Moderator for International Opportunities: Raphael (“Raffi”) Amit

Robert B. Goergen Professor of Entrepreneurship, Professor of Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Raphael (“Raffi”) Amit is the Robert B. Goergen Professor of Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Management at the Wharton School. Dr. Amit is the Academic Director of the Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Programs which encompasses all of Wharton’s entrepreneurial programs. As well, he co-founded and leads the Wharton Global Family Alliance (WGFA), a unique academic-family business partnership established to enhance the marketplace advantage and the social wealth creation contributions of global families through thought leadership, knowledge transfer and the sharing of ideas and best practices among influential global families. Dr. Amit holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics, and received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Dr. Amit’s current research and teaching interests center on family business management, governance, and finance, on venture capital and private equity investments, on the design of business models and on business strategy. He has published extensively in leading academic journals and is frequently quoted in a broad range of practitioner outlets.

Dr. Amit is a family business expert. He is frequently engaged with a broad range of substantial families, their family offices, and their family businesses, in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His work on family offices, and his work on ownership, control, governance and financing growth of family businesses, won global acclaim and is widely cited.

Professor Amit has held a range of management and Board of Directors positions in various companies. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Creo Products Inc. for 6 years. (NASDAQ: CREO until May 2005 when it was acquired by Kodak.) Professor Amit has helped form the Korean Global IT Fund, a $100 million VC fund with offices in Palo Alto and Seoul and has served as the first Chairman of the KGIF Advisory Board. He now serves on the Board of Directors of Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR), a leading wireless communication equipment company. Dr. Amit is a member of the Audit, Compensation, Nominating and Governance Committees of Alvarion. Dr. Amit has consulted to numerous family businesses, and publicly held firms in North America and Europe on a broad range of strategic, governance and financial issues.

[ Back to Top ]