Employee Ownership Blog
Madelyn Hammack

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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Madelyn Hammack

Democracy at Work Institute Releases Its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report

The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) recently released its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report. The report, which covers two years of business progress among worker-owned and democratic workplaces in the US, takes into account the latest developments in the worker cooperative space and aims to increase understanding of the sector as a whole.

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Madelyn Hammack

National Economic Council Hosts White House Convening on Worker Ownership

On July 25, the National Economic Council (NEC) hosted a meeting on employee ownership in the White House compound that gathered representatives from federal agencies, legislative offices, and the employee ownership community, including the NCEO’s Loren Rodgers. As Joseph Blasi, speaking as a representative of the Treasury Department, noted, never before has a presidential administration hosted such a prominent inter-agency meeting on employee ownership. 

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Madelyn Hammack

State of New Jersey Partners with Rutgers University to Promote Employee Ownership

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) has announced a significant collaboration with the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) to foster employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) across the state. This partnership aims to create educational and informational programs to increase the number of New Jersey businesses implementing the ESOP model. Professor Bill Castellano, Executive Director of the New Jersey/New York Center for Employee Ownership, will be leading the charge. “A large percentage of retiring business owners have few succession plan options, and don’t realize they can sell the company to their employees instead of closing up shop,” he said. “Employee ownership strategies save jobs and help to keep the business and the local economy going.”

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Madelyn Hammack

Introducing the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success

We're delighted to announce the launch of the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success. A nonprofit initiative founded in November 2023 by Chip Cargas, founder and chair emeritus of the employee-owned company Cargas, and created in partnership with the Lancaster Chamber, the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO), and the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), Tandem offers pathways for business success through two proven programs: profit sharing and direct employee ownership. The Center provides education and technical assistance to businesses, enabling them to thrive in ways that benefit owners, employees, and other stakeholders. 

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Madelyn Hammack

Reflections on the 2023 National Employee-Owner Summit

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the first day of the 2023 National Employee-Owner Summit in Downers Grove, Illinois. The two-day event, which is a collaboration between the NCEO and the OEOC (Ohio Employee Ownership Center), is moderated by the OEOC and offers non-managerial employee-owners the opportunity to learn from and interact with their peers from other ESOP companies through informational sessions, structured exercises, small group discussions, and even games.

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Madelyn Hammack

Rutgers Launches Free Online Course on Employee Ownership

Last week, The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing announced the launch of its first massive open online course (MOOC), titled "Our Share: Employee Ownership as a Wealth Sharing Tool." The free Coursera course, which is delivered as a series of short, engaging videos that can be viewed at one's own pace, teaches viewers what employee ownership is, how it differs from traditional business ownership models, the forms it can take, and the benefits it can provide for employees, retiring business owners, and the economy.

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