PHD: Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (Italy).

Master of Science: International Business (with Study Abroad), University of Leeds (United Kingdom).

He studies how organizations—and the business families behind them—adapt and renew themselves when external shocks put their purpose, values, business models, and norms at risk. His research can be broken down into two streams: (1) organizational purpose as a managerial instrument for navigating strategic paradoxes and institutionalizing ethical aims in everyday practices, accounting also for processes of purpose change and repurposing; and (2) responsible ownership in and around business families and single family offices, with a particular focus on their responses towards the "impact turn" in the field of private capital, as well as a focus on alternative ways of ensuring continuity to the family firm (e.g., stewad-ownership).

He is member of the editorial review board of European Management Review.

He is lead researcher and scientific co-director of the Family Office Observatory and the Purpose in Action Observatory of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano.

Manelli, L., Benedetti, C., Kotlar, J., Frattini, F. (2025). Bridging Moral Aspirations and the Mundane Reality: A Grounded Study of the Process of Radical Purpose Adaptation in a Business School. Journal of Management Studies. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.70006.

Manelli, L., Pek, S., Waldkirch, M., Besharov, M., Hand, M., Thomsen, S., Hachigian, H., Jamal, A. Segrestin, B., Levillain, K., Hatchuel, A. (2025). Beyond Ownership As Usual: The Implications of Steward-Ownership For Management Research. Journal of Management Inquiry. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926251357812.

Capella, F., Manelli, L., Frattini, F., Kotlar, J., Chiesa, V. (2024). Navigating the Politics of Innovation in Family Firms: The Role of Political Capital. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41(3): 548-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12717.

Suddaby, R., Manelli, L., Fan, Z. (2023). Corporate Purpose: A Social Judgement Perspective. Strategy Science, 8(2):202-211. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2023.0185.

Manelli L., Magrelli, V., Kotlar, J., Messeni Petruzzelli, A., Frattini, F. (2023). Building an Outward-Oriented Social Family Legacy: Rhetorical History in Family Business Foundations. Family Business Review, 36(1): 143–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865231157195.

2025 Winner, 1^st edition of “Guido Corbetta” Award for Best Young Italian Family Business Researcher, AIDAF (Associazione Italiane delle Imprese Familiari, Italian Chapter of Family Business Network – FBN)

2024 Winner, Best Paper Award, Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project Global Consortium.

2024 Nomination for Best Paper in Entrepreneurship Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

2023 Nomination for Best Paper Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

2021 Winner, Best PhD Proposal Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

2020 Finalist, Best Reviewer Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

2020 Finalist, Best PhD Proposal Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

2019 Winner, Best Reviewer Award, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Annual Conference

• Research Fellow, 11/01/2018 - 31/10/2019
• Post-Doctoral Researcher, 12/01/2022 - 28/02/2023
• Assistant Professor, 01/03/2023 - to date