Sonja Kissling
To me, it is important to place special focus on an integrative process when dealing with governance – one that integrates all family members and takes into account the interests of both family and business.
sonja kissling
Region

Global, Western Europe

Based in

Zurich,
Switzerland

Interests

Governance

Services

Family governance,
Ownership strategy,
Succession planning

Sonja Kissling is a business lawyer and attorney-at-law, having worked for eight years in corporate law/mergers and acquisitions/capital markets. During her LL.M. at Columbia University, New York, she focused on conflict resolution processes, negotiation and mediation (2010/2011). She became convinced that sustainable solutions can only be achieved by involving the people concerned and their needs in the solution process.

Back in Switzerland, she completed a PhD in business strategy at the Centre for Family Business of the University of St.Gallen and wrote about governance systems in family firms– especially dealing with the question of how different justice principles applied in succession impact governance in the family business.

In 2017, she founded Family Business Matters and has since worked as an independent advisor for family firms. She mainly works with later-generation family firms with complex family and business systems. Sonja is also a lecturer at the University of St.Gallen and book author.

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Insights Sonja has written

Successful on and off the stock exchange – governance practices in family firms
Successful on and off the stock exchange – governance practices in family firms
Governance

The stock exchange and family firms – two irreconcilable terms upon first glance. Going public seems to mark the beginning of the end for family firms and to entail an entirely different type of governance. But the book “Successful on and off the stock exchange – Governance practices in family firms” written by Dr. Sonja Kissling and Dr. Bianca Braun shows that this is not true.

Swiss family offices and Sparks: what the SIX segment means
Swiss family offices and Sparks: what the SIX segment means
Investments

SIX recently introduced Sparks, a new SME-focused segment on the stock exchange that appeals to smaller businesses interested in going public, but there could also be some benefits for Swiss family offices and businesses, too.

Sonja is an expert in

Organization & Operations
Organization & Operations

Managing wealth is more than just investing. Good wealth management requires both the act of placing capital and that of actively managing those investments. Through professionalizing organizational structures and operational processes, family offices are able to ensure longer-term success.

Strategy
Strategy

Strategy is no longer a standalone department nor discipline, but an integrated part of business. How can family offices move beyond financial strategies towards organizational strategies that are purpose-driven, agile and resilient to change?
Simple solutions for complex times.