⏰ Catch up in Four Minutes
EO+WD Weekend Newsletter, Vol. 65
🤗 Welcome Back!
This one’s a doozy. We’ve tried to organize it so as not to overwhelm. Reading time: 4 minutes, according to Word to Time.
🚀 What We’ve Been Up To
Dr. Hand facilitated the Georgia Shared Ownership Convening at Emory University last week. Read his takeaways here.
Tiffany, Dr. Hand, and Zoe Schlag have finished a draft of a book chapter about the promise of purpose trusts in rural communities. Email us for a secret copy!
🗞️ News to Know
✊ Ownership conversions. Rocky Mountain Steel (Colorado) and Rovers North (Vermont) are now employee owned via ESOP. ESOP-owned FST Logistics (Ohio) and Resa Power (Illinois) completed acquisitions. Letters Bookshop (North Carolina) is now a community-owned cooperative. Employee-owned Room and Board and Fireclay Tile launched a new partnership (h/t EOX). Our Dallas neighbors Unity Partners completed their employee ownership-powered, private equity investment in Katsam Property Services.
🏛️ Policy moves. The Senate Committee on Appropriations for Labor, Health and Human services has included $2 million in their 2025 funding bill for the Employee Ownership Initiative, but the House has different ideas. Senator Roger Marshall wrote a letter promoting ESOPs. Project Equity released their state-level policy database.
🕸️ Ecosystem news. The Aspen Institute announced a new initiative for businesses transitioning to employee ownership. The Michigan Center for Employee Ownership hired its first program coordinator. Certified EO hit 700 members. NCEO’s Fall Forum agenda is live. Rutgers Institute published its new volume of the Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership. The Ford Foundation and Hewlett Foundation hosted a conference on emerging political economies. The Oxford University Symposium on Employee Ownership was a smash hit.
🕸️ Even more ecosystem news. Peter Koehler of Lumo Group launched a newsletter, Uncommon Business. His most recent bulletin includes a link to a 21 Hats podcast with Laura Anderson from Local Ocean Seafoods, an employee ownership trust.
💥 Vote for your fellow EO+WD readers’ South by Southwest panel!
🧑💻 Research & Analysis
In ImpactAlpha, Curt Lyon and Julie Menter provide a primer for investors interested in employee ownership. Check out their report and August 20th webinar.
Elle Griffin lays lays out how founders can get richer by exiting to employees (The Elysian on Substack)
Matt Mazewski published a new paper, “Ownership Beyond Borders: New Research on S ESOPs with International Workers” with Adria Scharf and Doug Kruse and with support from Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA).
Ryan Thornton discusses the potential for ESOP holding companies to take market share from private equity (Vermont EOC)
Tammy Perkins offers seven management strategies for effective employee development, including employee ownership (Fast Company)
Ronald J Gilbert and Corey Rosen have published a new white paper, “Identifiable Stock Ownership.”
John Jones published an ESOP Administration market analysis (WhaTech).
Ross Baird examines the relationship among place, ownership, and democracy (Topophilia)
Andrea Steffes-Tuttle makes the case for employee-ownership education in business schools (Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine)
Steve Dubb asks whether impact investing will support employee ownership (Nonprofit Quarterly).
Jara Carballo lays out how the silver tsunami will impact rural America (The Independent)
Australia’s employee-owned Meld Studios was featured in Forbes (h/t Alan G.)
Luke Tapp and Michael Chattle of PinsentMasons write about employee ownership in the UAE.
📅 What’s Coming: Events
August 20: The North Carolina Small Business Center and NCEOC webinar on succession planning and employee ownership (h/t EOX)
August 20: Transform Finance hosts How to Invest in Employee Ownership for investors looking to join the employee ownership movement
August 22, & 29: MNCEO hosts the Employee Ownership Ambassador Program for people who want a deep understanding of employee ownership. Register here
⭐️ New - August 22: “Succession planning and employee ownership: Future-proofing your small business” a webinar live from Los Angeles
⭐️ New - August 27: Prairie Capital Advisors’ “Challenges and Opportunities for ESOP Banks” workshop in Illinois
August 30: Dr. Hand will be presenting at the second annual Rutgers-Oxford Research Symposium
September 4: Aspen EOP and Workshop’s webinar, Seizing the Moment on Worker Rights: A Toolkit for Organizers and Practitioners
⭐️ New - September 4: ILCEO is headed to Chicago City Hall for a hearing on employee ownership.
September 10-12: The Great Game of Business Conference 2024 for individuals and companies looking to build ownership culture hits Arlington, TX. Register here
September 12: NCEO hosts a Community Conversation celebrating Employee Ownership Month. Register here
September 12-13: The Worker Co-Op Conference in Chicago (h/t EOX)
September 18-20: NCEO hosts its Fall Forum in Indianapolis, including a day on employee ownership trusts
October 21-22: NCEO hosts Is An ESOP Right For You? in Phoenix, AZ
December 4: The 2nd Annual Ownership Economy Summit in New York City. Register here
February 20, 2025: Attend “The Employee Ownership Transition: A Deep Dive” a workshop for insights on the process of selling to an employee ownership trust (in Scotland)
🕰️ ICYMI
Stakeholder versus shareholder capitalism: The great debate between Oxford’s Colin Mayer and Harvard’s A. Lucian Bebchuk (2020).
Rainbird Development in Utah is raising money for a new “municipal producer cooperative”—a sort of utopian community, maybe?—modeled after Spain’s Mondragon Cooperative.
Exit planning advisor Craig West’s Employee Ownership: A Strategic Advantage
wow this is exciting
love to see ownership becoming memetic