As a recognised expert in family psychology, Prof. Arist von Schlippe was appointed as the chair of Management and Dynamics of Family Businesses at the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) in 2005. He headed the WIFU between 2007 and 2017 as academic director. Since 2017, he has continued as the chair with a reduced teaching load.

Prof. von Schlippe is a qualified psychologist (Hamburg University, 1976), psychological psychotherapist, family therapist and family psychologist. He gained his PhD at Osnabrück University (1986) and habilitated there in psychotherapy and clinical psychology (2001). From 1986 to 2015, he worked part-time as a teaching therapist and teaching supervisor at the Institute for Family Therapy Weinheim e.V. From 1999 to 2005, he was the first chairman of the Systemic Society in Berlin.

Main areas of work, research and interest

• Crisis and conflict management in family businesses
• Family strategies and family governance in family businesses
• Significance of history and stories as ‘family memory’ in family businesses
• Succession in family businesses
• Systemic parent coaching
• Chronic illness in the context of the family

Back to team overview