StONe Network

As an international and interdisciplinary network, StONe aims to accelerate both research and practical implementation of steward-ownership. The first impulses came from Prof. Carolina Cunha in Portugal, Prof. Alessio Bartolacelli in Italy, Prof. Dr. Florian Möslein and Prof. Dr. Anne Sanders in Germany, who were driven by a shared interest in exploring steward-ownership within a European context. What began as early discussions on governance and legal structures soon evolved into a broader idea: a European network dedicated to steward-ownership research. The first official meeting in Brussels in 2023 revealed just how much energy and curiosity were already scattered  across Europe, and how much stronger they could become when connected. As Prof. Dr. Anne Sanders recalls, the initiative “ grew out of real projects and real people who wanted to understand how steward-ownership works across borders. ” Today, StONe unites more than 130 researchers from 26 countries, working to strengthen international collaboration, share knowledge, and advance joint research. The hope is to see many more academic exchanges ahead. As Sanders put it:  “We are now, more and more,  starting to truly connect.

Prof. Dr. Steen Thomsen and Team

Center for Corporate Governance, Copenhagen Business School

Steen Thomsen specializes in corporate governance as a teacher, researcher, consultant, and commentator. His research is currently focused on enterprise foundations – foundations that own business firms. His primary research areas are Enterprise Foundations, Corporate Governance and Sustainable Governance.

The steward-ownership structure is particularly popular in Denmark, where a large share of the companies are in majority ownership of so-called ‘enterprise foundations’ that are often non-profit entities. With foundations holding the majority of shares, these foundation-owned companies implement the principles of steward-ownership of purpose orientation and self-governance. 

Steen's extensive and very valuable research on industrial foundations in Denmark has laid the groundwork for our understanding of the effects of steward-ownership on the economy, the companies, their employees and parts of society.

Collaborative Research Centre "Structural Change of Property"

University of Jena

The Collaborative Research Centre pursues the goal of investigating the fundamental structural change of property that could be observed at the latest since 1989.  The Collaborative Research Centre contains a total of 23 subprojects at five locations in Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Sprecher*innenhochschule), Universität Erfurt, Freie Universität Berlin, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Technische Universität Darmstadt.

Prof. Dr. Christina Hoon and Team 

Endowed Chair of Management of Family Businesses, University of Bielefeld

The endowed chair is dedicated to advancing research in the field of family businesses and supporting family enterprises in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region. It emphasizes succession in family firms, translating research into practical solutions for the challenges these businesses face today. In essence, steward-ownership is an extension of the understanding of family businesses. The difference is that long-term independence and corporate responsibility are no longer linked to a genetic owner family, but above all to a ‘relationship of skills and values’ - in short, to steward-owners. Research into family businesses is therefore also interesting in the context of steward-ownership.

Prof. Dr. Anne Sanders und Team

Chair of Civil Law, Corporate Law, Family Business Law, and Judicial Research, University of Bielefeld

Prof. Dr. Anne Sanders, M.Jur. (Oxford) holds the Chair of Civil Law, Corporate Law, Family Business Law and Justice Research at Bielefeld University and is Professor II at the University of Bergen (Norway). Her research interests include legal issues of entrepreneurship in family businesses, foundation companies and companies in steward-ownership/companies with tied assets. She is one of the leading legal scholars on steward-ownership in Germany and has played a key role in developing a draft law for a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany as part of an independent group of legal scholars.

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Veil

Chair of Civil Law and Corporate Law, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Holder of the Chair of Civil Law and Corporate Law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Director of the Munich Center for Capital Markets Law, a research institute of the Faculty of Law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He co-authored to developing a draft law for a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany as part of an independent group of legal scholars and has contributed to several papers on legally implementing steward-ownership in Germany.

Prof. Dr. Florian Möslein and Team

Chair of Civil Law, German and European Economic Law, University Marburg

Prof. Dr. Florian Möslein and his team focus their research and teaching on corporate and capital markets law, banking law, contract law, European law, legal theory, and comparative law. His professorship is a key pillar of the Institute for Commercial, Economic, and Labor Law and serves as a founding element of the newly established Institute for Digitalization Law. 

Prof. Dr. Florian Möslein also co-authored to developing a draft law for a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany as part of an independent group of legal scholars and has contributed to several papers on legally implementing steward-ownership in Germany and Europe.

Prof. Dr. Simon Kempny, LL.M. (UWE Bristol)

Chair of Public Law and Tax Law, University of Bielefeld

Prof. Dr. Simon Kempny's research focuses on Public Law, Financial and Tax Law, and Constitutional History. He has contributed to developing a draft law for a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany as part of an independent group of legal scholars and has authored several articles on the tax implications of a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Barbara Dauner-Lieb

Chair of Civil Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, Labour Law and European Private Law Development

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Barbara Dauner-Lieb's research focuses on Civil Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, Labour Law and European Private Law Development. She has contributed to developing a draft law for a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany as part of an independent group of legal scholars and has authored several articles on the tax implications of a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany.

Dr. Marvin Reiff

Academic Staff, Chair of Civil Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, Compliance and Sustainability, European University Viadrina

Dr. Marvin Reiff has been an academic staff member at the Chair since June 2024.  After passing the First State Examination in 2019, he began his dissertation on "Steward-Ownership". Dr. Reiff's research focuses on sustainable private law, particularly concerning property and political economy. He is a member of Lawyers for Future and participates in informal research networks such as Kolleg Verantwortungseigentum, Junges Nachhaltigkeitsrecht, and LPE Germany.

He has authored several specialist articles on steward-ownership and delivered several lectures on his research, including at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Stanford Law School. 

Dr. Marvin Reiff was awarded the German Dissertation Prize by the Körber Foundation for his research on steward-ownership at the University of Münster.

Dr. jur. Noah Neitzel

Research Fellow, Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS)

Dr. jur. Noah Neitzel was a Research Fellow at Stanford University, California until September 2024.

The debate on the introduction of a separate legal form for steward-ownership has been ongoing since July 2020. An independent group of legal scholars - including Prof Dr Anne Sanders, Prof Dr Barbara Dauner-Lieb, Prof Dr Florian Möslein and Prof Dr Rüdiger Veil, supported by the tax law expertise of Prof Dr Simon Kempny and Dr Arne von Freeden - has presented an initial draft of how the entrepreneurial and legal requirements could be implemented in a GmbH variant. Noah Neitzel has also contributed to this topic.

Prof. Dr. Felix Hoffmann

APOLLON University of Applied Sciences, Bremen & Chairman of the Board of Purpose:Health e.V.

Prof Dr Felix Hoffmann is Professor of Digital Health at APOLLON University of Applied Sciences Bremen and a specialist in orthopaedics and trauma surgery with an additional qualification in emergency medicine. His work focuses on the establishment, further development and digitalisation of care structures in the healthcare sector. He is Chairman of the Board and idea generator of the Purpose:Health e.V. network and conducts intensive research on topics relating to value-orientated transformation in the healthcare sector, with a central focus on steward-ownership.

Malte Bau

Promovendus & Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Lehrstuhl für Entrepreneurship, Otto von Guericke Universität Magdeburg

Neben seinen Interessen an Unternehmertum und sozialem Unternehmertum beschäftigt sich Malte intensiv mit dem Thema Verantwortungseigentum, das einen wesentlichen Teil seiner Doktorarbeit ausmacht. Er engagiert sich stark im Forschungsnetzwerk zu Verantwortungseigentum in Deutschland und trägt aktiv zur Entwicklung und Verbreitung von Wissen in diesem Bereich bei.

Jonneke de Koning

Doktorandin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Business Management & Organisation, Universität Wageningen

Jonneke de Koning ist Doktorandin und forscht zur Rolle von Eigentumsstrukturen und Zweckbestimmung in einer Postwachstumswirtschaft. Ihre Doktorarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Bedeutung von Zweck, Eigentumsstruktur und Wertschöpfung in Unternehmen jenseits des Wachstums.

Jonneke de Konneing engagiert sich in dem internationalen Forschungsnetzwerk zu Verantwortungseigentum in den Niederlanden und trägt aktiv zur Entwicklung und Verbreitung von Wissen in diesem Bereich bei.

Dr. Caroline Obolensky

Doktorandin an der Universität St. Gallen

Caroline Schweizer-Schätzle war Doktorandin am Institut für Mobilität an der Universität St. Gallen. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Stiftungseigentum, rechtliche Innovationen und soziale Bewegungen. Ihre Dissertation widmete Caroline dem Thema „Soziale Praktiken und Präfiguration in der Purpose Economy - Eine Ethnographie der Steward-Ownership-Bewegung“.

Seit November 2024 leitet sie ein vom SNF gefördertes Forschungsprojekt an der Universität St. Gallen mit dem Titel "The Potential of Steward-Ownership in Switzerland: Reimagining Corporate Ownership and Organization Design to Address Grand Challenges". Sie engagiert sich darüber hinaus stark im Forschungsnetzwerk zu Verantwortungseigentum in Deutschland und trägt aktiv zur Entwicklung und Verbreitung von Wissen in diesem Bereich bei.

Dr. Vanessa Franke

University of Potsdam

In her doctoral thesis at the University of Potsdam, Vanessa Franke examined the development of responsible ownership, focusing on the Carl Zeiss Foundation under Ernst Abbe. She researched and compared current legal models and legislative proposals with those that have been in use since the 19th century.

Today, she works as a solicitor in Potsdam and continues to enthusiastically support the idea and implementation of steward-ownership.

Aaron Rohde

PhD Candidate at University of Bonn & (as Visiting Scholar) University of St Andrews, UK; Research Fellow at the Alanus University for Arts and Social Sciences; Consultant at ETEC Recycling & MS Holding

Aaron Rohde specializes in sustainability and corporate governance within the real-estate sector. His interdisciplinary approach encompasses perspectives from business administration, finance, law, geography and philosophy and focuses on developing practical solutions to the complex problems we are currently facing in the housing market. Aaron integrates these diverse fields into his research, lectures, and consulting services and actively contributes to interdisciplinary research and educational programs, emphasizing strategic transitions to responsibility-driven business practices, and aligning corporate strategies with sustainability goals.

In the context of steward-ownership, his interests focus particularly on questions and topics at the intersection of steward-ownership and real estate. He is also actively involved in planning initiatives, such as a lecture series and a research center dedicated to steward-ownership.