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Employee Ownership Blog
Corey Rosen

Corey Rosen

Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act Introduced in Senate

Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), along with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, have introduced the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2025 (PDF). This is a companion bill to H.R. 3105, introduced by Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). The bill has four components:



Corey Rosen

House Hearings Review ERISA Compliance Oversight and Transparency at the DOL

The US House of Representatives Education and Workforce Subcommittee held a hearing on July 22, 2025, on transparency and oversight at the Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). The hearing, titled “Restoring Trust: Enhancing Transparency and Oversight at EBSA,” focused on alleged EBSA overreach in enforcing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). EBSA's enforcement includes audits, investigations, and litigation to ensure that companies comply with ERISA's requirements.


Corey Rosen

ESOP-Owned Emprise Group Makes One of the Largest-Ever Acquisitions by an ESOP Company

Emprise, a 100% ESOP-owned holding company that acquires and invests in middle-market consumer product companies, has acquired Nice-Pak Products through its portfolio company Vivos Holdings, LLC, creating one of the largest companies in its field. Emprise, which the company says stands for "employee" and "enterprise," includes a number of personal care companies, including Consumer Product Partners, Surefil, UpLift Brands, and Vi-Jon, as well as INSPR Labs, which provides research and analytical services for the personal care industry. Nice-Pak is a manufacturer of sanitizing wipes for personal care, babies and toddlers, homes, hospitals, and other users.


Corey Rosen

Patricia Hetter Kelso, 1927-2025

Patricia Hetter Kelso, a leading voice in the promotion of employee ownership and universal capitalism, died yesterday at 98. She was the intellectual and business partner, wife, and coauthor of numerous books on expanding capitalism with her husband, Louis Kelso. Louis Kelso developed the idea of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 1956. Patricia met Louis in 1963, and they married in 1980.


Corey Rosen

MA Bill Would Promote Transition to Worker Coops

A new Massachusetts bill, "An Act promoting entrepreneurship through employee ownership," appearing in identical versions in the Massachusetts House and Senate as H. 503 and S. 305, respectively, would encourage small business owners to transition their firms to worker cooperatives. Companies must have at least three employees and meet the definition of a small business under Small Business Administration (SBA) standards. The sale must be to a worker cooperative or to an LLC or partnership that otherwise meets the requirements for worker cooperatives, including equal voting power for all employees who are designated as owners under the company’s bylaws. Profits must be distributed based on “patronage," defined as hours worked for the company.


Corey Rosen

EBSA Nominee Daniel Aronowitz Pledges to "End the War on ESOPs"

Daniel Aronowitz, the nominee to head the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) in the Department of Labor (DOL), promised to “end the war on ESOPs.”

At Aronowitz’s June 5, 2025, confirmation hearing (the segment with Aronowitz starts at 35:30 in the video), Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski (who once worked for an ESOP company) noted that Aronowitz was “probably very familiar with the angst that has been expressed by some that ESOPs have been operating under a patchwork of litigation and there has been a need for a single clear regulatory definition of good-faith effort of valuation of ESOP stock.”