Izabela Szymanska, Ph.D., CExP

Izabela is a family business coach and management consultant. She empowers families to foster unity over shared values, work towards common goals, and develop their business from one generation to the next.

Izabela is a certified Exit Planner (CExP) by BEI, a national leader in training and support for business exit advisors. Her work involves close collaboration with other BEI professionals.

The specialties include:

Succession planning
Business innovation and business growth
Family firm governance
Key employee planning
Asset protection

Izabela has published in the areas of business innovation, business succession and entrepreneurship in Journal of Family Business Management, among other outlets.

Check out her most recent publications:

Motylska-Kuzma, A., Szymanska, I. and Safin, K. (2022). Family influence and succession strategies in private businesses at the cusp of leadership change: comparison between family firms and lone founder enterprises, Journal of Family Business Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.

Szymanska, I.; Sesti, T.; Motley, H.; Puia, G. (2020) The effects of hackathons on the entrepreneurial skillset and perceived self-efficacy as factors shaping entrepreneurial intentions. Administrative Sciences, 10(3), 73.

Published in special issue: Entrepreneurial Intentions: Emerging Issues

Szymanska, I., Blanchard, A. and Kuhns, K. (2019), Paradoxical influence of family ownership on innovation-focused organizational change, Journal of Family Business Management, 9(4), pp. 429-450.

Szymanska, I., Rubin, B. (2018). Gender and Relationship Differences in the Perception of Leadership. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 33(4), pp.254-281.

She is also an affiliate of The Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project, an international study effort exploring the best practices in family business entrepreneurship. In collaboration with KPMG, the STEP Project is a global applied initiative that explores the entrepreneurial process within business families and generates solutions with immediate applications for business leaders. Currently Izabela serves on the STEP Project planning committee.

In the news:

A Family Business Stays Aloft: Richmond Jet Center and Aero Industries