Remembering the Kelso Legacy
Weekend Newsletter, Vol. 105
💌 Welcome Back
Thank you for being here, and happy Friday. One big thing:
Joseph Blasi invites us to honor the late Patricia Hetter Kelso by watching this video recognizing her as a leading global thinker on broad-based employee and citizen capital ownership and a major economic voice of the past century.
📨 In This Issue
Top Shelf News
Events + Opportunities
Analysis + Opinion
> On employee stock ownership plans
> On worker cooperatives
> On employee ownership trusts + purpose trusts
> On the ownership economy
Academic News and Opportunities
In Case You Missed It
🥃 Top Shelf News
British reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter and fintech firm Valloop announced a £40 billion surety fund that aims to unlock institutional capital for 20,000 employee-owned firms in the UK (and beyond…!)
Monarch Investment Partners, a mission-driven investment firm focused on advancing employee ownership by financing ESOP transitions, announced their launch
In a guest post, Rutgers Institute’s Melissa Hoover spotlights recent findings that adoption of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is associated with a >5% increase in labor productivity. And each $10,000 increase in ESOP assets per active employee is correlated with an additional >2% increase
In another guest post, Curt Lyon shares takeaways from Transform Finance’s recent webinar on alternative ownership enterprises (AOEs) across the globe
🌇 Events + Opportunities
🌟 The Sorenson Impact Foundation invites grant proposals (due July 31) in two areas: “Responsible AI & the Digital Future” and “The Ownership Economy & Economic Empowerment”
The Missouri Center for Employee Ownership (MOCEO) is hiring an Executive Director. Interested or know a good candidate? reach out to Steve Storkan individually on LinkedIn or via email
Scott Moon invites you to visit the Baker Project for Employee Ownership website to check out some new features
July 14-15: The National Center for Employee Ownership’s Ownership in Action Series and Is an ESOP Right for You? (San Diego)
July 17: Ownership Capital Lab’s next Employee Ownership Fund Spotlight (virtual)
For a full list of upcoming ownership economy events, see this page.
🔍 Analysis + Opinion
> On employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
In a piece for Inc., Carolyn Stanworth shares how regular, transparent communication with employee-owners reinforces their ESOP culture and helps make the company a great place to work
Digiday discusses when an agency should go the ESOP route and the risks involved
ESCA shares how employee ownership is boosting retirement security, with 91% of workers at ESOP companies confident in their savings, nearly double the national average
James MacNee shares what he has learned from ESOP leadership searches
Pete Stavros announces new additions to the Expanding ESOP coalition. Also from Expanding ESOPs: John Solimine of Verit Advisors shares guidance on ESOP integration strategies, and Rachel Hockenberger of Parman Holdings, an ESOP holding company, shares some lessons learned in her 20-year journey from temp to CEO
Dan Zugell congratulates the employees of Penn Fencing, Pennsylvania’s newest ESOP-owned company
> On worker cooperatives
Jon Steinman celebrates the dedication of a full issue of Corporate Knights, a Canadian sustainability magazine, on the cooperative economy, including pieces on cooperative food, housing, electricity, banking, and more
San Pablo, CA now officially recognizes cooperatives as a business type on its business license application
The International Cooperative Alliance covers how cooperatives tackle global challenges through shared values with a video message from President Ariel Guarco for the 103rd International Day of Cooperatives
The International Cooperative Alliance marks #CoopsDay by celebrating the global impact of cooperatives in building a better world; press release here
> On employee ownership trusts + purpose trusts
🌟 Peter Koehler’s recent LinkedIn post, in which he argues that the phrase employee ownership trust is too confusing to use in the US, continues to generate debate
Common Trust explores how CodeWeavers transitioned to an employee ownership trust to protect its open-source mission, empower employees, and ensure long-term mission alignment in Preserving Open-Source Values with an Employee Ownership Trust
In the UK, David Alcock from Anthony Collins asks: can and should employee ownership trusts become cooperatives, as well? The Employee Ownership Association share the latest employee ownership sector stats, also highlighted by Personnel Today, a human resources website
> On the ownership economy
Elle Griffin argues that while KKR’s temporary employee-ownership model isn’t perfect or as traditional ESOPs, it still offers workers quicker access to real wealth and could reach more employees more quickly than the other employee ownership approaches it complements
Nonprofit Quarterly spotlights Liberty CLT in LA, a Black-led community land trust investing in affordable housing and reclaiming land as shared public good
The Democracy Collaborative argues that a democratic future requires a democratic economy
📚 Academic News and Opportunities
The University of Northern Iowa (a University Consortium partner) will host TEDxUniversity in October. Leslie Wilson, Dean of UNI's Wilson College of Business, will present "Employee Ownership—Building Wealth and a Stronger Economy"
Petros Kusmu reflects on his experience as co-author for a case study at Harvard Business School, Taylor Guitars: Making Employee Ownership Work the Taylor Way
In A Contribution to the Economics of Worker Cooperatives, Shin Hee-young the authors explain how the mix of democracy and business in worker co-ops can make it harder for them to grow, especially without strong public policy support
📭 In Case You Missed It:
Lafayette Square Institute shares their recorded panel from the Aspen Ideas Festival, Designing the Ownership Economy: A New Vision for Work, Wealth and Democracy
A recent Cap Institute podcast episode, Fitting Form to Function with Natalie Reitman-White, explores the history of purpose trusts and Patagonia’s transition: