Owners at Work

  SUMMARY:   In this episode of Owners at Work, we talk with Mike Brady of 40 Million Owners about how the firm helps ESOP companies grow through strategic, values-aligned acquisitions. Mike explains how their three-phase framework—design, execution, and integration—guides employee-owned firms through M&A while preserving their ownership culture. We discuss how 40 Million Owners fills a key gap for lower middle market ESOPs lacking internal deal expertise, and how its 2025 acquisition by 3LS demonstrates the model in action. Mike also shares lessons from his career at PwC and Greyston Bakery, and how employee ownership can drive lasting wealth and systemic change.  OTHER INFO:   NCEO Study Estimating Number of Employee Owners Due to Acquisitions: https://www.nceo.org/employee-ownership-blog/new-data-on-esop-companies-acquiring-non-esop-companies-1?utm_source=chatgpt.com  Contact Information for Mike Brady  Email: mbrady@40millionowners.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradymichael/  Watch Mike Brady Deliver His TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/mike_brady_and_dion_drew_why_we_hire_unemployable_people SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode of Owners at Work, we sit down with Zoe Schlag of Common Trust and Mark Hand of the Purpose Trust Ownership Network (PTON) to explore the growing momentum behind Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) in the U.S. Zoe shares her journey from early-stage and impact investing to co-founding Common Trust, an organization dedicated to helping mission-driven businesses transition to employee ownership through EOTs. Mark—an academic and advocate for purpose-driven ownership—discusses his research and organizing work around EOTs, including the founding of PTON and his weekly newsletter The Stakeholder. Together, Zoe and Mark break down how EOTs offer a flexible, affordable, and values-aligned pathway to employee ownership—often well-suited for founders who want to preserve mission, reward employees, and avoid traditional exit routes like private equity. We hear examples of successful EOT transitions, from Clegg Auto to Live Oak Living and ACP International, and learn how each deal was tailored to meet the unique goals of its founders and workforce. The episode also previews the first PTON conference (slated for early 2026 in Austin). It highlights how peer learning, trust governance, and long-term stewardship are shaping the future of the EOT movement.    OTHER INFO:  EOT Case Studies  Clegg case study  Text-Em-All story  ACP International  LiveOak Living   About EOTs  ESOP vs. EOT comparison blog   What is an EOT blog  Book chapter co-authored by Mark Hand and Zoe Schlag  2026 EOT Conference  https://trustownership.org/#conference  Websites and Other Resources   Purpose Trust Ownership Network   The Stakehold Newsletter  Common Trust  Consumer Direct Care Network transitions to an EOT  SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode of Owners at Work, we sit down with Todd Leverette and Kyle Chin-How of Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H)—the 2025 recipient of the John Logue Award in Employee Ownership, which we present annually to organizations making a lasting and transformative impact in the field. A&H is a mission-driven investment firm focused on financing worker buyouts that create 100% employee-owned businesses, particularly for workforces that have been historically excluded from ownership. Todd and Kyle share their personal paths into this work, and how A&H is addressing one of the biggest barriers to employee ownership: the lack of accessible capital for business transitions. We talk about the successful deployment of their first $58 million fund—creating over 450 worker-owners and transferring more than $65 million in enterprise value—and their ambitious goals for Fund II, which has already raised $85 million in its first close. The conversation highlights the emotional weight of their work, lessons from the field, and their long-term vision to help make employee ownership a scalable and mainstream model for succession OTHER INFO: Website: https://www.apisheritage.com/ Staff page: https://www.apisheritage.com/team Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITHvJVk2Nls Kyle Chin-How Contact Information: Email: kyle@apisheritage.com Phone: (718) 969‑4852 SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

Guests: Danny Massey, Head of Strategy and Communications at Expanding ESOPs SUMMARY: In this episode of the Owners at Work podcast, we speak with Danny from Expanding ESOPs, a new national initiative focused on dramatically scaling employee ownership through policy change and public advocacy. Danny shares his journey from labor journalism and the Fight for $15 campaign to leading this effort to modernize the 51-year-old ESOP framework. We explore why expanding partial ESOPs in large companies could unlock trillions in worker wealth, and how this model can appeal across political lines. Danny also discusses Expanding ESOPs' growing coalition, its core principles, and the powerful role of worker storytelling in building a national movement.   About Expanding ESOPs ·       https://expandingesops.com/ ·       https://www.linkedin.com/company/expanding-esops/ Other Articles ·       https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/17/better-than401k-companies-workers-long-term-stock-owners.html ·       https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/features/2025-04-27/room-board-goes-esop-employee-stock-ownership-plans-don-t-have-to-be-rare ·       https://fortune.com/2025/02/26/employee-owned-companies-careers-benefits-esops/?abc123     SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

  SUMMARY:   In this episode Chris Cooper sits down with Jim O'Brien founder and current President of Go2Partners, a 100% ESOP Company. We talk about the interesting way in which Go2Partners was founded and funded by the employees themselves, why employee ownership was an attractive choice for him and the founders of the company, and how becoming employee owned impacted the way in which the company was managed and run day-to-day. We also talk about EO-connection a new project that Jim is leading which enables employee-owned companies to connect and purchase goods and services from one another.  Guest INFO (bio): https://www.linkedin.com/in/obpartners/  Further Material (links)  Go2Partners Website: https://www.go2partners.com/  EO-Connection Website: https://www.eo-connection.com/Login     SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

  SUMMARY: One of the exciting happenings in the world of employee ownership today is the proliferation of different models and methods for bringing employees into the ownership of a company. In this episode we discuss the Direct Stock Ownership model that Chip Cargas, Founder of Cargas Systems, implemented at his company. We also discussed where the model took him, and this next stage of his entrepreneurial journey, with the development of the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success, a nonprofit initiative offering pathways for business success through profit sharing and direct employee ownership. We also talk with Nate Scott, current President and CEO of Cargas Systems and discuss his journey from employee, to employee owner, and finally to his role as a leader of the company. Finally we talk with Drew Mousetis, the Executive Director of the Tandem Center and get the scoop from him on his plans to grow employee ownership using the Direct Stock Ownership model.  Further Material  https://www.tandemcenter.org/  https://cargas.com/    Guest INFO:   Chip Cargas is the Founder & Chair Emeritus at Cargas Systems, an employee-owned software company with nearly 200 employees. They provide software for accounting, operations, sales and marketing. Chip founded the company in 1988 with the purpose of creating a caring environment where people would love to work. He served as CEO from the founding until December 2017, Board Chair until October 2020, and Board Member until March 2022. He was named Chair Emeritus in 2022. Chip continues to nurture the company's purpose of "Shared Success for employees, customers, owners, partners, and community." Cargas Systems has earned the following national & regional awards for its values and growth  Nate Scott is President and CEO of Cargas Systems, joining in 2005 as a sales consultant. He eventually became manager of the Sales and Marketing team. When Cargas launched a new business unit centered around its proprietary Cargas Energy software, he became VP. During his tenure, the business unit doubled in staff and doubled in revenue. Scott also took advantage of annual career advancement meetings and asked to lead cross-company initiatives. In 2014 he became President, and added CEO four years later.  Drew Mousetis is Executive Director of the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success with a background in business management. Before joining Tandem, Drew was a lead consultant at Cargas, where he embraced the ethos of employee ownership within a dynamic culture of engagement and profit sharing at the employee owned company. Prior to Cargas, Drew was the Director of Finance & Development at The GateHouse.     SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

Guests:   Olga Prushinskaya and Jamie Pockrandt, Democracy at Work Institute  Summary: The second most common form of employee ownership in the United States is the worker cooperative where workers participate in both the financial success and governance of the firms. Today there are over 750 worker cooperatives in the United States, which is triple the amount that existed in 2012. How do we know these numbers? Unlike the number of ESOPs which can be tracked using publicly available data generated by the government, there is no public entity that tracks worker cooperatives. Instead, it has been nonprofit groups that have filled in this gap in knowledge. On this episode I speak with Olga Prushinskaya and Jamie Pockrandt of the Democracy at Work Institute, a national organization committed to worker cooperative development – which includes gather data on worker cooperatives. We talk about their soon to be released State of the Sector report and what it found regarding worker cooperatives as well as other projects they have been working on which aim to better understand the impact that employee ownership is having on workers, companies, and communities.   Further Material  Learn about DAWI's work here: https://institute.coop/   Existing datasets mentioned in the show: https://institute.coop/core-research     Guest Info:   Jamie Pockrandt, Data Architect, Democracy at Work Institute:   Email: jpockrandt@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 19  Olga Prushinskaya, Metrics and Impact Analyst  Email: olga@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 17    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   ---------------------------------------------------------------------        

Guest: Campbell McDonald, Ownership Works   SUMMARY: Much of the work for raising awareness and advocating for supportive policies for further expansion relies on data collection. When making the case for employee ownership, it is one thing to say that, in theory, employee ownership can benefit workers, companies, and communities. It is quite another to prove such claims through the collection of empirical data.  In this episode, I sit down with Campell McDonald, the chief executive of Ownership at Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about employee ownership in the United Kingdom. We talk in detail about the recent research project he oversaw, which collected first-of-its-kind data that measured the impacts of employee ownership on worker well-being, company performance, and various other indicators. Further Material ·        Find the report at this website: https://ownershipatwork.org/ Guest INFO : ·        Campbell McDonald:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/campbell-mcdonald-628378/?originalSubdomain=uk   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

Guest: Gina Schaefer SUMMARY: For 38 years, the OEOC has gathered hundreds of people from across the employee ownership community at our Annual Conference and every year, we invite a keynote speaker to address those in attendance. This year, we invited Gina Schaefer, the founder, CEO, and selling owner of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, which became 100% employee-owned in 2021. Her story of how her company came to be, her approach to building culture within the business, and her tendency to build relationships outside of it speak to the power of building community and how employee-owned companies are uniquely poised to do this. Beyond that, Gina's address and the story of A Few Cool Hardware Stores highlight other important themes whose power we often underestimate: faking it until you make it, doing the hard thing, being curious, and telling our own stories of employee ownership, to name a few.  Further Material Gina's Book Recover Hardware: https://ginaschaefer.com/book A Few Cool Hardware Stores: https://acehardwaredc.com/ Past OAW Episode featuring Gina: https://www.oeockent.org/owners-at-work-podcast/seaon-2-episode-7-a-few-cool-hardware-stores Guest INFO :    Gina Schaefer: https://ginaschaefer.com/about SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu 

SUMMARY: When we think about expanding awareness about employee ownership, we often think of the United States and how much more work we have to do. However, the movement to expand the prevalence and awareness of employee ownership goes well beyond US borders. In this episode, we highlight an international example of this effort. We speak with Rodrigo Fernandez del Valle and Gonzalo Hernandez Gutierrez about an edited book they published, which includes chapters on employee ownership contributed by practitioners, researchers, and thinkers worldwide. Their goal? Introduce students, government officials, and business leaders to employee ownership and how it can positively impact society. We talked about how the book project came to be, what the book's reception has been, and what projects they are working on now to expand employee ownership in Mexico, Latin America, and beyond.  Free Book Copy  Employee Ownership in the Americas: A Path to Shared Prosperity: https://cleo.rutgers.edu/articles/employee-ownership-in-the-americas-a-path-to-shared-prosperity/  Capital IncluyenteCo-founded by Rodrigo with the purpose of providing technical assistance to those who want to create businesses owned by employees:https://capital-incluyente.org/  Guest Info: ·        Gonzalo Hernandez Gutierrez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalo-hern%C3%A1ndez-guti%C3%A9rrez-phd-93a648a1/?originalSubdomain=mx ·        Rodrigo Fernandez del Valle: https://capital-incluyente.org/    --------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: When we look into the field of employee ownership three major models come to mind, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, and employee-owned trusts. But practitioners are always looking to improve existing models and in some rare cases develop new ones. In this first episode of season five we speak with David Ellerman and Tej Gonza of the Institute for Economic Democracy about a new model they have developed which combines features of the ESOP and worker cooperative models – what they term the "European ESOP". Thier hope is this model that can drive the expansion of broad-based employee ownership in Slovenia – the country where they both live – as well as the European Union more generally. We talk about what features of worker cooperatives and ESOPs were retained and why, how the model functions, and the process for getting supportive legislation passed in Slovenia to encourage the adoption of this model.   Further Reading:  The Institute for Economic Democracy: https://ekonomska-demokracija.si/eng/   The ESOP Coop Model Explained: https://ekonomska-demokracija.si/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/European-ESOP-IED2022.pdf   Guest INFO :   Tej Gonza: https://ekonomska-demokracija.si/eng/tej-gonza/   David Ellerman: https://ekonomska-demokracija.si/eng/david-ellerman/  SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY Back in 2018 the Kendeda Fund, a philanthropic foundation based in Atlanta, decided to make a series of big bets in areas that were both critical and timely. One of those areas was employee ownership and the investment made by Kendeda was historic. Over 5 years a total of $24 million dollars was provided to 4 employee owner support organizations. Those organizations include The Evergreen Cooperatives Fund for Employee Ownership, ICA Group, Nexus Community Partners, and Project Equity. The investment was made with four broad goals in mind – grow the number of employee-owned businesses, use patient capital to leverage investments, strengthen core elements of the employee ownership ecosystem, and amplify media coverage of employee ownership.   Upon entering the 5th year of the grant, Kendeda contracted with the Ohio Employee Ownership Center to carry out a reflection process that looked back on what these four organizations where able to achieve, assess what they learned, and identify future actions that would further develop and expand employee ownership in the US. The reflection process relied on numerous forms of data collection including in-person meetings, long form one on one interviews with grantees, selling owners, and new employee owners, analysis of transition data, and comparisons of the four grantees models for transitioning companies to employee ownership. The culmination of our findings was then published in a narrative report that drew on the insights of all stakeholders involved, which we encourage you to read.  However, like all reports, we could not include every bit of information we gathered.  But we strongly felt it necessary to provide grantee organizations with the space to explain, in their own words, how and why they do the work they do, how Kendeda's investment helped them expand their impact, and where they see their work going in the future.  So, this interview with Alison Lingane of Project Equity, is one in a series of interviews we carried out with organization that received support from the Kendeda Fund.   READ THE REPORT: www.oeockent.org/kendeda-employee-ownership-big-bet  GRANTEE INFORMATION   ICA Group: https://icagroup.org/   Nexus Community Partners: https://www.nexuscp.org/   Project Equity: https://project-equity.org/   The Fund for Employee Ownership: https://www.evgoh.com/tfeo/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. 

SUMMARY Back in 2018 the Kendeda Fund, a philanthropic foundation based in Atlanta, decided to make a series of big bets in areas that were both critical and timely. One of those areas was employee ownership and the investment made by Kendeda was historic. Over 5 years a total of $24 million dollars was provided to 4 employee owner support organizations. Those organizations include The Evergreen Cooperatives Fund for Employee Ownership, ICA Group, Nexus Community Partners, and Project Equity. The investment was made with four broad goals in mind – grow the number of employee-owned businesses, use patient capital to leverage investments, strengthen core elements of the employee ownership ecosystem, and amplify media coverage of employee ownership.   Upon entering the 5th year of the grant, Kendeda contracted with the Ohio Employee Ownership Center to carry out a reflection process that looked back on what these four organizations where able to achieve, assess what they learned, and identify future actions that would further develop and expand employee ownership in the US. The reflection process relied on numerous forms of data collection including in-person meetings, long form one on one interviews with grantees, selling owners, and new employee owners, analysis of transition data, and comparisons of the four grantees models for transitioning companies to employee ownership. The culmination of our findings was then published in a narrative report that drew on the insights of all stakeholders involved, which we encourage you to read.  However, like all reports, we could not include every bit of information we gathered.  But we strongly felt it necessary to provide grantee organizations with the space to explain, in their own words, how and why they do the work they do, how Kendeda's investment helped them expand their impact, and where they see their work going in the future.  So, this interview with Christina Nicholson and Paty Viafara of Nexus Community Partners, is one in a series of interviews we carried out with organization that received support from the Kendeda Fund.   READ THE REPORT: www.oeockent.org/kendeda-employee-ownership-big-bet  GRANTEE INFORMATION   ICA Group: https://icagroup.org/   Nexus Community Partners: https://www.nexuscp.org/   Project Equity: https://project-equity.org/   The Fund for Employee Ownership: https://www.evgoh.com/tfeo/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. 

SUMMARY   Back in 2018 the Kendeda Fund, a philanthropic foundation based in Atlanta, decided to make a series of big bets in areas that were both critical and timely. One of those areas was employee ownership and the investment made by Kendeda was historic. Over 5 years a total of $24 million dollars was provided to 4 employee owner support organizations. Those organizations include The Evergreen Cooperatives Fund for Employee Ownership, ICA Group, Nexus Community Partners, and Project Equity. The investment was made with four broad goals in mind – grow the number of employee-owned businesses, use patient capital to leverage investments, strengthen core elements of the employee ownership ecosystem, and amplify media coverage of employee ownership.   Upon entering the 5th year of the grant, Kendeda contracted with the Ohio Employee Ownership Center to carry out a reflection process that looked back on what these four organizations where able to achieve, assess what they learned, and identify future actions that would further develop and expand employee ownership in the US. The reflection process relied on numerous forms of data collection including in-person meetings, long form one on one interviews with grantees, selling owners, and new employee owners, analysis of transition data, and comparisons of the four grantees models for transitioning companies to employee ownership. The culmination of our findings was then published in a narrative report that drew on the insights of all stakeholders involved, which we encourage you to read.  However, like all reports, we could not include every bit of information we gathered.  But we strongly felt it necessary to provide grantee organizations with the space to explain, in their own words, how and why they do the work they do, how Kendeda's investment helped them expand their impact, and where they see their work going in the future.  So, this interview with Jeanette Webster and Emma Sherrie of the Fund for Employee Ownership is one in a series of interviews we carried out with organization that received support from the Kendeda Fund.   READ THE REPORT: www.oeockent.org/kendeda-employee-ownership-big-bet  GRANTEE INFORMATION   ICA Group: https://icagroup.org/   Nexus Community Partners: https://www.nexuscp.org/   Project Equity: https://project-equity.org/   The Fund for Employee Ownership: https://www.evgoh.com/tfeo/   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. 

SUMMARY Back in 2018 the Kendeda Fund, a philanthropic foundation based in Atlanta, decided to make a series of big bets in areas that were both critical and timely. One of those areas was employee ownership and the investment made by Kendeda was historic. Over 5 years a total of $24 million dollars was provided to 4 employee owner support organizations. Those organizations include The Evergreen Cooperatives Fund for Employee Ownership, ICA Group, Nexus Community Partners, and Project Equity. The investment was made with four broad goals in mind – grow the number of employee-owned businesses, use patient capital to leverage investments, strengthen core elements of the employee ownership ecosystem, and amplify media coverage of employee ownership.   Upon entering the 5th year of the grant, Kendeda contracted with the Ohio Employee Ownership Center to carry out a reflection process that looked back on what these four organizations where able to achieve, assess what they learned, and identify future actions that would further develop and expand employee ownership in the US. The reflection process relied on numerous forms of data collection including in-person meetings, long form one on one interviews with grantees, selling owners, and new employee owners, analysis of transition data, and comparisons of the four grantees models for transitioning companies to employee ownership. The culmination of our findings was then published in a narrative report that drew on the insights of all stakeholders involved, which we encourage you to read.  However, like all reports, we could not include every bit of information we gathered.  But we strongly felt it necessary to provide grantee organizations with the space to explain, in their own words, how and why they do the work they do, how Kendeda's investment helped them expand their impact, and where they see their work going in the future.  So, this interview with David Hammer of ICA Group, is one in a series of interviews we carried out with organization that received support from the Kendeda Fund.   READ THE REPORT: www.oeockent.org/kendeda-employee-ownership-big-bet  GRANTEE INFORMATION   ICA Group: https://icagroup.org/   Nexus Community Partners: https://www.nexuscp.org/   Project Equity: https://project-equity.org/   The Fund for Employee Ownership: https://www.evgoh.com/tfeo/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. 

SUMMARY: If one thing is true, its that the word ownership has baggage – every person has a different conception of what it means. In this episode we speak with Chris Mackin, who has worked in the employee ownership community for decades, to talk about a recent article he published on the multiple meanings of ownership. We discuss how being aware of these multiple meanings can inform the work we do on employee ownership whether that be at the company level in the context of training or ESOP plan design, or at the societal level in the context of public policy making. Chris wears many hats, practitioner, researcher, teacher, and more recently public policy entrepreneur and our conversation reflects that. As should have been expected, an interview initially intended to talk about the recent article included numerous excursions into conversations including the movement for employee ownership in the mid 18th and 19th centuries, how capital ownership structures our current economy and the possibilities for expanding employee ownership, and the Employee Equity Investment Act (EEIA) a piece of legislation that (after the interview was recorded) was introduced with bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate.   Link to article: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPEO-10-2022-0019/full/html    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   INFO:   Chris Mackin: https://christophermackin.org/   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode Chris Cooper speaks with Eric Zaleski and Michael Rosendahl of PCE Investment Bankers, about what business owners should be thinking about, and doing, to prepare for a business succession. In many cases, business owners see succession planning as something that will take place far off in the future, as something that can wait. Or it seems like an enormously complex issue that gets overwhelming fast. Both Eric and Michael break down the process into two options, inside sale or outside sale and what both entail at a high level. They also cover what you can start doing now to prepare for business succession and provide great insights into how preparation for succession planning in the future can actually help your company's performance in the here and now.    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Erick Zaleski , PCE Investment Bankers : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsillabusinessvaluationcle/   Michael Rosendahl, PCE Investmen Bankers https://www.pcecompanies.com/staff-member/michael-rosendahl  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

  Guest: Eric Flickinger and Matt Silla SUMMARY: In this episode we sit down with two valuation experts,  Eric Flickinger and Matt Silla of Apple Growth Partners. The conversation is wide ranging and includes discussion of high level trends we saw in 2022 that will impact company valuations, what their general 2023 outlook is, and what they are watching for. More specific conversations also include the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and what it means for valuations and acquisitions, what the economic trends tell us about a possible 2023 recession, and what may happen around the US debt ceiling debate. SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. INFO : ·        Matt Silla, Apple Growth Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsillabusinessvaluationcle/ ·        Eric Flickinger, Apple Growth Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-flickinger/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

Guest: Jeff Kelley, Hamill Manufacturing Company   SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Jeff Kelly, former CEO, selling owner, and current Chairman of Hamill Manufacturing, a Pennsylvania based precision and fabricating company which serves the defense, aerospace, and power generation industries. We talk to Jeff about what led him to begin working at the company in 1976 (which is father owned), why he chose to sell the company to the employees using an ESOP, the importance of legacy and loyalty for second generation business owners, and how important developing a succession plan is for manufacturing companies and businesses more broadly.    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   INFO :   Learn more about the Hamill Company  https://www.hamillmfg.com/history    WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

In this episode we sit down with Bina Smith who is the HR Generalist and Communication Committee chair at Palmier Donavin, a 100% employee-owned company. The interview covers a wide range of areas and draws on Bina's 8 years of experience serving on her companies communication committee. The discussion includes how to build an ownership culture at a company with multiple locations and a complex production process, general principles for approaching communication around your ESOP, and practical ideas that can be used at other employee owned companies  Guest Contact Info:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/bina-smith-shrm-scp-a2088292/   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu