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Welcome to Our Authors Directory!!

Here you will find a wealth of knowledge from writers who understand the unique dynamics of family-owned businesses. Browse our directory to find the perfect author for your business needs, or simply explore the wide range of perspectives and insights available.

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Dr. Tatwamasi Dixit

Chairman, Family Business Research International Centre (FABRIC)

A renowned Vedic scholar, trusted advisor, Dr. Tatwamasi Dixit, is a leading family business expert with over two decades of rich experience working with large, diverse, multi-generational family business conglomerates globally. He has mastered the integration of Vedic principles with Contemporary Psychology and Business Management. Equipped with his domain expertise, wealth of knowledge and insights, he helps families navigate through every imaginable family business challenge and guides them to manage growth, disruptive change and transitions.

Sri Tatwamasi Dixit was born in Varanasi, into a family of Vedic scholars. His father, late Sri S. Srinivasa Dikhshitar, was a renowned Vedic Scholar who introduced him to the astounding power of Vedic literature, as early as the age of three. Under the adept guidance of his father, he mastered and explored the power of Vedas, Shastras, Karma Kaandas, Upanishads, Ayurveda and other associated scriptures. Concurrent to his Vedic studies, Sri Dixit Graduated from Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. A child prodigy, Sri Dixit was conferred the title Vedic Pandit at the age of 17 by Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, constituted by Rashtriya Samskrit Sansthan, for specializing in Yajur Veda.

Sri Dixit believes that ‘The foundation of any successful family business is a successful family’. He founded FABRIC, a boutique family business consulting firm, offering advisory and coaching services to family business entrepreneurs and next-gen leaders.

The unusual combination of his knowledge, experiences, exceptional insight and intuition has helped him become a successful Family Business Advisor helping families and businesses to manage growth, change and transitions.

Sri Dixit is a talented natural facilitator, well-known for his innate and intuitive ability to internalize and decipher the DNA of family business dynamics. Depending on the underlying complexity of relationships and various family business challenges, he crafts unique solutions for transformation and harmony. He has the ability to take the ‘heat’ of family tensions and ‘undo the knots’ bringing about a calming influence that helps people deal with their difficult issues.

Sri Dixit helps business families derive solutions for their personal and professional challenges that encompass the Ownership, Business and Family aspects. He aligns them on their family business purpose, vision and values, provides solutions on succession, nextgen leadership development, family business governance, strategy, ownership structure, professionalization, decision making and difference management, drafts their family business constitution and helps set up their family office.

Having worked with multi-generational, large family business houses, Sri Dixit has touched the lives of over 10,000 individuals across 100+ families in 10+ countries.

With over 25 years of rich experience in this niche field, Mr. Dixit has evolved into a thought leader in the family business space. He has honed his ability to provide tailor-made solutions, embracing a bespoke approach that resonates with his clients. Specializing in collaborating with family businesses, he understands that any dispute they encounter often has underlying emotional causes. To effectively resolve these complex and unique issues, he meticulously pinpoints the root causes, comprehending the depths of the challenges they face.

Sri Tatwamasi Dixit firmly believes that strengthening these enterprises, in turn, contributes significantly to a nation's GDP, recognizing family businesses as the backbone of any economy. He acknowledges that each family business is unique, with distinct needs and complexities, and his commitment lies in understanding those intricacies.

Sri Dixit has co-authored a book titled Indian Family Business Mantras, with Mr. Peter Leach, a leading family business advisor in the UK, which was launched in 2015 by the then President of India, Sri Pranab Mukherjee. The book is a comprehensive treatise on family-owned businesses that takes a pragmatic approach, interspersed with analogies and concepts from ancient Indian scriptures on values and culture.

Sri Dixit was conferred “Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman” by the then President of India, Sri A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, for his work towards interdisciplinary studies on ancient Indian wisdom to the process of “Synergy between Modernity and Tradition”.

Sri Dixit has been a regular speaker in numerous prestigious forums and conferences including Harvard Medical School, Family Firm Institute, various management Schools and associations, IWA, FICCI Round table, Rotary clubs, Lions Club.

Sri Tatwamasi Dixit was awarded an honorary doctorate by the esteemed CMR University, for his substantial contributions to the fields of Vedic education and Family Business Research.

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Dr. Kavitha Gudapati

Family Business advisor

Dr. Kavitha Gudapati is a Family Business advisor who is an Organizational Psychologist and an Associate Certified Coach. She has a Doctorate in Management, specializing in Organizational behavior and has MA in Psychology along with a Post Graduate diploma in counseling skills. She is an Associate Certified Coach recognized by the ICF (International Coach Federation). She has undergone executive education Programs offered by ISB - Indian School of Business, and has been certified by the institute on a family business training lead my John Ward.

While working with small groups and families she uses the fundamentals of the process work and has herself undergone Basic Human processes lab and Advanced Human processes lab under ISABS. She believes in looking at individuals and groups as a system and diagnosing 'what is working' rather than 'what is not working'. She is trained and certified in this method of "Appreciative Coaching" by Fielding Graduate University.

This academic background and the international training exposure give her the backdrop to work with the complex and challenging demands of family business advising. Dr. Kavitha Gudapati has worked with Indian families and has been able to facilitate the building of the family governance structures. She is an empaneled facilitator who is advising and helping operationalize the family constitution. She has a decade's experience of family business advising working with different family businesses. Having in depth exposure in the business arena gives her an added advantage while she is advising and facilitation in the family business. She has over seventeen years of work experience in the business world covering a wide range of industries and projects. She has consulted and trained with several organizations such as Bharath Dynamics Limited, VOLVO, DRDL, Deloitte, GE- Money, PWC, GMR, Dr. Reddy's, Airtel, BSNL, BAAN, Intelle Group, BSNL, Cyberabad Police,Neospark etc., She is passionate about working with both the executive and non executive members of the family in a manner that they can contribute with more energy, talent and a sense of purpose, fostering an ability towards loving and fulfilling relationships, creating each one's deep purpose, dream career, more energy, more balance and more fun! Her education in psychology, doctorate in management and the cross industrial experience gives her a unique leverage in grasping and helping individuals transform their Family Business 'platform' into 'purpose'.

She is able to work at two levels at the intrapersonal space and interpersonal space. This can then translate into positive change that benefits the individual in their personal as well as the family business. She meets the family business space as a sacred space that needs to be revered. She begins with bringing in five basic spiritual qualities to this space - 'mindful-ness' , 'openness', 'trust' , 'authenticity' and 'reverence'. She has a firm grasp of the ethical and practical issues of working with a family business group and the individuals in it.

She has the ability to put into simple, jargon-less language what is observed and the stature to raise any issue with the family or its members at the right moment. She knows six languages that is an added advantage - English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi. She works with the knowing that to be a 'contributor' in the family business space meets her own sense of expression, meaning and life purpose.

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Claudia Binz Astrachan

Advisor and Head of Governance Practice

Claudia witnessed the devastating consequences of troubled family dynamics after her grandparents death, leading to the sale of the family enterprise. She has also seen family business from the other side, with her father being a successful non-family CEO of 25 years at bio-familia, a family enterprise in rural Switzerland.

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.

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Dennis T. Jaffe

Author Senior Research Fellow at Banyan Global Family Business Advisors

For over 40 years, Denis Jaffe has been one of the leading architects of the field of family enterprise consulting. He is a clinical psychologist and an organizational consultant and helps multi-generational families to develop governance practices that build the capability of next generation leadership.

Dennis helps large, global families manage personal and organizational issues that lead to successful and fulfilling transfer of businesses, wealth, values, commitments and legacies between generations.

He is a family business fellow at the Cornell Johnson College of Business, and is also cited by Family Wealth Report for special commendation as an individual thought leader. He has served on the board of Family Firm Institute. Dennis was awarded with the Richard Beckhard and International Awards. In 2007 he was Thinker in Residence for S. Australia, helping the region design a strategic plan for the future of their entrepreneurial and family businesses.

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David Werdiger

Family Advisor | Business Strategist | Non-Exec Director | Thought Leader | Technology Entrepreneur

A successful family advisor, business strategist, entrepreneur, and thought leader with a proven track record of achievement in driving innovation and growth for entrepreneurial endeavours and not-for-profit organisations.

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.

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Josh Baron

Co-founder Banyan Global, Visiting Lecturer at Harvard Business School, HBR author and thought leader

Dr. Josh Baron is a co-founder and Partner at Banyan Global. For over a decade, he has worked closely with families who own assets together, such as operating companies, family foundations, and family offices.

He helps these families to define their purpose as owners and to establish the structures, strategies, and skills they need to accomplish their goals. Prior to Banyan, he worked at Bain & Company and The Bridgespan Group. Baron taught family business courses at Columbia Business School in the MBA, EMBA, and Executive Education programs.

He is now a Visiting Lecturer in Executive Education at Harvard Business School where he teaches about how to build a family business that lasts, how to manage conflict in a family enterprise, and how family ownership can create a competitive advantage. He publishes and speaks frequently on subjects concerning family enterprises and is the co-author of the Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook.

A regular contributor to HBR.org, including Why the 21st Century Will Belong to Family Businesses, Why Family Businesses Need to Find the Right Level of Conflict, and Every Business Owner Should Define What Success Looks Like, he is graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Cambridge, and Columbia University. Josh is also the author of Great Power Peace and American Primacy: The Origins

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Rania Labaki

Director of EDHEC Family Business Centre| Associate Professor of Finance & Family Business| Advisor| Editor|Board Member

Rania Labaki is Director of the EDHEC Family Business Centre and Associate Professor of Management at EDHEC Business School, where she teaches and conducts research at the intersection of the fields of finance, entrepreneurship and family businesses.

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.

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Patricia Annino

Fellow at The Family Firm Institute - FFI

Patricia M. Annino has been educating, inspiring and empowering women on wealth and legacy for over 30 years.

She educates and empowers women to value themselves and their contributions in order to accomplish great things in the world- and in so doing protect themselves, those they love and the organizations they care about.

Patricia M. Annino is a partner in Rimon’s Trust and Estates Group. A nationally recognized authority on estate planning and taxation, Ms. Annino has more than 30 years of experience serving the diverse needs of families, individuals, and owners of closely-held businesses.

Ms. Annino’s practice includes all aspects of private client work, including estate planning; will and trust planning; incapacity planning; prenuptial and postnuptial agreements; estate litigation; advising executors, trustees and beneficiaries and administration of estates and trusts.

A Boston native, Patricia is a graduate of Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Smith College, Suffolk University School of Law and the Boston University School of Law, Graduate Tax Program.

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