Yay Jenny! Plus: Legally Defining EOTs?
EO+WD Weekend Newsletter, Vol. 82
Welcome Back
We hope your year is off to a great start! Dr. Hand is en route to the 2025 Kelso Workshop hosted by the Rutgers Institute.
Check out the program here
One of the read-aheads for the conference is the ESOP Association’s short report on a survey it commissioned: “The ESOP Value Proposition: Communicating about ESOPs for Maximum Impact Across Stakeholder Groups”
This week the Institute also formally announced its 2024-2025 research fellows, all focused employee ownership and equal opportunity in the modern job market—including EO+WD’s own
!
🗞️ News to Know
Matthew Licina announces the introduction of the Employee Ownership Bill (HB25-1021) in the Colorado Legislature
The current version of the bill defines employee ownership trusts as “an indirect form of employee ownership in which a trust holds a controlling stake at least twenty percent of the fully diluted securities in a qualified business and benefits all employees on an equal basis.”
Two quick reactions: First, equal is a loaded word; we’d recommend the legislature consider equitable. And we’d love to learn why twenty percent, which is lower than EO Certified’s 30% threshold
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade is hiring an Employee Ownership Office Program Manager
You can now pre-order Tugboat Institute CEO' Dave Whorton’s forthcoming book, Another Way: Companies That Last and Last and Last, which illustrates the Tugboat ideal of “evergreen” companies (h/t Peter B)
🔍 Research & Analysis
Oliver Hart, Hélène Landemore, and Luigi Zingales advocate in Bloomberg for “investor assemblies” as a solution to corporate governance challenges
Corey Rosen, founder and senior staff member of NCEO answers seven key questions about employee ownership in this conversation with Expanding ESOPs
Antony Bugg-Levine emphasizes the need for broader ownership to reduce inequality, as technology increases capital’s returns over labor
Matthew Epperson highlights the potential of employee buyouts in small business transitions and points to Zolidar’s efforts to accelerate the process
Mrinmoy Rabha from Vantage Circle shares his views on employee engagement
Purpose Trusts and Employee Ownership Trusts
Natalie Reitman White highlights a conversation with Natural Investments about their transition to a PPT at a Racial Justice Investing Coalition meeting
Andrew Cohen from Crain Currency reports on a Northern Trust survey that found most family business owners are unaware of perpetual purposes trusts
43% of owners want their businesses to last 100 years, but many lack confidence in their heirs to manage them
Worker Cooperatives
For Harvard Public Health Liz Seegert examines the work of Cooperative Home Care Associates in tackling the industry’s staffing challenges
Binod Anand advocates for cooperative entrepreneurship as a pathway to inclusive growth and social justice (in India)
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
Willmeng Construction is now second largest employee owned general contractor in Arizona thanks to its new employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
Robin Wood Sailer highlights an interview with Stephen Buchanan, co-founder and managing partner of ESOP-focused investment firm Mosaic Capital
In this episode of Bank on Wipfli, Robert Zondag interviews Nicholas Karalis, VP of Wintrust Commerical Banking, on ESOPs role in succession planning for investment advisory firms
🌇 What’s Coming Up: Events
January 13-17, 2025: The Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning includes a session featuring Natalie Reitman-White on using purpose trusts for business succession
🆕 | Jan 22: RSM’s webcast “Business Transition Planning: What is an ESOP and when is it the right choice?”
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
February 20: The Employee Ownership Transition: A Deep Dive, a workshop on the process of selling to an employee ownership trust (in Scotland)
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
- introduced the East Colfax Mixed Income Neighborhood Trust in September. Check it out!
Margot Brandenburg of the Ford Foundation argued last month that the social media platform BlueSky should line up its governance with its mission
So happy to read your Substack! And, to be at Rutgers this morning. Jim Steiker’s remarks were inspiring and a good challenge.