Webinar Replays

The first challenge for an ESOP company is completing the annual compliance tasks with the help of your CPA firm, bank, and ESOP service providers. But how do you move from “Compliance” to “Best Practices”? Hear from accounting, valuation, and banking professionals who support award-winning ESOP companies to learn how to help your finance and accounting team develop the skills and traits needed to effectively support an employee ownership culture.

This session will illustrate the value and options for ESOP Repurchase Obligation and how to avoid the pitfalls without proper planning now. Early and proper planning for Repurchase Obligation,  will help avoid pitfalls such as devaluation of stock, inability to secure trade/bank credit, forced sale of the company, personal liability for ESOP fiduciaries, and even insolvency.

Those who wish to or do serve as members of the Board of an ESOP company, or an internal Trustees, desire to add value in their role. But too often Boards and Trustees struggle to get beyond the minimalist and narrow use of these key roles. This session will give you an insight into an experienced ESOP C-Suite leader, with significant board experience.

This session will focus on considerations for building the trustee ESOP advisory team and the role each may play.

This session will focus on how to implement an effective Succession System, including who to involve in the process, how and when to start thinking about leadership succession and detailing the necessary steps in the process.

The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and No-Entitlement Incentive Plan best practices

Employee ownership may start on October 1 every year, but your company will get the biggest impact if you start planning now. Join the NCEO to talk about what member companies have found makes for a GREAT employee ownership month, no matter what your culture or how long your company has been employee-owned. You’ll leave this session with some next steps, timelines, and a whole bunch of inspiration for ways to build understanding, excitement, and a sense of engagement.  

Valuation Is Essential To The Employee Ownership Process

Across regions and industry segments, the workforce is incredibly diverse—and many times each requires different levels of support as well as diverse methods of communication and education. Being well-versed in participants’ needs and challenges before coordinating any equity plan education sessions is key.

When considering ESOP sustainability, it is essential that you work closely with your partner advisors. This session will allow attendees to discuss their current concerns with experts in the field of Valuation and Repurchase Obligation Analysis.

Employee owners need to know about key valuation drivers and how their day-to-day decisions impact the valuation trajectory of their company. This session will share best practices for communicating value drivers to employees and constructing an effective ownership plan.

Every ESOP has fiduciaries, and it's important for fiduciaries to understand their responsibilities. This presentation will give ESOP fiduciaries, such as committee members and trustees, a course in what their fiduciary duties are and why they are important.

Boards can be essential both in managing the risks and realizing the potential of employee ownership, but to do that, directors need to know what is different about ESOP companies. Learn more in today's webinar.

Plan design is integral to every ESOP -- but with so many decisions to make and so many options, how much does it matter?  Learn which plan features are mandatory, and which offer flexibility. We will discuss the best practices of these different options and the long-term impacts of each.

This webinar will focus on recent significant court decisions in ESOP cases and new theories advanced by Plaintiff’s counsel and the DOL in recently filed cases and briefs.  

This webinar will help executives, advisors, and board members learn what works best.

This interactive presentation explores the factors and conditions that attract and retain employees who think, act, and feel like owners.

Understand the mistakes when investing your ESOP money and having a plan to diversify your ESOP can yield valuable benefits for your retirement.

Join this session to learn the different mechanics of involving the ESOP directly in the purchase and how it may be different if you acquire another ESOP.

Discuss the keys to ESOP sustainability and how policy decisions can have a significant impact on business operations. 

Join this session to discuss a common but rarely discussed ESOP option - selling your business to an already established ESOP. 

Discuss how each of the 15 items can impact the valuation conclusion.

Opening your books can be uncomfortable and even scary at times. Join this interactive session to hear lessons learned and address your biggest fears head-on. 

Learn what warrants are and why they have become an important negotiation tool for both trustees and selling shareholders.

Join this webinar to discuss the pros and cons of this ESOP maintenance strategy.

Recapitalization facilitates the best use of capital without sacrificing a culture of employee ownership and maintains employee ownership in an augmented form.

Discussion of the lessons all ESOP-owned companies, fiduciaries, and advisors should be focusing on in 2021.

Discuss how ESOP 401(k) plan and ESOP plans can be viewed together and not seperate

Learn the factors and best practices an ESOP and its advisors should consider as they move into the next phase of the ESOP structure.

Learn the key characteristics of successful ESOP Leaders and learn how to identify them in your hiring and evaluation processes.

Discuss the internal and external factors impacting ESOP sustainability as well as the traditional ESOP-related tools to manage for the long term.

Discuss the impact of employee ownership on our economies and our communities

Take a fresh look at the internal and external members of your ESOP team to make sure that your company is getting the support it needs but also to keep all aspects of the ESOP and your company working smoothly together.

Discuss ways ESOP companies can communicate, educate and honor their fellow Employee Owners.

Discuss the process and complexities associated with selling an ESOP company

Understand the mistakes when investing your ESOP money and having a plan to diversify your ESOP can yield valuable benefits for your retirement.

This webinar will dissect some common assumptions and misconceptions people have about culture, what employees want, and how to change it all for the better with the correct feedback.

Discuss the many nuances of ESOP plan design.

Gather fresh ideas and discuss a wide range of topics that by the end of this webinar you may be uttering the phrase “We should do that with our ESOP”!

Discussion of the lessons all ESOP-owned companies, fiduciaries, and advisors should be focusing on in 2021.

Participants will be able to assess the three conditions for engagement and ways to strengthen them in their own companies.

Participants will develop their own process improvement plans using 30, 60, and 90-day goals to increase EO engagement, develop ownership culture, and drive overall company performance.

Employee ownership provides important challenges and opportunities for strategic planning. This session will be an opportunity to share ideas on what works.

Get administrative best-practices for your partial ESOP.

Increase business and financial literacy through interactive gameplay!

Join us to get a list of 15 items that should be considered by the company's management, ESOP trustee, and valuation firm when performing an ESOP valuation.

Hear from two employee-owner executives whose companies chose an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), an alternative to an ESOP for their path to employee ownership.

More than 25 years of research shows that employee-owned companies outperform their peers, primarily when they implement specific components as they develop their culture. This workshop will discuss the core elements of an ownership culture that drive company performance and include small group work for sharing strategies.

This webinar will discuss the accounting treatment and other implications of often-overlooked alternatives to a traditional leveraged ESOP deal structure.

Get ideas on how to communicate ESOP diversification to employee-owners.

Get some advice on how to respond to unsolicited offers for your business.

Learn what critical steps to take in the months/years leading up to a CEO transition to better ensure a seamless transition and that the business will not lose momentum.

Join members of the McDermott Will and Emery ESOP Litigation team for a discussion of the lessons all ESOP-owned companies, fiduciaries and advisors should be focusing on in 2021.

Join this webinar to review the key factors to ESOP sustainability.

The most effective employee ownership companies are the ones that generate and use the best ideas from the most people about the most different things that can make the company better. Join NCEO founder Corey Rosen, as he illustrates how to turn your company into an idea factory.

What is an equity-based long-term incentive plan (“LTIP”), and how many ESOP companies have them? How can LTIPs help retain key executives and align their interests with those of ESOP participants? This session will answer these questions and more.

Wondering how your PPP loan may impact valuation? Or if your stock value will go up (or go down) based on the always-changing public stock market? Questions on how to prepare a forecast given the economic uncertainty? The webinar will offer real-time advice from thought leaders in the valuation industry. 

2020 has fundamentally changed our workforce and employee expectations. Join Emplify Co-founder and Chief People Officer and Amazon best selling author, Adam Weber, to kick off the year. He'll share the five trends leaders need to embrace to create engaged and productive leaders.

As an internal ESOP fiduciary, you have substantial legal responsibilities. This webinar will discuss what fiduciaries do, how they can deal with audits and avoid lawsuits.

There are several paths you can take to transition the ownership of your business. This session will evaluate employee ownership and if selling your business to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan is right for you.

This webinar looks at what makes an effective board. Should there be outside directors? What should their qualifications and compensation be? Should there be non-management employees on the board? Should board members be fiduciaries? Should plan advisors be on the board? What should board duties be and what makes boards most productive?

The IRS now wants you to have a written distribution policy. It's a good idea anyway. A well crafted will help you manage your repurchase obligation in a sustainable, equitable manner.

This webinar will examine and discuss important research and information related to ESOPs, workplace culture, and financial security in the United States. Using this research, we will examine how to best leverage these tools to communicate more effectively with employees and guide company decisions on the importance of employee ownership and best practices in the workplace.  

An ESOP can be a tool to make acquisitions easier, but it also adds some layers of complexity, and this Webinar explores the legal and fiduciary issues that must be part of any effective acquisition strategy. This webinar will also discuss the impact of the acquisition, plan its implementation, consider the impact on HR, benefits, and morale, and develop an approach to communications to respects both the need for confidentiality and employee buy-in.

Leaders often ask what it takes to get more employees "thinking like an owner." The truth is, It takes more than just an ESOP. One challenge to engaging all employees as owners are the often invisible divides based on class and profession in our organizations: office and field, shop floor and customer service, sales, and warehouse.

This webinar will explore the theories advanced in legal cases, potential defenses to such claims, how courts have handled these claims in recent cases, and considerations for structuring these types of payments to mitigate risk.

ESOP fiduciaries and others responsible for the annual ESOP appraisal need to understand the interaction between their companies' S corporation statement and the valuation. The benefits of being an S corporation ESOP add several layers of complexity to the annual valuation. For example, ESOP shares are valued by law at the price a "willing buyer" would pay, but there is no guarantee that this hypothetical willing buyer would be an S corporation or have an ESOP. Does that make it impossible for the appraisal firm to consider the S corporation ESOP tax shield? If not, how should it affect the annual valuation? Does the appropriate valuation method change for initial transactions, ongoing operation, or in evaluating a potential sale of the company? What's the difference between valuation for a 100% ESOP-owned S corporation and one where the ESOP has a smaller stake?

Most ESOP companies value creating a workplace where people feel included, can grow and develop, and can contribute meaningfully to the success of the company.  While many companies understand the business case and already recognize the value of employing a diverse workforce and cultivating a culture of inclusion, they struggle with knowing where and how to start and what to do to keep the momentum moving forward. This webinar is appropriate for all levels of experience to learn practical strategies.

This session will give participants the skill-set and confidence they need to design and apply effective 90 Day, self-funding incentive programs or “MiniGames” for immediate use in their own organizations, a direct take home that will drive business results.    

Since the turn of the millenium, the workforce has changed drastically. New generations have brought a shift in values with them—ranking cultural values far more important than compensation and benefits. In this session, author and Emplify Chief People Officer and Co-founder, Adam Weber, shares practical solutions for people leaders at ESOPs.

Closely held ESOP companies have a specific legal obligation to buy back stock from departing and diversifying employees. This webinar will describe these requirements and explore than various alternative approaches you can use on such issues as the timing, form, and requirements for distributions, including lump-sum versus installment payments, account segregation at termination, changing when the distribution occurs, diversification requirements, what valuation to use, and more.

There are several ways to finance the repurchase obligation, including "pay-as-you-go" funding, pre-funding, paying dividends/S corporation distributions, corporate-owned life insurance, and incurring debt, i.e., releveraging the ESOP. The methods for handling repurchased shares, i.e., redeeming or recycling, will also be discussed. This webinar will cover the mechanics as well as the pros and cons of each.

This webinar provides a basic understanding of the process of completing a repurchase forecast and the factors and assumptions that affect the outcome of forecast, including the impact of specific plan provisions (such as distribution timing and segregating accounts), the impact of the distribution mechanics (recycling vs. redeeming), and interplay between the stock value and the repurchase obligation.

This session is an overview of the main features of employee stock ownership plans. It is appropriate for people familiar with basic business and finance topics  but new to ESOPs and for those responsible for ESOP Communication.

How well educated are your employees about financial wellness? As employee-owners, they have more possibilities and more to think about. This series of conversations with ESOP financial advice experts Peter Newman of Peak Wealth Planning and Jamie Waldren of Wells Fargo Retirement Advisory Services is packed with tools that you can use to help educate your management team and employees.                  

ESOPs can transform businesses into high-performance organizations. But to do that, companies need to find ways to fully engage employee owners and develop an effective ownership culture. Employee surveys are a good way to engage employees and gauge their perspectives on the fundamental aspect of your ownership culture and what needs to be done to move forward. 

How well educated are your employees about financial wellness? As employee-owners, they have more possibilities and more to think about. This series of conversations with ESOP financial advice experts Peter Newman of Peak Wealth Planning and Jamie Waldren of Wells Fargo Retirement Advisory Services is packed with tools that you can use to help educate your management team and employees.    

LLCs require specific forms of equity compensation. This webinar looks at the forms of equity available for LLCs, including capital interests, profits interests, unit rights plans, and unit appreciation rights plans.

ESOPs benefit employees, sellers, and the organization's bottom line - in most companies. From time to time, mistakes with an ESOP have caused legal problems for the company, personal loss to plan fiduciaries, and damaged morale. This session will cover a variety of "anti-case studies" and discuss different ways companies can avoid problems before they arise.

ESOPs are complicated and it is inevitable that some companies will make mistakes. Finding and correcting those mistakes yourself can save time and trouble, and the experts in this webinar will help you prevent any audits from becoming complicated, to find errors, and to decide the best way to address those errors yourself before the regulators get involved.

As ESOPs mature, the rules they started out with for distributions, allocations, vesting, participation, rebalancing shares, account segregation, and other issues may no longer be optimal. You may also want to change plan providers, including appraisers or hiring an institutional trustee. This webinar will explore what the law allows and requires you to do when making plan changes.

How well educated are your employees about financial wellness? As employee-owners, they have more possibilities and more to think about. This series of conversations with ESOP financial advice experts Peter Newman of Peak Wealth Planning and Jamie Waldren of Wells Fargo Retirement Advisory Services is packed with tools that you can use to help educate your management team and employees.                  

This webinar will help you address an important question — will you have enough savings to retire or leave your job. You are working hard to save today but it is a great idea to check in to see whether you can replace your salary down the road. This webinar will take you through a quick guide to determine whether you will have enough income during your golden years. If you are on the wrong road, it may be necessary to course correct. You will learn tips to improve financial wellness today and improve your chances of retirement success. 

How well educated are your employees about financial wellness? As employee-owners, they have more possibilities and more to think about. This series of conversations with ESOP financial advice experts Peter Newman of Peak Wealth Planning and Jamie Waldren of Wells Fargo Retirement Advisory Services is packed with tools that you can use to help educate your management team and employees.                  

The webinar reviews the different ways to finance an ESOP including the different sources of capital, how they differ from each other and when one may be more appropriate than another.  We also discuss current market conditions for the various types of ESOP financing available. 

How well educated are your employees about financial wellness? As employee-owners, they have more possibilities and more to think about. This series of conversations with ESOP financial advice experts Peter Newman of Peak Wealth Planning and Jamie Waldren of Wells Fargo Retirement Advisory Services is packed with tools that you can use to help educate your management team and employees.  

Both ESOP and non-ESOP companies regularly provide employees with some form of individual equity compensation. What kinds of equity plans are there? How do you determine which to use? How do you decide how much to give to which people under what conditions?

Recent Federal legislation resulted in increased long-term capital gains tax rates. As a result, more business owners are expressing their interest for tax-deferred sales to ESOPs. As the selling shareholder to an ESOP, you have the option to pay the capital gains tax created by the sale, or if you are eligible, you can elect section §1042 of the Internal Revenue Code. Electing §1042 allows the selling shareholder(s) to defer the capital gains tax in connection with the sale to an ESOP, and if structured properly would result in a permanent avoidance of paying the capital gains tax. 

Sustainability is the concept of utilizing a resource in a manner that enables longevity. In an ESOP company, the concept relates specifically to perpetuating the ESOP while maintaining the health of the business. ESOP policy decisions are generally established at the inception of the plan when there is not a clear understanding of how such decisions will influence the business as it matures.

The legal issues discussed in the first webinar in our series on S corporation ESOPs have important implications for the administration of your ESOP. Make sure that your company is compliant with the complex rules and procedural requirements for effectively running an ESOP in an S corporation. 

This webinar will explore important considerations when planning leadership succession at the C-Suite level, in service to the successful sustainability of your employee-owned company. We'll also discuss the current COVID-19 crisis and its potential impact on succession issues.

ESOP Administrative Committees can play a variety of roles. Most commonly, they either are the fiduciary or direct the fiduciary. In both cases, they also make sure that plan administration is properly handled. This webinar will explore who should be on it for how long? What kinds of information should they gather? How should they communicate with employees? If they are directing a trustee, how can they make that interaction most useful? What are some examples of don't do that's administrative committees have stubbed their toes on?

How do you engage your employee-owners? Once engaged, how do you follow through? In this session, we will provide examples of engaging employee-owners and how to maintain momentum. We will present a case scenario of the Ownership Rewards Program at DCS Corporation. 

We will talk about tools and techniques to communicate effectively about valuation in your own company, including actual examples of ways that some companies communicate about valuation to your workforce. This session is appropriate for people who will be doing their company's internal valuation communication.

Determining the value of ESOP shares requires complicated, regulated analysis, but everyone connected with the ESOP needs to know the basics. This webinar will serve as an overview for people who just want to understand the key concepts of ESOP valuation or as a foundation on which to learn more advanced valuation topics.

The webinar will provide an overview of the concept of stewardship and how the constructs of stewardship are important to employee ownership culture.  

This webinar is geared towards individuals who maintain the accounting and general ledger for ESOP transactions in their company.   

This webinar looks at what makes an effective board. Should there be outside directors? What should their qualifications and compensation be? Should there be non-management employees on the board? Should board members be fiduciaries? Should plan advisors be on the board? What should board duties be and what makes boards most productive?

ESOPs are like people with different doctors. To get the best advice, you need the right team and you need to make sure they work well with one another. This webinar helps you learn how to make that happen.

Closely held ESOP companies have a specific legal obligation to buy back stock from departing and diversifying employees. This webinar will describe these requirements and explore than various alternative approaches you can use on such issues as the timing, form, and requirements for distributions, account segregation at termination, changing when distribution occurs, diversification requirements, what valuation to use, and more.

This webinar highlights how the communication committee is essential to the long-term success of the organization. Our goal is to help your company have an effective internal communications committee.

Employees are no longer satisfied by being cogs in the wheel. Instead, they want to feel like they have a stake in the success of their company and make a difference in their customers' lives. Giving your employees trust and opportunities to improve processes make them more aligned with the company mission and willing to go the extra mile. In this webinar, you'll get the best practices to help accomplish this like:

This webinar provides you with an overview of how employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) work, with the focus on financing the ESOP transaction to help you assess whether an ESOP is feasible for your company. You will learn: How you can best finance an ESOP.

This Webinar looks at two new innovative ESOP strategies that help mitigate common risks in ESOP transactions. The first looks at providing reasonably priced downside protection for ESOP participants in the case of a sharp drop in stock value. The second looks at providing a strategy for reinvestment of gains made from the sale to an ESOP that meet all the qualified replacement property requirements while proving the same flexibility and protection of an index fund. You will learn: