Running Up That (Capitol) Hill
The Ownership Newsletter • Vol. 126
Welcome Back
The Capitol District has not been sleeping:
At a Senate HELP committee hearing on the future of retirement, Senator Jon Husted touted ESOPs as a retirement savings tool. In the House, Congressman Cory Mills introduced the ESOP Act to help ESOPs better compete for Department of Defense contracts
Rep. Ro Khanna introduced a new bill to strengthen and expand cooperatives in the US
The White House and Michael and Susan Dell announced a $6.25 billion donation to set up child savings accounts—a signal of the growing recognition of the importance of more widespread ownership of the economy
Former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security Leader Lisa Gomez has found a home for her consulting business, LMG Collaborative Consulting Solutions
(If you didn’t catch the title reference, it’s from a scene [spoilers] from Netflix’s Stranger Things. Enjoy!)
In This Issue
🥃 Top Shelf News
Four new ownership transitions (congrats!):
Architecture and planning company Guidon is now Indiana’s first employee ownership trust
Pogue Construction in Texas is now 100% employee owned via an employee stock ownership plan
Employee-owned Franklin Building Supply has acquired Snake River Truss and Components in Idaho
In California, Vivid Life Home Care has transitioned to a worker-owned home care cooperative
Two new job postings:
Values-Led Business Project Lead at Transform Finance
One new report:
Ownership Capital Lab’s Employee Ownership Capital Roadmap
🏙️ Events
For a full list of upcoming events, see our Events page. And share your conference recaps with us! Coming up:
Dec 19: Rutger’s School of Management and Labor Relations’ Private Equity and Employee Share Ownership Symposium
Dec 19: 8th Annual Private Equity and Employee Share Ownership Symposium
Jan 7: Employee Ownership Trusts: Policy Needs, Implementation, and Opportunities, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Center for Employee Ownership @11:00 am MT
Owner voices
In the UK, Catherine Cameron shares how and why she and her co-founders chose employee ownership over a traditional sale
CEO Brent Hutchings of Oregon reflects on his experience and encourages other owners to join him in sharing wealth with their employees
Employee ownership analysis and opinion
Slovenia passed the Employee Profit Participation Act, permitting employees to be compensated with both salaries and company shares
In MinnPost, legislators Robert Kupec and Nolan West argue that ESOPs and cooperatives could stabilize Minnesota’s emerging cannabis industry
Writing for Project Equity, Christopher Wingard explains how his employee ownership knowledge has enhanced his work as an attorney, which he shares through the Employee Ownership for Attorneys program
Writing for Forbes, Mary Joseph argues that employee ownership is the answer to helping employees love their jobs
As TeamShares prepares to go public, they celebrated their feature on the Nasdaq Tower
Applications are open for Colorado’s in-person cohort for leaders exploring a sale to employees
Calling all UK readers: eoa is asking you to share your employee ownership experience with their government as part of their call for evidence
Employee stock ownership plans
The ESOP Association has released their December ESOP report including innovations in ESOP education and AACE Award Winners
Gary Community Ventures released a film and case study on one of Apis & Heritage Capital Partners’ recent ESOP transitions
A new episode of Journey to an ESOP & Beyond covers how sharing ownership can change employee’s identities
The ESOP Association has opened registration for their Leading in an Ownership Setting program for executives
Worker cooperatives
The International Cooperative Alliance and their partners released a policy report on how cooperatives can be harnessed to help fight poverty
The ICA Group also unveiled their 2025 Home Care Cooperative Benchmarking Data
The ICA Group explores the debate between capitalism and socialism, and how cooperatives and employee ownership offer an alternative to both
International Cooperative Alliance’s Director of Policy, Joseph Njuguna, spoke at the UN’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy
Corporate Knights highlights 10 Canadian cooperatives who are impacting not only workers, but the planet
The Chicago Center for Relationship Counseling has become a cooperative
The International Cooperative Alliance sat down with cooperative leader Dr. Jayen Mehta to discuss his experience with the Milk Marketing Federation in India
Purpose trusts and steward ownership
An interview with Elspeth J. Murray highlights Canada’s newest employee ownership trust and the benefits of the model
Alternative Exit spoke with Michael Hodgson on his UK company’s unique EOT model which emphasizes direct ownership
Fortune highlights the story of the Organically Grown Company, a perpetual purpose trust
PURPOSE contextualizes Netflix’s impending acquisition of Warner Bros. within the broader ownership space
The ownership economy
In Nonprofit Quarterly, Nikishka Iyengar highlights how community ownership can lead to economic democracy
Roodgally Senatus for ImpactAlpha: the 1803 Fund is working to restore a Black community in Portland through land purchases and community ownership
The Democracy Collaborative publishes a monthly bulletin on Community Wealth Building
A new project in The Bronx is looking to reclaim a local armory as a space owned by the community
OwnershipWorks announced their partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to expand the reach of their survey with the goal of building more financial resilience
Andrea Steffes-Tuttle’s research into employee ownership gave her new insight into the kind of economy we should be working to build
Michael Shuman explains the importance of local credit unions and the predatory behavior larger credit unions have been displaying in recent years
Professor Nathan Schneider highlights the ways AI can be run by collective governance
📚 Academic updates
Tony Guidotti and Nien-hê Hsieh published Decency and and employee ownership argue that employee ownership a standard of economic decency is part of the case for employee ownership
A new study from Sumiko Ebisuno explores the connection between labor management systems and productivity in Japan
Emory Professor Wesley Longhofer debunks myths about explores employee ownership’s rise in private equity circles
Two UK reports were published this week, one by Stefanie Friedel, Nazik Beishenaly and Frédéric Dufays on cooperatives and their ecosystems; and another by Sonja Novkovic and Karen Miner on sustainable cooperatives
⏰ ICYMI
In November, Jason Wiener hosted a webinar on practical ways to find capital while staying mission-driven
Business Declares held a webinar this week on how a business’ ownership style contributes to its success and sustainability
Last month in Istanbul, Marcelo Vista delivered a keynote at the “Cooperative AI” conference
Excellent roundup of the movemnet building around ownership. The Dell child savings account announcement is paticularly interesting because it connects early wealth building to the broader ownership frame, which hasn't been as obvious in traditional ESOP discussions. I've watched a few DoD contractors struggle with succession and the ESOP Act could genuinely open new pathways there.