Employee Ownership Blog

Corey Rosen

EBSA Nominee Previously Urged ERISA Litigation Reform

In Why Does the Department of Labor Allow ERISA Regulation Through Litigation By Plaintiff Lawyers?, a September 2024 post on his private blog FID Guru, Daniel Aronowitz, the nominee to head the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), urged Congress to reform ERISA litigation rules. He wrote, “Congress must act with ERISA litigation reform. In the 1990s, the trial bar was filing frivolous securities fraud cases against public companies, using investors with as little as one share of stock. Congress acted with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), creating a higher pleading standard to combat securities fraud abuse. It has not been a perfect solution, but at least Congress tried to reduce frivolous litigation.”

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Madelyn Hammack

Tandem Center for Shared Business Success Featured on The Alternative Exit Podcast

In a recent episode of The Alternative Exit Podcast, host Andy Farquharson sat down with Drew Mousetis, Executive Director of the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success. Drew shared his transformative experience at Cargas, where he developed expertise in direct employee ownership models. The conversation highlighted how employee ownership creates shared success while keeping businesses rooted in their communities.

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Kimberly McCourtney

Navigating Valuation in 2025: Key Factors from Washington, Market Trends, and Global Uncertainty

During our February CEO Peer Network Meeting, we had the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Ken Serwinski to our discussion on valuation. He posed a key question: “Valuation projection challenges...what should drive your thought process?” Ken brought his expertise spanning over 30 years in the ESOP space. His insights provided a valuable framework for understanding the factors that will shape business valuations in the coming year.

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Founder crosen@nceo.org

Executive Director lrodgers@nceo.org

Withdrawn DOL ESOP Valuation Regulations Provide Insight

Summary

In December 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed rules that would govern the valuation of company stock in an ESOP. Although the Trump administration withdrew the rules in January, the 2022 WORK Act requires the DOL to issue valuation regulations, so while the fate of those withdrawn rules is uncertain, they provide insight into the DOL’s perspective under the Biden Administration and possibly the new administration. When new political leadership at the department is in office, a new proposal for the rules may be materially different from the withdrawn rules.

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Loren Rodgers

DOL Employee Ownership Head Reinstated

On March 7, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) was notified that all probationary employees at the Department of Labor who received termination notices on February 21, including Employee Ownership Division chief Hilary Abell, would be reinstated. The reinstatement will be effective as of Monday, March 10, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America.
 
Lisa Gomez, the former head of the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA), said, "With the decades of experience she brought to the role, Hilary's contributions to EBSA's Division of Employee Ownership have built a critical and meaningful connection between the Department of Labor and the employee ownership community. Without her reinstatement, that foundational work would have been needlessly lost."

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Corey Rosen

Seventeen of the Largest 100 Private Companies Have Employee Ownership

Seventeen of the Forbes 2024 list of the largest 100 privately held companies (ranked by sales) have some form of employee ownership. Five are 100% ESOP-owned, four are minority ESOP-owned, two have profit-sharing plans primarily invested in company stock, one is an employee ownership trust, and one is a broad-based partnership available to employees at all levels. Supermarkets, convenience store chains, engineering, and construction are the most common industries among the employee ownership companies. We also compile a list of the largest employee-owned companies for our yearly Employee Ownership 100. That list includes only companies for which we have reliable external verification that their plans are broad-based, and it also focuses on majority and 100% employee-owned firms and the active participants they cover.

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