Employee Ownership Blog

Corey Rosen

Senate Unanimously Passes Two Bills to Encourage ESOPs

Members of Congress may not agree on a lot these days, but as they have for 51 years, they do unanimously agree on employee ownership. On October 10, the Senate unanimously passed two bills to promote ESOPs. The first, the Retire through Ownership Act (S. 2403), could make it easier for companies to avoid legal challenges to the valuation of shares the ESOP acquires. A parallel bill (H.R. 5169) has been introduced in the House but has not yet been acted on. The second, the Employee Ownership Representation Act of 2025 (S. 1728), would add ESOP representatives to the ERISA Advisory Council. A parallel bill has not yet been introduced in the House. Both bills will now move to the House.

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Corey Rosen

NCEO Paper Assesses ESOP Risks for Employees, Managers, and Business Owners

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have widespread support from politicians and academics and can offer significant benefits for employees, business owners, and society. But there are those who argue that there are too many risks associated with these plans. Do they put too much of employee retirement assets at risk? Does the debt that an ESOP typically takes on to finance ownership transition put employee jobs and companies at risk? Do business owners and board members face a high risk of litigation? The new NCEO paper Assessing the Risks of ESOPs for Employees, Managers, and Business Owners (PDF; also see the embedded version below) by NCEO founder Corey Rosen summarizes in detail the extensive research on each aspect of ESOP risk.

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Timothy Garbinsky

Morehouse Launches New National Event to Grow Black Employee Ownership

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.

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Matthew Licina

A Recap of the EOT Workshop at the 2025 NCEO Forum

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.

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Madelyn Hammack

Q&A with Drew Mousetis: Direct Employee Ownership and the Tandem Center

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.

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Timothy Garbinsky

Guy Raz's NCEO Forum Keynote Available to Members Until October 9

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.

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