Peter Jaskiewicz is Visiting Professor at IMD. A family business scholar and practitioner with over 20 years in the field, he is Full Professor of Family Enterprise at the Telfer School of Management in Ottawa, Canada, where he holds a University Research Chair in Enduring Entrepreneurship. He is also the current and founding Director of the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute (FELI) where he and his team create and share thought leadership, develop impactful training programs, and engage with the global family business community. He is also co-author of Enabling Next Generation Legacies: 35 Questions that Next Generation Members in Enterprising Families Ask.
Jaskiewicz’s origins of interest and passion for studying business families began when he witnessed how – with the sudden death of his uncle – a once successful business was liquidated, and with it, family dynamics soured. As a result, he was motivated to turn his academic focus towards identifying best practices through rigorous research on pressing family business issues.
Throughout his career, Jaskiewicz 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. His findings have received numerous awards and were considered among the most globally influential scholarships in 2013, 2015, and 2017. He 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 Family Business Review and of the pioneering knowledge-sharing platform familybusiness.org.
While completing his PhD at the European Business School in Germany, Jaskiewicz helped co-found the European Family Business Center (EFBC) in 2005 with Sabine Rau and Torsten Pieper. He joined the University of Alberta’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise (CEFE) as an Assistant Professor in 2008, and then Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business as the CIBC Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship & Family Business in 2013. He has been a visiting professor at Zhejiang University (China), Sorbonne Business School and University de Nanterre (both France), and King’s College (United Kingdom).
Jaskiewicz prioritizes ongoing collaboration and engagement with family businesses, educators, and advisors to further the field of family business and grow the ecosystem and community globally. A prime example of this is Enabling Next Generation Legacies (co-authored with Sabine Rau), the result of interviews with next-generation members of 100 globally operating families, which led to insights on their key questions. The book brings together 35 global families and leading academic practitioners to answer the next generation’s 35 most pressing questions. He also collaborates actively on projects with the global family business community – specifically the Family Business Network (FBN), Family Firm Institute (FFI), Family Enterprise Foundation (FEF), and Family Enterprise Canada (FEC).
Jaskiewicz trains family business professionals in succession planning and, in his advising practice, provides support to the development of responsible Next Gen owners and effective Next Gen teams. He is a frequent keynote speaker at both academic and practitioner conferences.
