Board of Directors at the NCEO

Jennifer Briggs

Chair

Jennifer Briggs is CEO of The Synergy Company, a certified organic nutritional supplement brand, and an independent outside executive for ESOP companies. Clients have included Craft Brewers Alliance, Ben & Jerry's, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Organically Grown Company, and the Democracy at Work Institute.

She believes durable growth comes from people who thrive alongside the business. She chairs the National Center for Employee Ownership and serves on the boards of PFSbrands, Brinkman Construction, and BIVAR. Previously, she spent 12 years at New Belgium Brewing, was turnaround CEO of Modern Times Brewing, and served as CXO at Karl Strauss Brewing.

Howard Kaplan

Vice Chair

Howard L. Kaplan is Founder of Kaplan Fiduciary Group, a nationally recognized governance advisor, corporate director, and fiduciary expert, he advises boards and ESOP trustees, serves as a federal fiduciary process expert, and frequently teaches governance and fiduciary practices at UC San Diego and Kent State.

Dan Markowitz

Executive Committee

Dan is a partner at Boulay PLLP and the leader of the firm’s ESOP practice. He specializes in audit and other financial reporting engagements for public, private and ESOP-owned clients in a variety of industries. Through his work over the past 12 years, Dan has become very passionate about employee ownership and how ESOPs can play a powerful role in closing the wealth gap in the United States. As a member of the NCEO’s board, Dan aims to continue to find ways to increase the number of companies that transition from private to ESOP ownership, while counteracting misinformation about ESOPs. Finally, he is committed to providing comprehensive education to new and existing ESOP companies. In his free time, Dan enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, traveling, and coaching and playing hockey.

Donald Romine

Executive Committee

Donald Romine is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Web Industries, a leading advanced manufacturing and contract converting company serving customers in healthcare, aerospace, industrial, and consumer markets. During his 45-year career with the company, he held leadership positions spanning manufacturing operations, plant management, executive leadership, and corporate governance. He served as Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 2018 and as Chairman from 2018 to 2023. Under Mr. Romine's leadership, Web Industries experienced sustained growth, expanded its manufacturing capabilities and geographic presence, strengthened long-standing customer partnerships, and successfully transitioned to a 100% employee-owned (ESOP) company. Throughout his tenure, he championed a culture of operational excellence, continuous improvement, servant leadership, and respect for the inherent worth and development of every employee-owner.

Mr. Romine brings extensive experience in strategic planning, corporate governance, organizational development, succession planning, family business leadership, capital investment, and long-term value creation. His leadership philosophy emphasizes building enduring organizations through principled decision-making, strong customer relationships, and investment in people. Since retiring from executive leadership, Mr. Romine has remained active as a board director, advisor, and mentor, drawing on more than five decades of manufacturing and business leadership to assist organizations facing growth, governance, leadership transition, and strategic planning opportunities.

Susan Kildahl

Executive Committee

Susan Kildahl is an experienced finance and governance executive with extensive leadership in ESOP-owned organizations. She serves as Executive Advisor and member of the Board of Directors for NHS Northstar, Inc., where she previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer. She played a central leadership role in NHS Northstar's transition to employee ownership in 2017 and helped guide the organization through a period of significant growth, strategic expansion, and operational transformation.

Through that experience, Susan developed a commitment to helping ESOP companies strengthen governance, strategic leadership, and employee ownership beyond the transaction. She champions a comprehensive approach to employee ownership that aligns governance, financial stewardship, strategic leadership, and employee engagement to create resilient organizations and long-term enterprise value.

Loren Rogers

Chief Executive Officer

Loren Rodgers joined the NCEO in 2005 as its research director and became its executive director in 2011. He writes extensively on employee ownership in professional and academic publications and has spoken at events around the world. Since he entered the field in 1995 as a consultant, he has worked with hundreds of companies and presented to tens of thousands of people. His expertise includes all forms of employee ownership, best practices for employee ownership companies, research, effective communications, employee motivation, corporate governance, ESOP transactions and operations, and business literacy.

Loren has a master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan. He is currently a visiting executive fellow for the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University, and he serves on the boards of nonprofit organizations and employee-owned companies.

Michelle Cronin

Director of Finance and Operations

As the director of finance and operations at he NCEO, Michelle is responsible for the overall financial management of the organization as well as managing human resources, office management and general business operations. She earned her BA from Ferris State University and brings over twenty-two years of Finance and Operations experience. Michelle enjoys contributing to her Northern Michigan community in various volunteer capacities. And as a life-long learner, Michelle enjoys reading and researching multiple topics for fun. When she is not burying her head into a book or internet, she can be found attending the many sporting and musical events of her two teen daughters, traveling, boating, and golfing with her friends.

Corey Rosen

Ex Officio

Corey Rosen, Ph.D., is the cofounder and senior staff member of the NCEO. He co-authored, along with John Case and Martin Staubus, Equity: Why Employee Ownership Is Good for Business (Harvard Business School Press, May 2005) and, with John Case, Ownership: Reinventing Companies, Capitalism, and Who Owns What (Berrett-Kohler, 2022). He has written, edited, or contributed to dozens of books, articles and research papers on employee ownership. He is generally regarded as the leading expert on employee ownership in the world. Rosen received his Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University in 1973, after which he taught politics at Ripon College in Wisconsin before being named an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in 1975. He worked on Capitol Hill for the next five years, where he helped initiate and draft legislation on ESOPs and employee ownership. In 1981, he formed the NCEO. He serves on seven ESOP company boards.

Christine Adee

Chris Adee is a corporate board director and former CEO with more than 25 years of experience in business leadership, strategy, finance, operations, M&A, and risk management. She previously served as CEO of OwnersEdge, a 100% employee-owned ESOP holding company, where she helped lead the strategic growth and development of the organization and its operating companies. Chris currently serves on several corporate boards, bringing experience in governance, holding company strategy, acquisitions, executive leadership, and employee ownership. She is a frequent speaker on M&A, governance, and ESOP-related topics and is past president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. Chris holds an MBA and bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Haydee Caldero

Haydee Caldero is a Vice President and Client Service Officer at GreatBanc, where she advises ESOP companies on transactions, governance, and strategies that maximize the value of employee ownership.

Before joining GreatBanc in 2026, she served as a CFO and COO for employee-owned companies and led a successful transition to 100% employee ownership, bringing firsthand ESOP leadership experience to her clients.

Haydee serves on the boards of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and the Illinois Center for Employee Ownership (ILCEO). She enjoys serving on the NCEO Board because it provides an opportunity to collaborate with leaders across the employee ownership community and advance broader adoption of employee ownership.

She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Wesleyan University.

Mike Frommelt

Mike Frommelt is Founder/Owner of Strategic Talent Partners, an executive search and talent consulting firm based in Minneapolis MN. Mike had previously co-founded KeyStone Search and in 2024 merged KeyStone with another firm to create Strategic Talent Partners. STP works exclusively with privately held companies and has a specialty practice working with ESOPs. Mike and his team have guided many ESOPs through CEO and other key executive transitions and have placed key leadership talent with hundreds of ESOPs and other companies across the U.S.

Mike is an ESOP champion and frequent speaker on succession, executive transition, culture, and leadership at ESOP related events across the country.

Timothy Garbinsky

Timothy Garbinsky is the Communications Director at the NCEO. In his role, Tim works with volunteers, allied organizations, and the press to creatively and effectively disseminate information about employee ownership and advance the NCEO's mission. He earned his BA from Duke University in 2009 and has since worked as a content creator and an educator, skills which he transfers to the NCEO. Originally from the D.C. metropolitan area, Tim now lives in California's Central Valley with his wife and son.

Daniel Goldstein

Daniel Goldstein has 25+ years of managing and advising companies and other organizations, including business strategy, acquisitions, direct investments, portfolio design, building teams, culture, and purpose-driven philanthropy--spanning several continents, many jurisdictions, and multiple languages. At the end of 2023, Daniel retired as CEO of Folience, a 100% ESOP-owned holding company. He has served on the board of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX), the board of The ESOP Association, and the Employee Ownership Foundation’s Executive Committee. Daniel is an Executive Fellow at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing and a Fellow at the UK-based Ownership at Work think tank.

Wendy Guillies

Wendy is seasoned C-suite executive with deep experience in strategy development and execution, talent and culture, marketing/communications, and board service. In 2024 she founded fractional a leadership firm, Guillies On Point, to help organizations achieve clarity, focus, and results. Previously she spent 22 years at the $3B Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, retiring in 2022 after eight years as president and CEO.

Wendy serves on numerous boards, including ESOP holding company Folience. She resides in Kansas City.

Terry Leahy

Terry Leahy is Executive Chair and former CEO of MyPath, a 100% ESOP company headquartered in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Through its 2,000 “Owners Who Care,” MyPath delivers vital educational, therapeutic, and community services for individuals living with disabilities and other challenges. Terry joined MyPath in 2008 as Chief Operating Officer and assumed the CEO role in 2021. He has a special interest in employee-owned companies that operate at the intersection of law, public policy, and regulation, including healthcare, human services, and education. Before joining MyPath, Terry held a variety of senior leadership roles in the private and nonprofit sectors. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Linshuang Lu

Linshuang (pronounced “Lin-Shang”) Lu is a Managing Principal at Praxis Consulting Group. She has 20 years experience providing organization development, strategic planning, leadership development and culture change services to employee-owned companies and nonprofits. She helps organizations develop their leaders and foster deeper staff engagement in order to create better workplaces and achieve greater impact. Linshuang regularly speaks and writes on topics related to employee ownership culture, leadership development, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Linshuang is a Core Faculty member of the ESOP CEO Leadership Program at the Center for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania . Linshuang holds a Master of Science in Organization Development from American University.