PramoDITA Sharma is a Professor and the Daniel Clark Sanders Chair in Family Business at the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont. She is a Visiting Professor at the Kellogg School of Management's Center for Family Enterprises, Northwestern University. Dita holds honorary doctorates from the Jonkoping University in Sweden, and the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany.
Her research on succession processes, governance, innovation, next generation commitment and entrepreneurial leadership in family enterprises has been honored with several international awards. She is amongst the most frequently cited scholars in family business studies. In addition to eight co-authored books, she has published over fifty scholarly articles and book chapters on family business studies. Her book entitled Entrepreneurial Family Firms (w. Hoy) is being used in family business courses around the world and has been translated into Mandarin. The SAGE Handbook of Family Business (w. Melin and Nordqvist) is described as a 'must read' and 'critical resource for all students and scholars of family business.' And, her most recent book: Entrepreneurs in Every Generation (w. Cohen) is hailed as "the Magna Carta of transgenerational entrepreneurship that should be made compulsory reading for all members of family businesses"
Sharma is active in leadership and advisory roles in a number of professional associations. She serves as the Editor of Family Business Review - a highly ranked journal of Business. With Mark Green, she co-founded Family Enterprise Research Conference in 2005. This annual conference attracts leading family business scholars from around the world. In 2012, she established the UVMs Family Business Awards. And, in 2013 launched the Global Family Enterprise Case Competition. In four years, this competition has attracted over seven hundred attendees and student teams from thirty eight leading universities in family business education. Pramodita received the prestigious Barbara Hollander award at the 25th anniversary conference of the Family Firm Institute and received the Life Time Influence and Impact award at the 2015 Family Enterprise Research Conference.
Sharma maintains close links with the business community. Supported by various private and government agencies, her research is well received both in academic and practitioner outlets. She is a frequent speaker at gatherings of family business leaders around the world. This interaction enables her to share insights from evidence based research with practitioners while ensuring that her research remains focused on issues of significant importance to the family business community. Experiences and close interactions with her own family's enterprises help keep her professional work rooted into the realties and complex dynamics of these fascinating enterprises that dominate the economic and societal landscape around the world.
Starting with her multiple-award winning dissertation work on succession in Canadian family enterprises, Pramodita Sharma’s research on the succession processes, governance, innovation, next generation issues and the unique dynamics underlying family firms has been honored with several international awards. She is amongst the most frequently cited scholars in family business studies.
