Corey Rosen
The US Department of Labor (DOL) released its 2026 rule list, which states that it will issue ESOP valuation regulations in November 2026. The regulations are required by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The DOL issued proposed regulations in December 2025, but they were rescinded along with all other pending regulations when the new administration took office the next month.
Corey Rosen
A new NCEO task force of trustees is examining how an ESOP company’s repurchase obligation should affect its stock value. The repurchase obligation can be a significant financial cost for ESOP companies, but this liability is currently not reflected on the balance sheet or income statement. Historically, valuation firms ignored the potential impact of repurchase obligations, arguing that the company could always simply be sold and the obligation would go away. The effect of this in some companies was that they were forced to sell to meet their repurchase obligations, whereas they would not have had to if the share price had been adjusted all along for the ongoing liability. In a few extreme cases, companies that had rapid cyclical growth followed by cyclical decline have found that their repurchase obligations to employees who left at a high point forced them into bankruptcy.
NCEO Events & Webinars
Making the move from a traditional corporate environment to an employee-owned company is a bigger shift than most leaders expect. In a recent NCEO webinar, Susan Bunz and Brian Kingery of Stellar Industries, a 100% employee-owned work truck equipment manufacturer, shared reflections on what that transition looks like from the inside. Their conversation, facilitated by leadership coach Melisa Gillis, surfaced some honest lessons for leaders at any stage of the ESOP journey.
Corey Rosen
Study also finds that companies emphasize ownership culture is the best tool for retention and recruitment.
Corey Rosen
Voya Financial, a leading retirement, employee benefits, and investment management company, reports in a new survey that 70% of consumers “would more likely support a business that enables employee ownership." Eighty-six percent say it’s important that profits from local businesses stay in the community.
Francesca Santos
Every few years, a new phrase is invented to explain why work isn't working.
Corey Rosen
New Jersey bill A5016/S4218, which would establish a program in the state Economic Development Administration to “encourage employee ownership awareness and provide funding and advisory support,” has now passed both chambers of the state legislature. The bill makes permanent a program created under former Governor Phil Murphy in 2024 to provide technical assistance and outreach and to help defray the costs of feasibility studies for companies considering employee ownership transitions. The current governor, Mikie Sherrill, is expected to sign the bill.
NCEO Events & Webinars
For many ESOP companies, the early years are defined by a familiar set of priorities: paying down debt, building employee communication, and getting comfortable with plan administration. But what happens after clearing those hurdles? In a recent NCEO webinar, Kyle Wishing of PCE Investment Bankers walked through the challenges and opportunities that emerge once an ESOP has reached maturity (generally understood as being 10 or more years in) with selling shareholders paid in full and a second generation of leadership taking the helm.
Andrea DiMatteo
This past week, I had the privilege of being onsite for the NCEO’s New Manager Workshop in Denver, CO, and I'm still thinking about it. There's something unique that happens when you get 67 managers from employee-owned companies across the country in one room—the energy shifts from "let's get through this agenda" to "wait, can we keep talking about this?"
