Employee Ownership Blog
Corey Rosen

Corey Rosen

April 05, 2022

Ownership Works: A New Nonprofit Supporting Employee Ownership

Ownership Works is a new nonprofit funded by $50 million in donations from Pete Stavros, a partner at the investment firm KKR, and 60 other organizations. In an April 5 story on the launch, the Wall Street Journal reported that “among the founding partners are 19 private-equity firms, including Apollo Global Management Inc., Ares Management Corp., KKR & Co., Leonard Green & Partners LP, Silver Lake, TPG Inc., and Warburg Pincus LLC.” Others involved include United for Respect, which has led worker campaigns against private-equity-backed companies, Omidyar Network, and the Ford Foundation.

Corey Rosen

April 01, 2022

House Bill Adds Tax Benefit for Sellers to ESOPs in S Corporations

On March 29, the House passed the SECURE 2.0 Act (H.R. 2954) by a vote of 414-5. The bill will now go to the Senate. The bill makes two minor improvements for ESOPs plus a number of other changes aimed at making it easier for employers and employees to assure retirement plans work more effectively. Some of these will affect ESOPs.

Corey Rosen

March 29, 2022

Proposed DOL Regulations on Exempt Transactions Raise ESOP Community Concerns

On March 8, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed new rules for prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) filings, rules that have raised concerns in the ESOP community. These filings are relatively rare, with about 20 per year. While ESOPs are statutorily exempt from having to make these filings, some ESOP professionals are concerned the DOL might subsequently extend the concepts in the proposal to ESOPs.

Corey Rosen

March 24, 2022

California Bill Would Provide Major Impetus for Employee Ownership

In what would be the most significant step forward by a state yet, Senator Josh Becker has introduced Senate Bill 1407, the Expanding Employee Ownership Act. The bill would provide outreach, financing, and technical assistance for conversions to employee ownership.

Corey Rosen

March 23, 2022

Minnesota Bill Would Provide Low-Interest Loans for Employee Ownership

HF 3733, a bill to help build community wealth in Minnesota, would create a low-interest loan program to support employee ownership, community land trusts, or cooperatives focused on providing wealth-building opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups, including people of color, women, disabled veterans, and low-income workers. The state would appropriate $15 million in 2023 to provide grants to partner organizations to make the loans, which would be priced at not more than the prime rate. State support for the loan could be for up to $2.5 million. Eligible borrowers must be able to show the project could not be financed without this support. Up to 10% of the funds could be used for technical assistance. Half the principal payments would go to a community wealth-building account the state would create to provide ongoing funding.

Corey Rosen

March 23, 2022

Why Strong Leaders Can Make Very Bad—and Even Deadly—Decisions

One of the great paradoxes of leadership is that the very qualities that might make someone likely to become a leader of a company—or a nation—can be the very same qualities that can lead to some very bad decisions. Rising to the top usually takes a lot of self-confidence and the ability to make good decisions about a lot of things quickly. But that same self-confidence can turn to arrogance, an arrogance that may discourage those working with you to challenge your assumptions, ideas, and even what you perceive as facts.

Corey Rosen

February 23, 2022

The Conference Turns 40!

This year’s NCEO Annual Employee Ownership Conference (April 26–28, with a preconference on April 25) is sure to be a special one. It's not only because it marks the first time the conference will be live and in-person in three years or because it marks our return to the West Coast, taking place in the Seattle convention center after nearly a decade in other time zones. And it's not only because we’ll have boatloads of fun new additions like the puppy lounge.

Corey Rosen

February 11, 2022

New NCEO Resource Page: Using an ESOP to Attract and Retain Employees

The NCEO now has a new resource page on using employee ownership to attract and retain employees. The highlight is a transcript of our January 2022 Community Conversation on the topic with ESOP companies Kwest, Johnny’s Pizza House, and Radian Research; and former ESOP company NCC Automated Systems.

Corey Rosen

January 03, 2022

Congress Makes 100% ESOPs Eligible for Sole-Source Follow-on Awards

The National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Biden on December 27 contains the first-ever government contracting program to specifically encourage ESOPs. Section 874 of the new law creates a Department of Defense pilot program that would allow companies that are or become 100% ESOP-owned to receive noncompete follow-on contracts for the work. The award would be contingent on a finding that the contractor’s performance was satisfactory or better. The program will run for five years, and the Government Accountability Office is required to provide an assessment of it within three years of the program’s enactment.

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