2025 Family Enterprise Owners’ Day

Howard W. Buffett is a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he published his award-winning research, Social Value Investing: A Management Framework for Effective Partnerships (Columbia University Press, 2018). He is also a member of several corporate boards where he focuses on effective governance and sustainability strategies, including Case New Holland (NYSE:CNH), Toyota Motor North America (NYSE:TM), Inari Agriculture, and Reflection Analytics. 

Howard was previously the executive director and trustee of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which strengthens food security for vulnerable populations and is active in nearly 100 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. While at the foundation, he co-authored the New York Times bestselling book 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World (Simon & Schuster, 2013). Prior to that, he oversaw economic development and stabilization programs for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was awarded the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award—the highest-ranking civilian honor presented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff requiring the approval of the Combatant Commanders. Prior to that, Howard was a policy advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council where he co-authored the President’s cross-sector partnership strategy, and he was a member of the 2008-09 Presidential Transition Team. He also held roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Office for Partnerships. 

Howard has a BS from Northwestern University, an MPA Columbia University, an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and executive education certificates from Harvard Business School. He also chairs the Advisory Council for Harvard’s International Negotiation Program.

Lili Thomas Buffett is Vice President of Investor Relations at Power Sustainable, a sustainability-focused alternative asset manager that invests in companies and projects delivering both competitive returns and positive sustainability outcomes. In her role, Lili cultivates deep, long-term partnerships with institutional investors, philanthropic families, and foundations aligned with Power Sustainable’s mission to catalyze capital toward global clean energy and infrastructure solutions. Power Sustainable is a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada (TSX: POW), with approximately CAD 4 billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining Power Sustainable, Lili served as a Wealth Advisor at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, where she worked closely with foundations, endowments, and philanthropic families to align investment strategies with their long-term goals and values. 

With a long history of advocacy for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Lili recently served on the Goalkeepers Advisory Board for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Lili currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 

A graduate of Columbia University, Lili holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Economics and Philosophy. She currently resides in New York.

Guido Barilla, Chairman of the Barilla Group, was born in Milan in July 1958. 

After studying Philosophy, in 1982 he started his career in the Sales Department of Barilla France, a subsidiary of the family Company. Following this training, he worked at several food companies in the United States. 

Back in Parma, the headquarters of the Barilla Group, he became an executive manager in 1986, leading the international expansion of the Company. In 1988, he was appointed as Barilla Deputy Chairman. 

Following the death of his father Pietro, in October 1993 Guido Barilla was named Group Chairman, a role he still holds today. Since 2009, he has also been Chairman of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, now Barilla Foundation. 

During his career, he served on the Boards of Credito Italiano, RAS Assicurazioni and Danone S.A. and is currently on the Board of Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A.

In the early 2000s, he worked as the President's Delegate for Education and Knowledge at Confindustria.

Gregorio Barilla is a second-year MBA candidate at Columbia Business School with a strong interest in foodservice operations, sales strategy, and long-term family enterprise. 

Before business school, he started a caviar distribution venture, importing high-quality Italian caviar and developing operations and branding for private-label clients and foodservice partners across the U.S. 

He has also worked in London at Pasta Evangelists, a brand in the Barilla Group’s portfolio, where he focused on retail partnerships and direct-to-consumer initiatives. Most recently, he completed a sales and distribution internship with Grupo Herdez in Mexico City. 

Gregorio is passionate about remaining close to the operational side of the business and aspires to join the Barilla Group after completing his MBA.

Gaia Marchisio, Ph.D., is a family-enterprise researcher, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer with 25+ years of impact across global family enterprises, academic institutions, corporations, public-sector organizations, and others. 

Currently Sr Lecturer in Discipline and Faculty Director of the Global Family Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School, Gaia is former Executive Director of Cox Family Enterprise Center, Aronoff Professor of Family Business at Kennesaw State University, and visiting scholar at family-business-focused education institutions worldwide. 

As program creator and researcher, Gaia has worked with IFC (World Bank), Family Business Network in Asia (as Chief Learning Officer),McKinsey, and others, and is on faculty with the Canada-based FEA designation. As speaker, she has presented on wide-ranging topics at YPO, Egon Zehnder, Grant Thornton, and many others. 

Gaia is co-author of the forthcoming book Own It! How to Develop a Family Enterprise Owner's Mindset at Every Age (Palgrave-McMillan). 

Gaia founded the Family Enterprise Clinic in 2014 and continues to lead it, working with family enterprises on succession, governance, and other issues, collaborating with interdisciplinary advisors. 

Originally from Italy, Gaia is a naturalized US citizen who speaks fluent English, Italian, and Spanish. She holds a Bachelor's in Business Management from Bocconi University and a Ph.D. in General Management from Università Degli Studi di Pavia.

Pierre Mordacq is the Managing Partner of The Gate Technologies Capital, a US, family anchored private investment firm focusing on mid-to-late-stage US technology companies.

Pierre has been an investor in technology since the emergence of the cloud business, focusing on B-to-B enterprise software, big data, AI infrastructure, security and defence. Previously, Pierre led principal investments across infrastructure assets at Macquarie Capital in New York, for a combined amount of over $12bn with responsibility for origination in the US. Earlier in his career Pierre held positions in the public-private partnerships financing teams of Airbus and of the Bouygues Group.

Pierre holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and Universite Paris Dauphine. He is a director of the Sciences Po American Foundation and serves as Co Chair of the Global Family Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School. Pierre is Chairman of the Fondation de Hautefort, a leading sustainably managed estate with over 100,000 visitors a year.

Andrew Rubenstein spent the years prior to attending Columbia Business School working in energy infrastructure. He started his career in UBS Investment Bank’s New York office in the Natural Resources Group, focusing on M&A transactions, capital raises, and other strategic initiatives for companies in the energy and chemicals industries. He then moved back to his hometown of Houston, Texas, and worked in corporate development for two midstream energy companies – Plains All American and Buckeye Partners. Andrew earned his undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A. in Finance.
 

Chantalle Wang is a principal at Wang Legacy Capital in Los Angeles, where she helps drive strategic governance, and collaborated with leading academics and consultants to draft the family constitution. She manages real estate investments, including the oversight, operation and maintenance of commercial and industrial properties. Chantalle also launched and manages the freight transportation arm, Ascending Eagle Carrier. She also leads the marketing, merchandising and social media efforts, as well as investor communications, for the New Taipei Kings, a professional basketball team owned by the family office. Finally, she is president of the 1 Waterline Square Condominium Board in New York City. 

Previously, as a senior equity analyst at Bellwether Asset Management, she played a pivotal role in growing AUM for major clients, delivering financial models and analyses for 20+ North American properties valued from $50 million to $2 billion. She produced quarterly investor reports, mentored interns, and helped shape the firm’s mentorship programs. Chantalle began her career with investment, underwriting, and credit analysis roles, building a strong foundation in market research, financial modeling, and strategic storytelling.

She earned a BA in Financial Economics from Columbia University. Outside work, she volunteers with Justice Giving Circle and the JMM Foundation, and enjoys painting, art history, and golf.

Shirley Wang is the founder and CEO of Plastpro Inc., one of the world’s largest fiberglass door manufacturers. Plastpro was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, with a 1 million square-foot fully automated plant in Ashtabula, Ohio. Builder News recognized Plastpro’s doors with a “Best Product” award, and Plastpro was recognized by Window and Door magazine with “Most Innovative” and “Top 100 Manufacturer.” In 2022, CIO Views listed Mrs. Wang among the year’s most admired women business leaders. Mrs. Wang serves on the boards of Douglas Emmett, Columbia University, Harvard-Westlake, U.S. Olympic Committee and LA2028. Previously, Mrs. Wang was the first Asian chairwoman of the board of the UCLA Foundation and helped raise 5.49 billion as part of the UCLA Executive Campaign Committee. 

The Wang’s have supported educational institutions including UCLA, Columbia, Brown and Harvard Westlake, including funding the creation of scholarships, endowed chairs, lounges, stadiums and buildings. They have also supported healthcare ranging from donating $25 million to establish the Integrative Digestive Health Center at UCLA, to establishing the 14 treatment-room Wang Emergency Department Treatment Area East at Cedar Sinai. They also created the pediatric suite and eye center for the Chinatown Health Clinic Foundation, aimed at expanding access to health care for Asian American immigrants and other underserved communities in New York City. They have also consistently funded 6 pro-bono lawyers at the Advancing Justice Southern California to combat Asian Hate and domestic violence. The Wangs have also supported relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Syrian Refugee Crisis, and the Maui and Los Angeles fires. The Wangs also view sports as a vehicle to promote community pride and cohesiveness. As the title sponsor of the JM Eagle LA Championship, they engaged in a multi-year partnership with the LPGA and were the first to double the purse for this event, helping to elevate women’s sports. They also founded a professional basketball team in Taiwan, the New Taipei Kings. 

Together with her husband, Walter, the Wangs have been awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for their contributions to America as well as the China Institute Blue Cloud Award, the Asia Society Visionary Award and the Anti-Defamation League Humanitarian Award.
 

Alan Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Management Division at Columbia Business School. He is an organizational ethnographer studying production processes. His research examines the nature of contemporary production work, and how internal production practices are influenced by outsiders’ understandings of production. Current research streams focus on fine wine production, nuclear energy production, and the production of digital analytics.