Leadership, Action, and Uncertainty
EO+WD Weekend Newsletter Vol. 87
Welcome Back
There’s a new presidential nomination at DOL and a number of exciting opportunities to look forward to.
📝 What We’re Writing
In his fourth EO+WD post, Evan writes about steward-ownership and the companies that participate in those models
Dr. Hand gave a self-indulgent presentation at UTA about how Machiavelli—both the Machiavelli you know and fear, and the one you don’t know that you love—might advise startup founders
🗞️ News To Know
President Trump nominated Daniel Aronowitz, President of Encore Fiduciary, to lead the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), which regulates employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
The ESOP Association is publicly positive about working together with Aronowitz for the future of ESOPs
The National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation published its quarterly findings for January of 2025
The Uncertainty Index for small businesses rose 14 points to 100 just in January. Read more here
📢 Announcements
The ESOP Association offers scholarships for employee-owners or their dependents; the application deadline is TODAY
The May Day Cafe has reopened as a worker cooperative in Minneapolis, MN
Taylor Sekhon joins BMO Commercial Bank as their Managing Director of Employee Ownership
Alex Murdock invites submissions for the Social Enterprise Journal about ethical frameworks and participatory governance. The submission deadline is May 31st
🔍 Analysis
The NCEO released a new study on increased ESOP acquisitions within the past four years
Just from the data that was publicly available, the NCEO estimates that 48% of new ESOP participants came via ESOP acquisitions
Miles Hadfield highlights the trajectory of the cooperative movement, given the executive orders on federal spending
Anne Bushman, leader of the Washington Tax compensation and benefits group at RSM US LLP, answers seven questions about ESOPs
Transform Finance explores shared ownership through models on Alternative Ownership Enterprises (AOEs) and Community Owned Real Estate (CORE)
Purpose Economy analyzes the “steward-ownership elements” of OpenAI and the implications that changing structure has on the conversation around corporate ownership models in AI
James Towles, toolmaker at employee-owned AMBAC International, answers five questions about employee ownership
The Watershed Nursery highlights the transition process to a worker cooperative with Project Equity
Caleb Elliot, a cooperative and democratic business advisor, shares his involvement and experience in worker cooperatives
Check out the latest episode of his podcast, Punchcard
🌇 What’s Coming Up
February 19: The ICA Group hosts Shawn Berry, co-founder of LIFT Economy, for “Designing for Success: Organizational Tools for Worker Cooperatives”
February 20: The Employee Ownership Transition: A Deep Dive, a workshop on the process of selling to an employee ownership trust (in Scotland)
🆕 | February 24-25: The NCEO hosts the “2025 National Employee-Owner Summit” in Mesa, Arizona
February 26: The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s “Re-Entry and Good Jobs: Building the Second Chances We All Believe In”
🆕 | February 26: Project Equity’s “Employee Ownership for B Corps: A More Sustainable Future,” in Chicago
February 27: Join the National Center for Employee Ownership for a bilingual webinar, “Community Conversations: The Power of Shared Ownership | El Poder de la Propiedad Compartida”
🆕 | March 4: Transform Finance’s webinar on “Opportunities in Community-Owned Real Estate: Focus on Funds”
🆕 | March 6: The Croatan Institute’s “In Purpose, We Trust: How to Transition to Alternative Ownership Models & Perpetual Purpose Trusts”
March 11: A SXSW panel discussion “This is Not Woke Capitalism, this is the Future of Business,” in Austin
March 27-28: The Rocky Mountain and Texas/Oklahoma chapters of the ESOP Association host their 2025 regional conference in Phoenix, Arizona
April 9-10: The Aspen+Rutgers Employee Ownership Ideas Forum in Washington, DC. Tickets will be released via the Aspen EOP mailing list
April 14-17: NCEO’s 2025 Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah
May 6-8: Community Spaces Network and Community Vision’s Social Purpose Real Estate Summit (h/t Gretchen B)
🆕 | May 13-16: The “TEA National Conference 2025” focused on ESOP advocacy and education, in Washington, D.C.
June 22-24: The Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing hosts its second 2025 Future of Equity Symposium in Palo Alto
July 8-11: The 5th Global Research Conference of the International Cooperative Alliance in Montreal
🆕 | August 30: The 3rd annual Rutgers-Oxford Employee Ownership Research Symposium in the UK
October 23: The 3rd Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Ankeny, Iowa
⏪ In Case You Missed It
We revisited the Purpose Foundation’s 2019 “Steward-Ownership: Ownership and Finance Solutions for Mission-Drive Businesses,” which highlights how the long-term value of steward-ownership for purpose-based businesses
Mac Rasmussen, Impact Investment Principal at DOEN Participates, advocates for steward-ownership and how it protects the purpose of companies (in 2022)
Purpose Economy’s analyzed steward ownership in Open AI’s corporate structure (in 2023)