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.

In addition to all of the above, this year marks the 40th consecutive year of the NCEO’s annual conference, and we’ll be celebrating in style. It’s both inspiring and humbling to look back at where we began—a conference that started in Boston with about 150 attendees and about a dozen sessions is now a jam-packed four-day event, at times filling convention centers with 1,900-plus attendees from throughout the employee ownership community.

The last few years, of course, have been anything but normal, but our members, community partners, sponsors, and attendees made our virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021 fun, engaging, and enriching in their own right. But we’re all overjoyed at the notion of once again reuniting with this community that drives all we do.

This year's conference will include special nods to the 40-year history of the conference, including retrospectives, insights from companies and professionals, and, best of all, a chance once to again to gather and share.