Telling Stories: The Receptionist

Ron Gilbert of ESOP Services tells this story:

I received a call from the CEO of a mid-size US Government contractor in the Washington, DC area. He explained that he had been referred by his accountant and he would like to meet to discuss a possible ESOP for his company. He brought his chief financial officer and began by explaining, "I explored a possible ESOP transaction about five years ago, but we never did anything. I had completely forgotten about the ESOP until a few months ago when he hired a new receptionist. She claims that she just left a company called SFA, Inc., with an ESOP account worth over $500,000. Do you think that is really true?"

"Yes" I explained, "I was actually on the board of directors of SFA, Inc., which was a 100% ESOP-owned S corporation until about a year ago, when it was acquired by Global. The ESOP was in place for 20 years, and the receptionist worked there the entire time. SFA actually had 14 employees who had ESOP accounts of over $1,000,000."

"I worked at SFA," stated the CFO, who was seated next to the owner. "I left 20 years ago."

If you are working for a successful ESOP company, stick around.

Do you have a story to tell? Send them to Tim Garbinsky ([email protected]).