), which focuses on the development of best practices and training that support the next generation in enterprising families and facilitate transgenerational processes.

Peter has presented his research insights to members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and employees of the United Nations. In addition, he has also worked with the federal government in Canada. He is an associate editor of the Family Business Review and of the knowledge-sharing platform familybusiness.org. He has been a visiting professor at Zhejiang University (China), Sorbonne Business School and University de Nanterre (both France), King’s College (United Kingdom), and IMD (Switzerland) and is a frequent keynote speaker at both academic and practitioner conferences. In his advising practice, he provides support to the development of responsible Next Gen owners, effective Next Gen teams, family governance, and smooth transition processes.

From the nomination

Peter has assumed a leading academic position worldwide and made significant contributions to both practice and policy, while being globally recognized by scholars, business families and advisors for his work. He works directly with enterprising families with the aim to address real-life multi-generational problems by developing thought leadership and best practices through rigorous academic research. Peter works diligently to translate the academic answers to relevant questions for a global audience. He also discusses insights with practitioners including advisors and policy-makers around the globe at major practitioner conferences—including the FBN Global Summit, the U.N. World Investment Forum, and presentations to the largest European family business owners, among others.

Peter Jaskiewicz

The International Award was established in 2000 and recognizes individuals or organizations for outstanding achievement in furthering the understanding of international issues and global networks in multi-generational, family-owned enterprise.

View the complete list of recipients of the International Award

Thanks to the 2024 Achievement Awards Committee

Daniela Montemerlo, chair
Edith Ang
Christine Blondel
Denise Federer
Lisa Morel
Preston Root
Albert Jan Thomassen

A New Study Group is Forming!

A new Virtual Study Group is being formed, with the working name Next Gen Practitioners VSG. This group, with Dan Frosh as chair, welcomes a multi-disciplinary membership and is designed to connect an emerging group of family enterprise advisors and academics who have been practicing in the field for less than 10 years.

If you’re interested and want to get in on the planning for a fall launch, email nell@ffi.org before June 15.

Previous Edition

FFI has always prided itself on securing outstanding and thought-provoking keynote speakers for its annual conferences. In its nearly 40-year history, FFI has presented the conference attendees with keynote presentations from family enterprise members, academics, writers, medical experts, scientists, and many others.