🎙️ Who Should Own the Economy?
EO+WD Weekend Newsletter Vol. 89
📝 Welcome Back! What We’re Up To:
Last week, Dr. Hand and Michael Zakaras of Ashoka presented an overview of employee ownership and the ownership economy at the Harvard Business School Club of Houston (h/t NJ!)
Evan writes about the POWER Act in California and a related study by Berkeley Haas and Rutgers University
Tiffany compiles a helpful roundup of employee ownership podcasts
📢 News to Know
Elle Griffin, founder of newsletter The Elysian, is raising investment for a new book, We Should Own The Economy. In line with the topic, investors can participate in the project process! Read more here
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions advanced the nomination of Secretary of Labor pick Lori Chavez-DeRemer
This was the candidate that the ESOP Association lobbied for in December. They are confident that Representative Chavez-DeRemer and Trump can “bring this war on ESOPs to a rapid end”
Common Trust is hiring a Transaction Advisory Associate
🔍 Research & Analysis
The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program just put out their latest Resource Roundup on Employee Ownership (thanks for the shoutout, Maxwell!). It includes links to three great articles:
Roxanne Patel Shepalavy’s Ideas We Should Steal: More Worker-Owned Businesses in the Philadelphia Citizen
Sara Wilson’s Colorado grows friendlier to companies switching to employee-owned model in Colorado Newsline
Angela Fu’s Why more and more journalists are launching worker-owned outlets in Poynter
The Global Impact Investing Network’s latest newsletter addresses how investors can support an ownership economy (h/t Cynthia R.)
The National Cooperative Business Association Clusa International released its “2025 Cooperative Impact Report: Building a Better World Through Cooperatives”
Frank Cetera and Stacey Smith explore how credit unions can broadly support a cooperative economy and how co-ops can address community needs
Michael Morosi, co-founder of 40 Million Owners and Southeast Acquisition Capital, explores how ESOP acquisitions can work for aging small-business owners
Karen Jones, director of commercial operations at employee-owned company Sentry Equipment, highlights how working for an ESOP provides security when approaching retirement
Christopher Buch, shareholder at Vedder Price, answers seven questions about ESOPs
The ICA Group shared a report on economic growth in Brooklyn, New York, while highlighting how employee ownership models can assist in sustaining consistent growth
David Shurna explores how important succession planning is for business owners and how ESOPs ensure a smooth transition
The Whatcom Community Foundation, key funder for the Washington Center for Employee Ownership, discusses the benefits of employee ownership strategies
The latest Business Scholarship Podcast highlights how employee ownership can promote job satisfaction
🌇 What’s Coming Up
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 13: Michigan’s Center for Employee Ownership is hosting a webinar on “Business-Ready for Capital: Identifying Key Factors for Success”
🆕 | March 20: Ownership Capital Lab’s webinar on “Women’s growing economic power to scale the ownership economy” as part of its speaker series celebrating the release of its forthcoming white paper, “The Silver Tsunami, the Great Wealth Transfer and the future of employee ownership in the United States (H/t Katherine)
🆕 | March 26: Ownership Capital Lab’s webinar “EO fund spotlight: 2025 investment opportunities”
March 27-28: The Rocky Mountain and Texas/Oklahoma chapters of the ESOP Association host their 2025 regional conference in Phoenix
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
May 6-8: Community Spaces Network and Community Vision’s Social Purpose Real Estate Summit
May 13-16: The “TEA National Conference 2025” focused on ESOP advocacy and education, in Washington, D.C.
🆕 | April 10: The 39th Annual Ohio Employee Ownership Conference in Akron
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
🆕 | July 14: The National Center for Employee Ownership’s Ownership in Action Series in San Diego
🆕 | July 24-25: Employee-Owned S Corporations of America’s 2025 Midwestern Regional Policy Seminar in Chicago
August 30: The 3rd annual Rutgers-Oxford Employee Ownership Research Symposium in the UK
🆕 | September 10-12: Employee-Owned S Corporations of America’s 2025 Federal Policy Conference & Lobby Day in Washington, D.C.
🆕 | October 6-7: Employee-Owned S Corporations of America’s 2025 Pacific Regional Policy Seminar in Marina del Rey
October 23: The 3rd Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Ankeny
⏪ In Case You Missed It
Alex Hemingway and Simon Pek examine policy options for employee ownership models in Canada in this 2024 report
Explore Joe’s journey of converting his manufacturing business, ACP International (first EOT in Texas!), to an employee-owned company
