Friends in High Places

, and

Sep 12, 2025

Lots of good things are happening in the employee ownership world this week!

One big thing: Presentation submissions are now open for two 2026 conferences:

NCEO’s Employee Ownership Conference in Milwaukee in April 2026
TXCEO/PTON’s Purpose Trust Ownership Conference in Austin in Feb 2026 (academic friends, please reach out to Dr. Hand)

On employee stock ownership plans
On worker cooperatives
On the ownership economy

Moves on Capitol Hill: Senate Majority Leader John Thune helped kick off Employee-Owned S Corporation of America’s yearly Federal Policy Conference. It’s good policy to have friends in high places!
- In its markup of the FY2026 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill (p. 81), the House Appropriations Committee instructed the SBA to allocate requested budget funds to support employee ownership
- Legislation designed to promote and expand employee ownership was introduced in both the House and Senate this week
- Georgia Rep. Rick Allen introduced the Retire Through Ownership Act, designed to clarify regulations and encourage ESOPs
Check out NCEO’s new Service Provider Peer Network, connecting employee ownership professionals

Events in next two weeks + events we just learned about. For a full list of upcoming ownership economy events, see our Events page.

September 13: Purpose Economy’s panel, Stewardship: Who should hold power over companies, and who should benefit from their profits? at the Next Economies Summit (in Istanbul)
September 16: Project Equity’s Succession Planning Through Employee Ownership (virtual)
🆕 September 16-18: The ESOP Association’s Midwest Regional Chapter Conference in Chicago, IL
September 18: Kindred Futures’ Reimagining the Care Economy through Cooperative Power in Atlanta, GA
🆕 Sep 18: Rhode Island SBA Office’s Exploring Succession Options webinar
September 23-24: Ohio State’s Virtual Cooperative Law Conference
🆕 October 9: Peter Koehler interviews author John Abrams in Portland, OR
🆕 November 11-14: Platform Cooperativism Consortium’s conference on cooperatives and AI in Istanbul, Turkey
🚨 Job alert: Project Equity is hiring an Employee Ownership Acquisitions Business Development Lead

Employee owner Scott Rademecher shares the unexpected ways an ESOP has changed his life
A new case study explores how Pariveda and Bob’s Red Mill have leveraged ESOPs to create sustainable, resilient businesses
California worker and employee-owner Mustafa Abou-Taleb shares how participating in an ESOP has allowed him to successfully save for retirement
The NCEO published new research highlighting how ESOPs can mitigate the country’s impending retirement crisis
The Economist published an article explaining the benefits of employees purchasing stock in the companies for whom they work

Florida’s Business Observer touts the growth of employee ownership in the sunshine state
Author Tendaji Yaukuu, from this Buffalo Rising piece, highlights how a co-op is cultivating resilience and community on the city’s East Side
The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) highlights the Caboolture Workers Co-op established in 2006 to tackle long-term unemployment for people with cognitive disabilities in Moreton Bay

Inc. Magazine’s Carolyn Stanworth argues that employee leadership is critical at all levels of a company
Project Equity highlights the growing demand for employee ownership professionals and the benefits of acquiring employee ownership expertise
Writing for ImpactAlpha, Devin Murphy and Devin Culbertson outline how to secure the necessary financing for community ownership models
Alvaro S. Sanchez argues in an article for Common Dreams that restoring trust in government is essential for shared prosperity
- Or maybe shared prosperity is necessary to restore trust? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
The Ownership Economy hosted Alison Lingane from the Ownership Capital Lab to discuss how to scale the shared ownership economy

Harvard Business School published an employee ownership-centric interview with Project Equity co-founder and Ownership Capital Lab CEO Alison Lange
Researchers at Stanford have completed a detailed investigation on the politics of America’s small business owners (the same business owners who will one day decide whether to pass their businesses on to their employees) H/t:Katy P
For the Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law, Max Lacey-Barnacle and Martin Boucher explore the role of anchor institutions in democratizing energy transitions and their policy recommendations
We are less than a month away from the deadline to submit your speaker proposal for NCEO’s the 2026 Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Milwaukee
Presentation proposals are also open for the first Purpose Trust Ownership Conference in Austin. Click “Yes, I'd like to submit to the Academic Track (peer-reviewed)”

The Aspen Economic Opportunities Program interviewed author Chris Hughes on his new book, Marketcrafters, about how governments (always) shape economies
10 years ago, Chobani was an ESOP trailblazer
Check out the Tiny News Collective’s August newsletter highlighting local and shared ownership

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