Biography

Based in Switzerland, in the heart of Europe, Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez is a researcher, speaker and consultant working with family businesses on governance issues such as establishing a business board that works; defining roles, tasks and responsibilities for business, family and shareholders, family councils, and performance evaluation and control. With her research and work on serial business families, she also helps families to find a path for change and entrepreneurial development.

Prior to specialising in family business, Denise worked for fifteen years in medium and large industrial companies where she developed an expertise in strategic planning and budgeting (including management of acquisitions and major capital investments), business and financial analysis, cost and management accounting as well as sales support and administration. She also spent time as an independent business consultant providing general business advice to SMEs and start-up businesses, helping entrepreneurs write a business plan and raise funds to start their ventures. Her key strengths in a business environment are: being a change agent, strategic vision, implementing solutions and make ideas come true, interpersonal skills, hiring competent people and building teams.

President and founder of FBN Suisse Romande she provides a regular platform for family entrepreneurs to meet, exchange and learn from real-life cases. Raised close to a family business environment, although not member of one, she is sensitive to issues confronting families in business as well as to the impact culture, values and traditions can have on a business. Succession issues and conflict resolution have a real meaning for her.

Denise also served as a research associate in the Family Business Area of IMD (International Institute for Management Development), the leading European Business School for family business education. She was awarded the Prof. Emeritus Alden G. Lank's 2000 Award for best family business policy/strategy paper for a paper derived from her doctoral dissertation on serial business families. Her doctoral dissertation was the first investigation into re-investment in an operating business after selling the original family business, and received the Family Firm Institute Award for the 2001 best doctoral dissertation. Lessons learned from such families can serve as a model not only to families confronted with the decision to sell or to families who have just sold, but also to all business families as a way to re-visit why they are in business and why they are in it together. Her areas of specialization are motivation, entrepreneurial spirit, governance and policy issues, as well as succession and investment strategies.

Denise received a BBA, a master's degree in management science and a Ph.D. from HEC (Business School), University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Denise and her English husband, Michael, live in Switzerland in a multi-cultural environment. Together with their children, Eliot & Olivia, and Michael's daughter, Amy, they experience the joy and challenges of re-combined families.

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Background

 

• President and founder of Family Business Network (FBN) chapter in Suisse Romande
• Associate of the Family Business Consulting Group, Inc. (FBCG)
• Co-author of Who, Me? Family Business Succession. A practical Guide For The Next Generation, 2005
• Co-author of Family Business, Key Issues, 2005
• Project leader and principal author of Sharing Wisdom, Building Values, Letters From Family Business Owners To Their Successors, 2002
• Guest speaker in undergraduate and MBA programs
• Public speaker (worldwide), researcher and writer on family business issues
• Specializes in serial business families, family values, next generation, governance and other family business issues
• First writer of a doctoral dissertation on serial business families (families who re-create a family business after the sale of the original business)
• Winner of the 2001 FFI best doctoral dissertation Award
• Winner of the 2000 Prof. Emeritus Alden G. Lank Award
• Close contact to numerous family businesses around the world
• 15 years in management: consulting and working for international businesses
• Extensive international experience
• Fluent in French, English, with good knowledge of German and notions of Spanish

  Conference Topics based on publications

  Patterns in Serial Business Families

   

  • Patterns in Serial Business Families
    (SBFs: families who re-create a family business after the sale of the original business)
  • Selling the family business
  • Strategic re-positioning after a major liquidity event (sale, floatation, partial sale, etc.)
  • Dealing with wealth issues

  Sharing Wisdom, Building Values

   

  • Building your legacy
  • The role of family and family values in the perennity of the family business
  • Family businesses and social responsibility
  • Women in family businesses
  • Dual/multiple leadership: a team at the top

  Family Business,Key Issues

   

  • Family business 101
  • An overview of family business governance: business (board), family and shareholders (family council) - a look at roles, rules and results
  • Family Councils in depth
  • Family Constitutions (Family Protocols)
  • Family business policies

  Who, Me? Family Business Succession.

   

  • Succession planning
  • Preparing and motivating the next generation of family business entrepreneurs
  • Entering the family business

  Other publications and research

   

  • Tough decisions family business boards must face
  • The DNA of family businesses
  • Building and maintaining family harmony
  • The human factor in family businesses, employees and motivation