đ An Epic Week for Ownership Transitions
The ownership economy newsletter (Vol. 132)
Welcome back!
First, a quick random note from Dr. Hand:
C. Thi Nguyenâs The Score is a fabulous new book on how games help us understand life. This struck me:
âFor many of us, a core experience of life is the pain of being misunderstood⌠Metrics make you an offer: If you accept this prefabricated, public value system into your heart, you will become instantly comprehensible.
âThis might explain why some people will endlessly seek more money, even when they already have far more than they could ever use. This is not just normal selfishness. Some people will wreak havoc on the world while driving themselves into misery-into stressed-out, overworked, friendless exhaustion-all in their pursuit of higher numbers in their bank account. Because money is the ultimate shared scoring system, the system that is maximally legible to the largest chunk of the world. They have been dominated by the clarity of the score.â
When Peter Boumgarden and I wrote year about the complex motivations of selling owners, part of what we saw is that business owners play multiple rolesâowner, mother, brother, elder, neighbor, coachâeach with their own set of values. For owners to reduce that complexity to a single number (the maximum amount of cash I can extract from a sale) is to be âdominated by the clarity of the score.â
đĽ Top Shelf News
Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes $2 million in funding for the Employee Ownership Initiative at the Department of Labor
Sen. Lakesia Collins introduced a bill to the Illinois General Assembly that would fund the Illinois Center for Employee Ownership; Steve Concannon announced the California Employee Ownership Coalition
The Democracy at Work Institute released their 2025 State of the Sector report on worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces (also in Spanish)
Isabella Ferreras led the publication of a 400-page, landmark report on democracy at work in Spain
Nine new employee-owned, worker-owned, and trust-owned companies in the US were announced this week, including the multi-billion-dollar maker of MyChart

đ In This Issue
đď¸ Events
For a full list of upcoming events, see our Events page. And share your conference recaps with us!
Coming up quick
Feb 10-Mar 3: National Center for Employee Ownershipâs Why ESOP Communication is Vital webinar series
Feb 10: Center for Local Finance and Growthâs webcast celebrating their new launch
NCEOâs Think Like an Owner workshop with Matt Hancock
Feb 11: Regenerative Social Financeâs virtual event on alternative ownership (ft. Jenny Everett!)
Transform Financeâs webinar offering key insights from their new report
Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Centerâs Employee Ownership 101 webinar
Feb 11-13: Purposeful Planning Instituteâs Transforming Trusts for Purposeful Impact
Feb 17: Employee Ownership Foundationâs ESOP Employee Accelerator course in Rocky Mount, NC
Feb 19: NCEOâs webinar on planning an ownership culture
Newly announced
Feb 25-26: NCEO and Ohio Center for Employee Ownershipâs National Employee-Owner Summit in Mesa, Arizona
Feb 26: Massachusetts Center for Employee Ownership and Common Trustâs webinar, Employee Ownership Trusts: Trusting You and Trusting Me
March 10: Clarasysâ private event on governance and ownership for purpose-driven businesses, Locking in Purpose: From mindset to mandate
Mar 25-26: The Texas/Oklahoma Chapter of The ESOP Associationâs Regional Conference in Austin, TX
Sep 22-23: The Great Game of Business Conference in St. Louis
Oct 19-21: ICA Groupâs 10th Annual National Home Care Cooperative Conference in Tacoma, Washington
Job Postings
The Democracy At Work Institute is hiring a Program Manager
NCEO is hiring a Fundraising and Grant Development Contractor
Employee stock ownership plans
North Carolina general contractor Harker, Preferred Beef Group of Booker, TX, Imagine Early Learning Centers of New York, G&C Foods of New York, and H&H Sheet Metal of Kentucky are now employee-owned. Congrats all!
ESCA has a new Board Chair, SELâs Joey Nestegard; Bobâs Red Millsâ CEO Trey Winthrop was recognized by as the Portland Business Journal Executive of the Year (paywalled)
3LS launched 3LS Solutions, offering HR, accounting, and payroll services; Blue Ridge Associates acquired AmbroseAdvisorsâ ESOP practice
40 Million Owners outlines six practical steps ESOPs can take to prepare for acquisition, 40MOâs Michael Morosi appears on the latest Alternative Exit podcast, and the Journey to an ESOP & Beyond podcast explores fear and readiness in businesses transitions to employee ownership
Worker cooperatives
The Brooklyn-based Bike Plant is now worker-owned. Congrats!
The International Cooperative Alliance released their first newsletter of 2026
Writing for Coop News, R. Trebor Scholz highlights the success of a Spanish food delivery cooperative. In Providence Journal, Wheeler Cowperthwaite goes inside one worker co-opâs struggle to open a cannabis dispensary in Rhode Island
Purpose trusts + steward ownership
Common Trust published a case study of Indiana-based Guidon, now veteran- and employee ownership trust-owned; PURPOSE published the newest edition of their steward ownership 101 book
NCEO updated their EOT peer network page with new topics and event dates
Oregonâs Softstar Shoes converted to an employee ownership trust (h/t Issie C); Mainscape of Indiana and Epic Systemsâthe maker of MyChartâare now perpetual purpose trusts (h/t Meg A):
Employee ownership + the ownership economy
From Canada: John Hardy advocates for employee ownership options in the succession planning process, and Christina Palassio covers employee ownershipâs uncertain future in Canada
Bradâs Service Center shares its employee ownership succession success story
CommonFuture released part two of their discussion about how to build enduring ownership structures; Sam Butler discusses the obstacles to creating a solidarity economy in NPQ
The Urban Institute published a new report by Rebecca Marx and Brett Theodos on shared and mutual ownership and launched the Center for Local Finance and Growth
In Coop News, Alice Toomer-McAlpine celebrates the Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative, a community land trust in Boston; Ben Seal at Philadelphia magazine spotlights the Kensington Corridor Trust
đ Academic updates
The Rutgers J. Robert Breyster Professorship is accepting applications through February 28
Kosta Juri, Jerome Nikolai Warren, Claudia Henke, and Tej Gonza published a book chapter on the global efforts to promote cooperative principles through modern employeeâbuyout innovations
Graeme Nutall and John Hoffmire explore employee profit-sharing in non-profits using employee ownership trusts (h/t Michael P.)
Gangaram Singh explores employee ownership as an institutional problem of adoption, diffusion, and learning
In COBSInsights, Trevor Young-Hyman challenges the assumption that workplace democracy is bad for business
The newest installment in David Ellermanâs series on lesser-known workplace democracy voices features economist and professor Henry Carter Adams
Ethan Rouen and Leigh M. Weiss write lay out the management practices that make employee ownership pay off





Love this purpose statement from Mainscape! âCreate a company that people think of as their own so they can control their destiny, have a great family life and make a positive impact in their community"