Stanford Webinar on Exporting Ownership Culture to China

The Center for Professional Development at Stanford is offering a Webinar on the Silicon Valley model of shared equity, employee empowerment, and the possibilities of building similar organizations in China.

Starbucks One of Five Business Enterprise Trust Winners

For the third consecutive year, an employee ownership company and NCEO member has been named one of the five recipients of the Business Enterprise Trust Award. The award recognizes excellence in balancing free enterprise objectives with socially responsible actions.

Stark Introduces House Version of Levin-McCain Options Bill

Fortney Stark (D-CA) has introduced the House version of the "Ending the Double Standard for Stock Options Act," a bill that mirrors the Senate bill of the same title (S. 1940) introduced by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ). The bill has two principal provisions:

State Law Claims Not Preempted by ERISA

A U.S. district court in Missouri ruled that an employment-related complaints that revolved around alleged promises made by Amsted Industries in conjunction with its ESOP were not preempted by ERISA and could be pursued under state law (Thrailkill v. Amsted Industries, Inc., May 31, 2000).

State Laws Do Not All Conform to New Tax Rules

Many state laws do not conform in whole or in part to the retirement and ESOP provisions of the new tax bill. This could cause significant problems for companies and employees that exceed the contribution limits under old law.

State Small Business Credit Initiative Program Now Allows Funding for Employee Ownership

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 included an appropriation of $10 billion for another round of funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a program that has been in place since 2010. SSBCI funds might make it easier for lenders to ESOPs to provide larger and less collateralized ESOP loans or for mezzanine lenders to loan at lower rates.

Stewards of the Newspaper

In an op-ed in the West Branch Times (Iowa), Jake Krob, the co-publisher, describes why he is comfortable selling the newspapers he owns to an employee-owned company. Newspaper owners, he says, are stewards.

Stewardship-Sequenced Payouts: An Innovative Idea for Bonuses

In an intriguing article in the WorldatWork Journal (4th quarter, 2007), Timothy Clark of George Washington University and Balaji Krishnamurthy, CEO of LogiStyle, propose an intriguing model of paying bonuses to employees ("Executive Stewardship Incentives from Innovative Bonus-Payout Meth