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.
- Based in
- Zürich, 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.
Articles & Insights
Swiss family offices and Sparks: what the SIX segment means
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.
Successful on and off the stock exchange – governance practices in family firms
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.
Using life stages to professionalise the family business
Many businesses with humble beginnings have been able to weather change and grow into empires. Could professionalization hold the key to continued success?
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