Introducing The Ownership Jobs Board (and Colin!)

The Ownership Economy Newsletter, Vol. 157

👋 Welcome Back

Last week, Dr. Hand chatted with a whip-smart MBA grad looking to get into employee ownership. That conversation inspired us to compile an Ownership Jobs Board.

Similar to our Events page, we’ll keep this updated with the jobs you send us; keep ‘em coming.

If you missed last week’s edition: Please help us recruit your friends and colleagues to subscribe! Doing so will also raise funds to support the mission of EOX, the national network of state-level centers supporting employee ownership.

Most importantly: Colin Birkhead, Kelso Fellow and Asst. Prof. of Management at Willamette University, is taking the newsletter reins this week. Watch out, world…

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The Stakehold is supported by the Rutgers Institute and by readers like you. Subscribe for free to receive all our posts; upgrade to keep it free for others.❤️

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🥃 Top Shelf News

• KKR is set to acquire Texas-based healthcare manufacturer Integer for $5.7 billion and plans to establish a “broad-based employee ownership and engagement program” after the deal is complete

• A new Delaware Chancery Court ruling gives Public Benefit Corporation boards real legal protection to prioritize mission over max payout during a sale

• For our left-leaning readers in the US: Project 2029 seeks policy ideas for 2028 presidential candidates. It sure would be good to have the ownership economy in that mix

• Teasing a subsequent podcast episode, Loren Feldman of The 21 Hats Morning Report asks about the downside of ESOPs when pay, healthcare, and retirement savings are tied to a single company:

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👉 In This Issue

• Events
  Upcoming + Opportunities

• Employee Ownership
  ESOPs + EOTs + Worker Cooperatives

• The Ownership Economy
  Shared Governance + Community Ownership + Ownership by Design

• Academic News

  New Papers

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📅 Events + Opportunities

To see a comprehensive list of events, go to our main Events page.

This Week

• Aug 8: Trebor Scholz’s Community Section of his Fall 2026 course, AI Without Bosses, starts

• Aug 11: The ESOP Association’s interview with Nick Viner on the ESOP valuation process /// Conscious Capitalism’s Profits and Purpose Hiding in Plain Sight panel in Atlanta

• 🆕 Aug 12: EOT Advisors’ webinar to help business owners learn about employee ownership trusts

Opportunities

For more, visit our new Ownership Jobs Board.

• The NCEO is hiring an Employee Ownership Transition Navigator and an Education Assistant

• Paul M. Angell Family Foundation is hiring a Social Impact Program Officer focused on economic power

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Employee Ownership

• HBS BiGS published an interview with NCEO’s Matt Licina on the policy opportunities to grow employee ownership. In addition to updated policy, we also need more…

  • Private and public capital

  • Support infrastructure, like advisors and consultants

• Turner Wyatt reflected on four years at Small Capital and argued that the EO movement is…

  • Too focused big on the fish ← Small businesses can handle EO transition better

  • Too slow ← Due to scarcity of EO investors, banks, and consultants, and other support infrastructure

  • Undercapitalized ← EO deals often don’t fit in a neat little box

• EO Equals has a few spots left for its Summit in early September

• The Recursive examines the main hurdles to employee ownership in European tech circles

• The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program posted its Monthly Digest

• Ownership Works is rallying votes for a SXSW panel on workplace financial wellness programs, EO, and employee wealth

📈 Employee Stock Ownership Plans

• San Diego-based McFarlane Architects joined 100% employee-owned DLR Group; O’Neil & Company, a Salt Lake City-based traffic engineering firm, was acquired by Horner & Scihfrin (ht Benjamin Spadt)

• Freightwaves writes about how Nussbaum Transportation is using employee ownership to drive long-term loyalty and operational growth

• Lazear Capital views ESOPs as a win-win for companies and investors

• Prudential’s 2025 Impact Report includes a description of its commitment to employee ownership (see p.13)

• 🎙️ ESOP Radio takes a look back at the predictions they made back in January about the direction ESOPs were going

  • Construction ESOP Collective talks with Bob Whalen about the tremendous growth of HB Global

Employee Ownership Trusts

• Beth Nedrow outlines the reasons owners should explore employee ownership trusts, including preserving a company’s soul

• Common Trust updated its EOT FAQ page to help further understanding of employee ownership trusts

• 🇨🇦 The Tallgrass Fund of Manitoba debunks 7 myths of (Canadian) employee ownership trusts

• 🎙️ For Journey to Regeneration, Miren Oca recounts her story of creating a certified B Corp and later an employee ownership trust

🤝 Worker Cooperatives

• Only a few more remain to submit applications for the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast Co-op Navigator Fellowship 2.0 (due Aug. 11th)

• Applications are also open for The Pinecone Practice: Training for Worker Cooperative Conversion Practitioners

• Mondragón toured the US seeking new allies for a global social economy coalition

• Alice Toomer-McAlpine of Coop News takes a deep dive into the music marketplace Subvert

• NCBA CLUSA posted their member spotlight of 19 The Agency, a branding company in Pennsylvania

• ICYMI: RE Magazine highlights how electrical co-ops are navigating an inevitable wave of retirements // The Cooperative Education Fund looks to support educational events in the US promoting cooperatives

• 🎙️ econ.coop launched the first episode of Cooperation Now, “Cooperatives and the Common Good”

• 🎥 The ICA Group’s new documentary explores how Boston communities use worker co-ops and collective action to build economic democracy

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The Ownership Economy

• Jenny Kassan breaks down the ‘Incorruptible Charter’ from Eric Ries’ book, Incorruptible

• The Senate Banking Committee looked at new legislative paths to improving access to capital for Main Street investors and growing businesses

• Tom Powdrill outlines why reforming corporate governance structures is needed to pre-distribute wealth and influence

• Central NY community coalition calls for a Community Benefits Agreement to provide safeguards for a chip plant

• Fig City News highlights the growth of the Charles River Food Co-op, which recently surpassed 1,000 member-owners and received national recognition

• An economic historian (read: random Twitter user) explores changes in the incentivization of production 😉 (ht Ben M.)

🕴️Shared Governance

• In an interesting example of transparent governance, Austin Thomas Robey’s Subvert is publicly electing its board members.

• Ad-Hoc-News highlights recent German court decisions protecting employee representation and defending workplace democracy

• University Times covers faculty concerns regarding transparency and shared governance integrity following a controversy over a university-appointed working group

🏘️ Community Ownership

• The Kensington Corridor Trust was awarded a grant worth $1.5 million to help retrofit new housing units

• Nonprofit Finance Fund makes the case that community ownership is a proven path to long-term local wealth

• Co-operatives UK, alongside Locality and Plunkett UK, announced a new dedicated investment fund specifically for community share projects

💭 Ownership by Design

Ed. note: We’re testing out a new section here that covers steward ownership, purpose trusts, benefit corporations, and other ways that companies commit themselves to a purpose.

• Ryan Honeyman discusses whether corporate accountability, transparency, and B Corp certification can truly reform exploitative supply chains, including in Tony’s Chocolonely’s

• PURPOSE highlights how steward ownership principles can protect cultural institutions—and the FIFA World Cup in particular—from commodification

• Steward Market published a new issue of Notes from the Field, its monthly newsletter. Jason Wiener also joined Steward Market as a Founding Partner

• Oct 7 is Steward Ownership Academic Day; applications for contributions are welcome (ht Lizz B.)

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📚 Academic News

• Dr. Angelina Grigoryeva received the Employee Participation and Financial Ownership Scholarly Research Award for her research on wealth inequality, gender, and employee ownership. Congratulations Angelina!

• Ewan McGaughey presents a new, history-informed framework aimed at shifting corporate voting influence more toward workers and users

• Luna Charlotte Dadamio and Luzia Blaes show that authority structures in companies have direct political implications for democratic societies

• Ariana R. Levinson explores how worker cooperatives in the U.S. and Italy promote economic inclusion for marginalized groups

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