Our Team

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 researched family businesses during both his doctoral studies at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, and while visiting INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and IESE Business School, Barcelona. 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 and leads the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute. His findings on family business have received numerous awards and were considered among the most globally influential scholarship in 2013, 2015, and 2017. 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 leading journal in the family business field—the Family Business Review—and of the pioneering knowledge-sharing platform—familybusiness.org. 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), and is a frequent keynote speaker at both academic and practitioner conferences. He trains family business professionals on succession planning and, in his advising practice, provides support to the development of responsible Next Gen owners and effective Next Gen teams. He lives with his wife and their two children in Ottawa, Canada.

Evelyn Micelotta is the Desmarais Associate Professor in Family Business at Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada. She received a PhD in Strategic Management and Organization from the University of Alberta School of Business (Canada) and a PhD in Management Engineering from Milan Polytechnic (Italy). Dr. Micelotta’s research explores questions about the drivers of success and longevity of family businesses around the world. She has studied family branding strategies of the oldest family businesses, multi-centenary family businesses in Japan, corporate philanthropy in Chinese family firms and is participating in ongoing projects centered around innovation and strategic decisions in family businesses in Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands. She has also led or participated to several consulting projects with small-medium family companies. Her research has been published in international academic publications and she is currently Associate Editor of Family Business Review, a premier outlet publication for family business research.

Ramzi is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Business at Telfer School of Management. He holds a Master’s degree in Management from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) in the UK and a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship from Ivey Business School in Canada. His research expertise lies at the intersections of entrepreneurship, family business and international business. His work has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Ford Foundation. He has also developed teaching case studies on how business families sustain and grow their ventures across generations. Ramzi has taught multiple courses in family business, strategic management and international business at Western University, Canada and the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to pursuing an academic career, he worked as a management consultant. He is also a fourth-generation member of a 100-year old family business. He supported his family business in developing and executing a strategic plan to expand to markets in Europe and the Middle East.

James G. (Jim) Combs (PhD, Louisiana State University) is the Della Phillips Martha Schenck Chair of American Private Enterprise at the University of Central Florida and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa. Jim’s research interests are primarily in the areas of family business, franchising, research synthesis, as well as corporate governance. Jim appears in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, and Organizational Research Methods. Jim has served as an Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, and the Journal of Management. A recent study highlighting the citation count of scholarly publications placed Jim’s scholarly impact among the top 2% of all management scholars. He has served on the Executive Committees of the Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management Divisions of the Academy of Management, and as President of the Southern Management Association (SMA) where he is also a Fellow.

Sabine Rau is one of the most renowned experts for moderating succession processes and co- creating family protocols in Germany and abroad. She holds visiting professorships at the Telfer School of Management and at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. Moreover, she teaches at the Université de Luxembourg. Until the beginning of 2017, Sabine was a Full Professor of Entrepreneurship at King’s College London. Before she started her academic career as a Research Fellow at INSEAD in Fontainebleau in 2001, Dr. Rau founded her own business and worked in her family’s business. In 2003, Professor Rau took over the presidency of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy (ifera; www.ifera.org), which she led until 2007. She now serves on several boards as an independent director.

Ritu is a doctoral candidate in the PhD in Management program at Telfer School of Business under the supervision of Dr. Peter Jaskiewicz. Her research interests lie at the intersection of social exchange, governance, and family business. She holds an MSc in Management from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal. Her Master’s thesis explored multi-partner alliances in the airline industry. Her research paper based on the thesis won the Honorable Mention Award at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) in 2017. During her time at Concordia, Ritu worked as a research assistant with various professors and had opportunities to assist on numerous research projects ranging from entrepreneurship, family business, social networks, and corporate social responsibility. After completing her MSc and before joining the PhD program, she worked as a Market Research Analyst at Honda Canada where she had the opportunity to design customer surveys and work on numerous customer satisfaction research projects aimed at identifying the key drivers of customer sales and service satisfaction.

Amlan is pursuing doctoral research in Family Business & Entrepreneurship. His research primarily focuses on issues related to management, compensation structure, and organizational outcomes in family business.

Amlan is a trained economist and has earned his PhD in Economics from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics, University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He also holds an MA degree in Applied Economics from the University of Cincinnati.

Katrina comes from an entrepreneurial family and has worked with several family businesses. After completing an MBA in 2021 at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, she pivoted towards the field of family enterprise advising, education and research. Katrina spent 10 years as an entrepreneur and small business founder/owner, running a niche, creative retail business in Ottawa that garnered a loyal, enthusiastic following. In 2016, she was named to the Ottawa Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list. Before starting her business, she spent a decade working for some of the world’s top media organizations, including the BBC and the CBC. In addition to her MBA, Katrina has a BA in communications and an MA in media. Originally from Calgary, she now lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children.

A.J. Corner is an assistant professor of organizational behaviour and human resources (OBHR) at the Telfer School of Management. He earned his PhD from Georgia State University and also holds an MBA (Open University) and a BA in Modern Languages (Durham University). His work experience includes public and private sector positions in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan and France. A.J’s research interests are centred on workplace interpersonal relationships, particularly with regard to their underlying social exchange processes. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal and the International Business Review. He is keen to explore the rich relational aspects of family businesses, and enjoys collaborating with FELI professors and graduate students to integrate OBHR insights. A.J. has supported Telfer PhD students of family business through their coursework, his membership on comprehensive examination and thesis committees, and his ongoing research projects. He looks forward to further interdisciplinary collaboration through FELI.

Susan St. Amand is an entrepreneur and business owner who has worked for over 30-years with enterprising families. As a member of an entrepreneurial family herself, she deeply understands the fundamental role family businesses play across the economic landscape nationally and internationally, the Telfer School of Management is proud to appoint her as the inaugural Gordon Family Executive in Residence in Family Enterprise. St. Amand is an expert in governance and current National Board Chair for Family Enterprise Canada (FEC), St. Amand will help establish the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute (FELI) governance structures and work towards ensuring its long-term sustainability. Passionate about ensuring stability and continuity from one generation to the next, St. Amand is particularly focused on the vital role of the next generation in family enterprise. Along with her work at FEC, St. Amand has chaired more than half a dozen boards and been director on more than two-dozen, including the Ottawa Community Foundation, Ottawa International Airport Authority, CALU, the Ottawa STEP Chapter, and a private steel company. Additionally, as Founder, President and CEO of The Sirius Group Inc., St. Amand works directly with business and philanthropic families, developing and building strategic pathways and governance structures to help businesses and families succeed.

Elizabeth is a PhD Candidate in Management, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Jaskiewicz, at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in English Literature from the University of King’s College and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Dalhousie University. Within the Entrepreneurship specialization, Elizabeth focuses on transgenerational entrepreneurship and family business. Specifically, her research explores how mental illness not only impacts a family, but also, how it impacts their business.