Start of Main Content
John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises

Adjunct Professor in the Center for Family Enterprises

Academic Director in Center for Family Enterprises

Portrait of Ivan Lansberg, Faculty at the Kellogg School of Management
Send An Email
847-467-7855
Kellogg Global Hub 3190

Professor Ivan Lansberg is an organizational psychologist in New Haven, Connecticut. He is co-founder and a senior partner of Lansberg, Gersick & Associates LLC, a research and consulting firm specializing in family enterprise and family philanthropy. Ivan was a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management for seven years, and a Research Fellow at Yale’s Institute for Social and Policy Studies. Prior to his affiliation with Yale, Ivan taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. The son of an entrepreneur, he has personally experienced many of the issues associated with family business ownership.

Ivan is a frequent speaker at family business programs organized by universities and industry groups. Ivan has also helped establish research and executive programs on family business in many colleges and universities, both in the U.S. and abroad. These centers include the International Institute for Management Development, in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Montreal Institute for Family Enterprise; El Instituto de la Empresa Familiar, in Barcelona, Spain; and the Universidad de los Andes and the Escuela Adolfo Ibañes, in Santiago, Chile.

One of the founders of the Family Firm Institute, Ivan was the first editor of the Family Business Review, the professional journal of the family business field. For the past ten years, he and his associates have done extensive research on leadership succession and family business continuity. He has written widely on family business issues. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review his most recent articles include The Tests of a Prince (September 2007) and Cello de Familia (with Kelin Gersick) – on the governance and continuity challenges facing Latin American Family Enterprises - (August 2006). His latest book Succeeding Generations, published by the Harvard Business School Press (1999), is on succession and continuity in family enterprises. He is also a co-author of Generation to Generation: Life Cycles of the Family Business, published by HBS Press in 1997. Ivan’s work has been featured in such publications as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, BusinessWeek, Fortune and Family Business magazine. His books and articles have been translated into many languages, including: Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

Ivan’s broad consulting experience includes work with family businesses in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe and Latin America. He also participates on the boards of directors of a number of family companies.

Ivan holds Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. degrees from Columbia University.

  • Ph.D., 1983, Social Psychology, Columbia University
    M.A., 1983, Social Psychology, Columbia University
    B.A., 1976, Sociology, Latin American Studies, Columbia University
  • Lecturer & Co-Director Family Enterprise Programs, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2000-present
    Supervisor of Family Enterprise Chairs, Instituto de la Empresa Familiar, 1998-2001
    Faculty Fellow/Curriculum Coordinator, Business Families Foundations, 1993-2001
    Faculty Member, Universidad Adolfo IBAÑES, 1990-1998
    Faculty Member/Coordinator, Senior Executive Program for Family-Owned Businesses, International Management Development Institute (IMD), 1989-1994
    Professor, Yale School of Management, Yale University, 1983-1989
    Co-Lecturer, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 1980-1981
  • Co-founder and senior partner, Lansberg, Gersick and Associates, 1999-present
    Staff Member, Columbia University, 1979-1981
  • Junior Faculty Fellowship, Yale University, Spring 1987
    Annual Distinguished Award for Research in Family Business, The Chicago Family Business Counsel, 1985
    Neal Wehr Award, Connecticut Chamber of Commerce
    Richard Beckhard Award, Family Firm Institute
  • Guest Reviewer, Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences
    Guest Reviewer, Academy of Management Review
    Guest Reviewer, Administrative Science Quarterly