Kimberly McCourtney
The NCEO Forum is known for its interactive workshops, but this year's peer networking sessions revealed something even bigger: when employee-owners and their supporters connect, ideas flow fast and lessons stick. Here are 10 takeaways from these sessions.
Timothy Garbinsky
The International Comparative Labor Studies (ICLS) program at Morehouse College announced the Vision and Victory conference, taking place November 12–14 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. The national event, subtitled "Expanding Black Employee Ownership," aims to do just that—explore the ways Black businesses and communities stand to benefit from employee ownership, how to encourage the growth and expansion of employee ownership in these communities, and how to deal with and overcome hurdles and barriers to doing so.
Matthew Licina
The second annual employee ownership trust (EOT) and perpetual purpose trust (PPT) workshop at the 2025 NCEO Forum in Philadelphia was an incredible gathering of the growing EOT and PPT community. I had the honor of moderating the workshop and would like to thank everyone who joined us for a day full of deep learning, connection, and passion. With about 50 people in attendance, the room was packed and highly engaged from start to finish.
Madelyn Hammack
Drew Mousetis is the executive director of the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping businesses transition to direct employee ownership. In this conversation with Madelyn Hammack, marketing manager at the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), Drew shares his journey from employee-owner to advocate, explains the unique benefits of direct employee ownership, and discusses Tandem's mission to expand this model across the United States.
Timothy Garbinsky
If, like me, you were unlucky enough to miss out on the NCEO Forum last month in Philadelphia, then you didn't get to see the keynote from Guy Raz, award-winning host of the popular "How I Built This" podcast. My colleagues and others in the community told me it was inspiring, built from Guy's observations about employee ownership specifically (and ownership in general) based on companies with whom he has talked and spent time.
Kimberly McCourtney
The true success of our recent 2025 Forum in Philadelphia wasn’t just about workshops or sessions; it was about connection, growth, and the launch of NCEO’s new peer networks. Our peer networks are carefully curated spaces that foster deeper connections between employee-owned businesses, creating opportunities for shared learning and collaborative problem-solving within the employee ownership community. Whether you're navigating leadership challenges, guiding companies as a service provider, or serving on boards, these targeted networks provide support, expertise, and a platform to build better employee ownership practices together.
Corey Rosen
The nomination of Daniel Aronowitz to head the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in the Department of Labor (DOL) has been confirmed by the US Senate. Aronowitz was until recently the president of Encore Fiduciary (formerly Euclid Fiduciary). The company provides fiduciary insurance, fidelity bonds, cybersecurity insurance, and fiduciary insurance consulting. He is the author of the Fiduciary Liability Insurance Handbook. The book’s only mention of ESOPs is to say that this kind of fiduciary insurance is more costly than that needed for other retirement plans.
Corey Rosen
On September 17, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce unanimously approved H.R. 5169, the Retire through Ownership Act, sponsored by Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.), who is chair of the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP). The bill was amended in committee to more closely parallel the version of the same bill that passed the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions earlier this year.
Corey Rosen
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed H.R. 2958, the Balance the Scales Act, which would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to require that the Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) submit an annual report to Congress on so-called “common interest agreements.” The issue first came to the forefront in Harrison v. Envision Management, No. 21–cv–00304–CNS–MD (D.C. Colo. Jan. 13, 2025), a case in which the plaintiff’s law firm received information from the DOL under a common interest agreement, even though the DOL was not a party to the suit. The attorneys for the defendants discovered the information-sharing only the night before an important deposition. The court ruled decisively against the DOL, and several members of Congress expressed concern about the practice.
