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● Famed New York City liquor store Astor Wines & Spirits is now ESOP-owned.

A number of ESOPs have recently been recognized as great places to work by a variety of publications.

At the 2023 NCEO Annual Conference in Kansas City, Greg Fresh and Matt Dennison of Chartwell gave a presentation on how a private equity group (PEG) can invest in ESOP companies.

Initial results from the NCEO’s 2016 survey of corporate governance practices in ESOP companies show the range of current practices in the composition and compensation of boards of directors and the various approaches companies take toward ESOP trustees.

By Patrick J. Dixon, Account Executive, and Jeffrey S. Gelburd, Vice President, Murray Insurance Fiduciary Liability

Since stepping down as director of the NCEO 11 years ago to become basically a close to full-time volunteer, I have had the privilege of serving on a number of ESOP company boards (the fees go to the NCEO). A key issue for these boards is how to think about their cash reserves.

There has been growing interest in the US in employee ownership trusts (EOTs). In an EOT, a special purpose trust purchases all or part of the shares from sellers. The trust is designed to be permanent so that the company does not become a target for acquisition.

With the economy in its 10th year of modest but steady growth, dealing with a downturn may not be on the minds of a lot of employee-owners. But any business in any economy can suffer a downturn, and a recession is bound to happen sometime.

In their presentation at the NCEO’s annual conference, Jacob Covell, media specialist at employee-owned Carris Reels, and Kyla Alterman, associate consultant at Workplace Development, acknowledged some of the ways in which ESOP communications and engagement might have experienced a bit of a slump since the pandemic.

Community is powerful and community has become more important than ever.