Welcome Back
It has been a cool start to the semester here in Texas. Here’s a newsletter to complement your morning coffee ☕
One major announcement: We are thrilled to introduce Evan Saunders to the EO+WD team! Evan is a senior at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he is pursuing a major in Political Science and a minor in Computer Science.
What We’re Writing
In his first EO+WD post, Evan learns about mixed income neighborhood trusts (MINTs)
Dr. Hand and Peter Boumgarden turned in revisions on a paper about the various motivations (financial, non-financial, and altruistic) that drive family business owners to choose one exit option over another. If you’d like to see a secret draft, lmk!
🗞️ News to Know
The U.S. Department of Labor published draft regulatory guidance for ESOP Trustees, clarifying the meaning of a “good faith effort” in determining the fair value of stock prices.
This is a key concern for ESOP advocates and something the ESOP community has been waiting on for a long time
The ESOP Association, the largest pro-ESOP lobbying group, doesn’t love it; NCEO is still reviewing
Lisa Gomez, the Assistant Secretary that oversees ESOP work at the DOL, will resign resign this week, as will most other federal political appointees that haven’t yet
Happy International Year of Cooperatives! The United Nations General Assembly declared 2025 as the year to “foster inclusive growth and strengthen community resilience”
Check out the objectives for the year from COPAC, the program’s host organization
At its 2025 Kelso Workshop, Dr. Kruse was appointed as the new chair for the J. Robert Beyster Professorship of Employee Ownership. Congratulations!
The Institute also hosted the first meeting of the new University Consortium on Employee Share Ownership
Praxis, a longstanding consulting firm serving ESOP-owned companies, has new leadership
Peter’s Chinese Cafe of Denver, CO is now a worker cooperative
🔍 Research and Analysis
On steward ownership, purpose trusts, ESOPs, and everything else
🧑✈️ Steward Ownership and Purpose Trusts
Purpose Economy, based in Germany, released its Research Hub for Steward-Ownership
Andy Farquharson hosts Derek Razo of Common Trust on the latest episode of the Alternative Exit podcast
📈 Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
Kristin Tingle’s research outlines how ESOPs outperform other businesses against ESG metrics
Steve Storkan from the Employee Ownership Expansion Network answers seven questions about ESOPs
The ESOP Association was one group of ESOP advocates on the Hill in DC last week sharing how ESOPs strengthen communities
➕ Everything Else
Michael Darger shared research on Minnesota business owners, which are more likely to liquidate their businesses than transfer ownership to employees
The Michigan Center for Employee Ownership reminds employee owned firms to utilize federal SSBCI funds
In Texas, these are available through the Texas Small Business Credit Initiative
Sarah Parks, CEO of ZenToes, highlights the benefits of adopting an employee-owned business model (but we can’t tell which! Teamshares, maybe?)
The ICA group highlights how cooperatives help residents and businesses in Jackson, Mississippi
🌇 What’s Coming Up: Events
January 22: RSM’s webcast “Business Transition Planning: What is an ESOP and when is it the right choice?”
NEW | January 22: Underwriting for Racial Justice hosts a webinar on Financing Employee Ownership to Advance Racial Equity
January 24: The Skoll Centre’s Towards Purpose: Redesigning Business From Within
February 3-4: NCEO hosts Is an ESOP Right for You? in Austin, Texas
NEW | February 5-26: NCEO hosts four Communications Committee Crash Courses sessions on how to navigate the world of employee ownership
February 20: The Employee Ownership Transition: A Deep Dive, a workshop on the process of selling to an employee ownership trust (in Scotland)
NEW | March 27-28: The Rocky Mountain and Texas/Oklahoma chapters of the ESOP Association host their 2025 regional conference in Phoenix, AZ
April 9-10: The Aspen+Rutgers Employee Ownership Ideas Forum in Washington, DC. Tickets will be released via the Aspen EOP mailing list
May 6-8: Community Spaces Network and Community Vision’s Social Purpose Real Estate Summit (h/t Gretchen B)
October 23: The 3rd Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Ankeny, Iowa
🚨ICYMI
Gary Community Ventures created a short film exploring the employee ownership ecosystem in Colorado; watch the trailer here!
Graeme Nuttall discusses the importance of transforming business ownership and the EOT model's success in the UK: