Our friends at the Vermont Employee Ownership Center are hosting their 22nd annual conference in a few short weeks, on May 31 at the University of Vermont's Davis Center. The event, as usual, promises to be an enriching experience for employee-owned businesses of all types, with sessions on recruitment and retention, ESOP transactions, worker cooperative buyouts, mental health, board composition, and more. There will also be networking for worker coops, ESOP companies, and other employee-owned businesses.

We're also elated to hear that the conference will feature a keynote presentation from Melissa Hoover, the director of special projects at the Democracy at Work Institute. Melissa, who is also a senior fellow at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, has been a frequent speaker at NCEO events, where she brings a wealth of experience working directly with companies to help them on their employee ownership journey. We encourage any and all who can to attend this conference and Melissa's keynote.