Raphael (“Raffi”) Amit is the Marie and Joseph Melone Professor and a Professor of Management at the Wharton School. Dr. Amit 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. He served as the Academic Director of Wharton Entrepreneurship which encompasses all of Wharton’s entrepreneurial programs between 1999 and 2015.

Professor Amit has published widely cited, award-winning research on a broad range of issues that relate to ownership, management and control of family businesses as well as on a range of business and corporate strategy issues. He was ranked the No. 1 Family Business Academic globally in 2025 by Family Capital, reflecting his pioneering research on family offices and his enduring influence on the study and practice of family wealth and governance. He has been working with substantial families around the world on such issues as creating governance systems for families and their businesses, succession planning, valuation, wealth management, the formation of a family office, and more. Overall, the work of Dr. Amit integrates the behavioral and emotional issues that characterize the life of each family, with the economic and financial issues that must be addressed to sustain family harmony and happiness alongside the long-term prosperity of the family business.

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, and has served as the first Chairman of the KGIF Advisory Board. Professor Amit has served on the Board of Directors of family businesses for the past 15 years.

❖ LINKS​

• WGFA

• UPENN Page 

• Book

❖ SPECIALITIES

• Family Business

• Family Wealth Management

• Business Model Innovation

• Venture Capital Finance

• Strategy for high-growth-potential companies

• Experienced Board member and advisor to Family Businesses