Ernesto J. Poza (BS Yale University; MBA/MS, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is an internationally recognized, top-rated speaker and consultant to family-owned businesses. He is Professor of Global Family Enterprise at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Glendale, Arizona. As a speaker he challenges business owners to revitalize mature businesses through strategic thinking, succession planning and change management. His work has been featured on CNN, NBC, and NPR, as well as in Fortune Small Business, Business Week, Family Business Magazine, Inc., Industry Week, and Nation’s Business. Poza is on the editorial board of the Family Business Review and is a contributing editor of Family Business Magazine.

In recognition of his contribution to the field of family business, the Family Firm Institute awarded him the Richard Beckhard Practice Award in 1996. His research interests are in the areas of family business continuity, new venture creation and growth, family business governance, leadership of change and family entrepreneurship. Poza is the author of Family Business (Southwestern-Thomson Publishing), Smart Growth: Critical Choices for Family Business Continuity and Prosperity (Jossey-Bass Publishers) and A la Sombra del Roble: La empresa privada familiar y su continuidad (Editorial Universitaria). He is a founding member and Fellow of the Family Firm Institute and the creator of the unique program for successors, Family Business: The Next Generation – A Leadership Institute for Owner-Managers and Family Businesses. He serves on the boards of several family-controlled corporations and serves as a consultant to private companies planning their continuity from generation to generation. He lives with his wife and daughter in Scottsdale, AZ..