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SUMMARY: In this episode Chris Cooper speaks with Eric Zaleski and Michael Rosendahl of PCE Investment Bankers, about what business owners should be thinking about, and doing, to prepare for a business succession. In many cases, business owners see succession planning as something that will take place far off in the future, as something that can wait. Or it seems like an enormously complex issue that gets overwhelming fast. Both Eric and Michael break down the process into two options, inside sale or outside sale and what both entail at a high level. They also cover what you can start doing now to prepare for business succession and provide great insights into how preparation for succession planning in the future can actually help your company's performance in the here and now.    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Erick Zaleski , PCE Investment Bankers : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsillabusinessvaluationcle/   Michael Rosendahl, PCE Investmen Bankers https://www.pcecompanies.com/staff-member/michael-rosendahl  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   ---------------------------------------------------------------------  

  Guest: Eric Flickinger and Matt Silla SUMMARY: In this episode we sit down with two valuation experts,  Eric Flickinger and Matt Silla of Apple Growth Partners. The conversation is wide ranging and includes discussion of high level trends we saw in 2022 that will impact company valuations, what their general 2023 outlook is, and what they are watching for. More specific conversations also include the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and what it means for valuations and acquisitions, what the economic trends tell us about a possible 2023 recession, and what may happen around the US debt ceiling debate. SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. INFO : ·        Matt Silla, Apple Growth Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsillabusinessvaluationcle/ ·        Eric Flickinger, Apple Growth Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-flickinger/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

Guest: Jeff Kelley, Hamill Manufacturing Company   SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Jeff Kelly, former CEO, selling owner, and current Chairman of Hamill Manufacturing, a Pennsylvania based precision and fabricating company which serves the defense, aerospace, and power generation industries. We talk to Jeff about what led him to begin working at the company in 1976 (which is father owned), why he chose to sell the company to the employees using an ESOP, the importance of legacy and loyalty for second generation business owners, and how important developing a succession plan is for manufacturing companies and businesses more broadly.    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   INFO :   Learn more about the Hamill Company  https://www.hamillmfg.com/history    WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

In this episode we sit down with Bina Smith who is the HR Generalist and Communication Committee chair at Palmier Donavin, a 100% employee-owned company. The interview covers a wide range of areas and draws on Bina’s 8 years of experience serving on her companies communication committee. The discussion includes how to build an ownership culture at a company with multiple locations and a complex production process, general principles for approaching communication around your ESOP, and practical ideas that can be used at other employee owned companies  Guest Contact Info:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/bina-smith-shrm-scp-a2088292/   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

So, what exactly are state employee ownership centers? What do they do, and why do we need more of them?  This episode is a re-broadcast of an interview originally aired by Owners to Owners – another podcast that focuses on employee ownership. Jesse Tyler, the host of Owners to Owners, sits down with Matt Cropp of the Vermont Center for Employee Ownership, Steve Storkan of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network, and Michael Palmieri of the Ohio Employee Ownership to discuss how state centers approach the tasks of outreach, education, advocacy as well as what drives each of them personally to work to grow employee ownership. Follow the Owner to Owner podcast:  https://www.ownertoownerpodcast.com/  Owners to Owners is part of the Broader EO Podcast Network  Learn more about it here: https://www.eopodcastnetwork.com/    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Deanna Colombo of Butler/Till a women owned, 100% employee-owned, and Certified B Corporation marketing agency located in Rochester NY. We talk about all things culture and communication, and how both can be maintained through periods of rapid change and growth. In the past two years, Butler/Till has nearly doubled its workforce, opened up a new headquarters, and implemented a hybrid work option – all while navigating covid. Throughout this period, the company has maintained, and even strengthened its company culture. We get into the philosophical questions regarding what drives culture (bottom up vs. top town), practical ways to create communication channels for employee-owners, and how Butler/Till celebrated Employee Ownership Month. If you are looking for some great ideas to rethink your communication strategies, or even some ideas for employee-ownership events at your company – this episode is for you.     SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Deanna Colombo, Butler/Till  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannacolombo/  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Corey Rosen, founder of the National Center for Employee Ownership about a his new book he co-authored with business reporter John Case. The interview is wide ranging and touches upon what is driving economic inequality today, how employee ownership is a practical and transformative solution, the role of private equity in employee ownership, the importance of governance rights vs. increased economic security, whether the ‘moment’ employee ownership is having is distinctive from those in the past, and much more.   NCEO BOOK LAUNCH EVENT: https://www.nceo.org/event/nceo-book-launch-ownership-rethinking-capitalism-companies-and-who-owns-what   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Corey Rosen   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-rosen-3a8a8a4  Phone: 510-208-1314  Email:  CRosen@nceo.org  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

It is common understanding that only C-corporations and S-corporations can sponsor Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). But is this indeed the case? In this episode we speak with Mike Sorice about how LLCs can indeed sponsor an ESOP and the reasons why some have chosen this option. We talk about the differences between LLCs and other types of corporations, how LLCs can be structured to sponsor an ESOP, as well as the risks associated with doing so. SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Mike Sorice  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-sorice-law   Phone: 614.223.9336 Email:  msorice@beneschlaw.com   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Pete Shuler of Blue Ridge ESOP Associates and go into the mechanics of ESOP administration and talk about Third Party Administrators (TPAs) – what they are and do, why they do it, and how you as a plan administrator in your company can take steps to ensure your relationship with your TPA is strong, efficient, and useful.   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Pete Shuler  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-shuler-5631044   Phone: +1 614 280 5208  Email: pshuler@blueridgeesop.com.    WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

SUMMARY: A growing body of research shows that employee-owned companies outperform traditional companies on a range of measures, especially during economic downturns – but is has this pattern continued through covid-19? On this episode we speak with Nancy Wiefek and Nathan Nicholson of the NCEO about two recent research projects that seek to answer this very question. Spoiler alert, employee-owned companies continued to outperform traditional companies, provide increased employment stability, and better levels of retirement security throughout the pandemic.   ESOPs in the US Food System: https://www.nceo.org/employee-ownership-blog/new-nceo-research-shows-benefits-being-esop-food-industry   Ownership Structure and Resiliency in Crisis: https://esca.us/news/new-study-employee-ownership-provided-resiliency-financial-security-during-crisis/   28-34 Year Old Employee Owners Over Time: https://www.ownershipeconomy.org/   NBC News Featuring NCEO Research: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/workers-companies-arent-rushing-join-great-resignation-s-rcna13706      SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   GUEST INFO :   Nancy Wiefek   Email NWiefek@nceo.org,   Phone: 510-208-1312  Nathan Nicholson    Email NNicholson@nceo.org  Phone 510-208-1313  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu  

In this episode we speak with Jonathan Welle of Cleveland Owns and Ellen Vera of Co-op Cincy – two Ohio-based nonprofits that are working around cooperative development and community wealth building. We dig into how both Jonathan and Ellen began working on cooperative development, mission of vision of their organizations, and talk about programs and initiatives they are currently working on to build community and worker owned enterprises SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.  GUEST INFO :  Jonathan Welle: https://www.clevelandowns.coop/our-team-1/jonathan-welle  Ellen Vera: https://coopcincy.org/staff-and-board  Ohio Worker-Ownership Network (OWN) Website: https://www.oeockent.org/the-ohio-worker-ownership-network   Past episodes: https://www.oeockent.org/owners-at-work-podcast/season-2-episode-10-employee-ownership-updates-taking-stock-and-looking-forward 

Owners at Work is back for season 3! In our first episode of this season we speak with Steve Storkan, Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX) -  a national nonprofit focused on establishing and supporting a network of independent nonprofit State Centers for Employee Ownership. We talk about the steady growth in number of state centers since EOX’s founding, the importance of being open to all forms of employee-ownership, successful strategies to engage public officials and economic development professionals, and much more. SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.  GUEST INFO : Steve Storkan  Bio: https://eoxnetwork.org/who-we-are/   Email: info@eoxnetwork.org  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu   

SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going 2022 Annual Conference - https://www.oeockent.org/resources-events/annual-ohio-employee-ownership-conference SUMMARY: In the US there are over 14 million employee-owners working at 7,000 companies. Yet, the sector still has enormous potential to grow. In this episode we speak with Chris Fredericks, CEO of Empowered Ventures and Tim Rettig CEO of InTrust IT, both of whom are focused on growing the employee ownership sector through acquisitions of other mid-market companies. Together both Chris and Tim have acquired 7 companies in the last 5 years creating hundreds of new employee owners, and they are only getting started. We talk about what drove both Tim and Chris to adopt the models they have, the mechanics of the deals, and how they have approached culture building in companies that are diverse in both geographic location and industry.  GUEST INFO : Tim Rettig, CEO InTrust IT Bio/Contact: https://www.intrust-it.com/tim-rettig/ Chris Fredericks, CEO Empowered Ventures  Bio/Contact: https://empowered.ventures/chris-fredericks/    WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going SUMMARY: In this episode we take stock of employee ownership developments in Ohio and discuss how covid has  impacted businesses and employee-owned companies from a macroeconomic perspective. First, Mike Palmieri trades in his co-host hat and becomes a guest as he discusses two new reports published by the OEOC - Building Legacies and the Ohio Top 50 ESOP Companies. In the second segment we sit down with past OAW guests Eric Flickinger and Matthew Silla of Apple Growth partners to revisit our pre-covid 2020 discussion and discuss supply chain issues, inflation, how these and other trends are affecting employee-owned companies, and much more.  GUEST INFO : Eric Flickinger, Apple Growth Partners  Bio: https://www.applegrowth.com/employees/?smid=1672 Matt Silla, Apple Growth Partners Bio: https://www.applegrowth.com/employees/?smid=1702  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going OEOC UPCOMING PROGRAMS Southwest Forum Communication Roundtables SUMMARY: In this episode we speak with Eamon Muholland, Senior Consultant at Wise Consulting and current head of the company's communication committee. We discuss how the company, a relatively new ESOP, maintained its ownership culture through covid-19. We get into how to structure a communication committee in a company with a distributed workforce; the importance of maintaining a strong relationship between management and the communication committee; the power of peers in driving an ownership culture; how you can use technology to make a virtual annual meeting one for the history books, and much more.  GUEST INFO : Eamon Mulholland, Senior Consultant, Wise Consulting.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eamon-mulholland-90aa255/ Email: emulholland@wiseconsulting.com Company website: https://www.wiseconsulting.com/ WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But, they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going SUMMARY: Sometimes companies transition to employee ownership to help spark a transformation in workplace culture, in other cases a move to employee ownership is the continuation or next logical step in a vibrant company culture that already exists. A Few Cool Hardware Stores is firmly in the latter category. In this episode we speak with selling owner Gina Schaefer and a new employee-owner Courtney Belew about what transitioning to employee ownership was like for both a business owner and an employee, the importance of community engagement, and the benefits of building a strong workplace culture. Guest Info Gina Schaefer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-schaefer-56380a8/ Courtney Belew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-belew-18671665/# Company website: https://acehardwaredc.com/pages/contact-us   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at oeoc@kent.edu

Repurchase obligations are a major component of ESOP administration and the main way in which employee-owners benefit from owning a financial stake in the companies they worked for. Yet, these obligations are often seen as a burden, and in some cases, can lead to the freezing or termination of the ESOP plan. In this episode we speak with Josh Young of UBS about how ESOP companies can rethink their approach to repurchase obligations in a way that reframes obligations as something to celebrate, rather than an administrative burden.  Guest Details  Josh Young, UBS: https://advisors.ubs.com/joshua.m.young/ We Want To Hear From You!  If you have an employee ownership story you want to tell send us an email at oeoc@kent.edu. 

In the world of employee ownership, agreement has begun to crystalize around the idea that broad-based models of employee ownership, like ESOPs, worker cooperatives, or employee-owned trusts are powerful tools in the fight to reduce the enormous racial wealth gap in the United States. But exactly how would this happen? And what are the barriers that need to be overcome to truly expand employee ownership amongst business owners of color? In this episode we talk with Sean Tamba-Matthew, and advisor at SES ESOP strategies about how ESOPs can be used preserving minority owned legacy businesses in a way that provides wealth for selling business owners, employee-owners, and the surrounding community. 2021 OEOC Fall Programming  https://www.oeockent.org/ohios-eo-network/virtual-programming Sean Tamba-Matthew Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-tamba/  Email: sean.matthew@stevenslee.com  Article: https://generocity.org/philly/2021/05/27/reducing-racial-wealth-inequality-and-preserving-beacons-of-hope-through-employee-ownership/ We want to hear from you!!!  Contact us with your employee ownership story at oeoc@kent.edu  

In this episode we speak with President Pete Douglas and Executive VP Finance and Administration, David Brockbader of the The Douglas Company about their recent transition to employee ownership via an ESOP. The interview also includes Franco Silva, Director, Prairie Capital Advisors who was one of the main advisors for the transaction. In this episode we dig into the importance of preparing for a transition, lessons learned, and the often overlooked emotional side of selling a company. UPCOMING OEOC PROGRAMS For a full list of programs visit: https://www.oeockent.org/ohios-eo-network/virtual-programming WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Contact us if you have an employee ownership story to tell. Send an email to oeoc@kent.edu GUEST INFO Pete Douglas and David Brockbader, The Douglas Company: https://www.douglascompany.com/about-us/ Franco Silva, Prairie Capital Advisors: https://www.prairiecap.com/team/franco-silva        

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is something we hear a lot about, but what exactly do these terms mean, and what do they look like in an employee owned company? In this episode we sit down with Dr. Joy and Ty Miller of Carver & Associates to talk about some of the preconceived notions that surround DEI, ways in which these values can be put into practice, and what first steps individuals in both managerial and non-managerial roles can take to begin to learn more about DEI. One of the overarching themes of the conversation is that, much like models of employee ownership, efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in your organization can help create a culture of accountability that improves individual's well-being and company performance. We want to hear from you, and tell your employee ownership story!! Send an email to the OEOC at oeoc@kent.edu Chris Cooper ccooper1@kent.edu or Mike Palmieri mpalmie2@kent.edu.  GUEST INFO Dr. Joy, President & CEO, Carver & Associates Ty Miller, Chief Operating Officer & Facilitator, Carver & Associates RESOURCES  Article - Leverage EVS Metrics To Improve Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Initiatives  Video version of article