Empowered Owners

EV’s Chief of Staff Emily Bopp returns to the show to tackle a topic nobody’s talking about these days: AI. Emily and Chris walk through the holding company’s journey over the past six months, from a scattering of “shadow AI” licenses to getting the whole team to “base camp” in a month so no one was left behind, and why Chris chose to get his own hands dirty rather than hand it off to the experts. Emily explains the difference between chatting with AI and using agentic AI that actually does work in your files and systems, and how skills turn one-off requests into repeatable workflows. Their advice: start small, stay curious, and don’t let a lack of technical skills hold you back. It’s not a prescription for every EV company, just an honest look at what worked, what didn’t, and why AI is scary and exciting at the same time.Edited by Mateusz Złakowski

Troy Osborn joined Paramount Plastics as its CNC programmer just over a year ago, and he hasn’t stopped learning since. Growing up in Elkhart, Indiana, the RV capital of the world, Troy assumed he’d follow his grandpas into the RV industry. Instead, a winding path that included pushing carts at Menards led him to a screw machine shop, where his big break came from yelling the answer to a training question from across the shop floor. Troy shares how that moment turned into a crash course in CNC programming, machining certificates from Ivy Tech, and eventually a leap of faith on Paramount’s 1980s-era five-axis routers. They also discuss what he’s learned from Paramount’s resident “Wizard” and how joining the ESOP committee changed his view of what employee ownership can mean. Plus, hear how one simple request for a quieter workspace helped shift the culture on the floor. Troy’s advice for fellow employee owners? If you see something, say something.Edited by Mateusz Złakowski

Once a year, all EVers from across Empowered Ventures gather for the ESOP Update, where we reveal the new share price, review the last year, and rally for the year ahead. After this year's update, Chris Fredericks and Casey Grisez sat down to dig into a few topics from it a little further. They talk through a year with some headwinds, the record payout to former EVers that shows the system works, and why most accounts kept growing even in a softer year.From there, it's all about what we can control. Chris walks through his Ownership in Action framework and answers questions from EVers, including how to promote our sister companies and how the share price gets set, with the help of a very successful lemonade stand. Chris closes with a line from EV's Mike Algrim: pilots take off into the wind.Want to get really nerdy about valuation? Listen to last year's episode here: https://empowered.ventures/2025/09/23/s4e3-esop-update/.Edited by Mateusz Złakowski

Gary Morin has been with Benoure Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning since early 2025, and he joins Empowered Owners six months after assuming the President role. He grew up surrounded by the trades, and he was building decks with his grandfather when most kids are building Legos. He spent his teenage years as crew chief on a friend's race car at Thunder Road before going into plumbing straight out of high school. After almost a decade in the field, he worked his way into estimating, project management, and operations. Gary explains why a boiler room full of exposed pipe is "kind of like artwork" and why employee ownership was "the icing on the cake" when a recruiter called him. He gets into the trades' math problem — five people retiring for every two joining — and the farming system Benoure is building to answer it. Plus, hear what Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have taught him about trusting a team.Edited by Mateusz Złakowski

Empowered Owners is back. To open Season 5 on Labor Day, we handed the entire episode over to the people who do the work — no host, no questions, just the incredible employee owners from all five EV companies in their own words. Craftsmanship that holds up whether anyone will ever see it. Pensions that rarely exist anymore, and what ESOP shares mean instead. A shop floor that never had to be told to work overtime. Years spent as "just a number" somewhere else. And Travis Adams of Benoure with the last word: "We fall on hard times, they've got our back. They fall on hard times, we've got their back. It's a big family."Happy Labor Day to every EVer, and to workers everywhere. Season 5 starts now, with new episodes every other Tuesday.Edited by Mateusz Złakowski