News

Brookfield, Wis. (May 9, 2018) – OwnersEdge Inc., an ESOP holding company based in Brookfield, has acquired QComp Technologies, a robotic systems integrator in the Fox Valley that serves clients throughout the United States and Canada. OwnersEdge now has four 100% employee-owned companies – BAYCOM Inc., CC&N, QComp Technologies and TourGuide Solutions – and more than 300 employees.

Near-record-low unemployment has companies fumbling to find the best ways to recruit and retain workers. Our research suggests a sure-fire way to do just that: Give them a real stake. By that we simply mean sharing some of the profits and even ownership with the men and women who are fundamental to their companies' success.

Three former employees of America's largest hearing aid manufacturer, Starkey Hearing Technologies, are suing the company and a group of its current and former executives for failing to uphold their fiduciary duties tied to an employee stock ownership program.

Pariveda Solutions took the top spot of Fairygodboss's Best Companies for Women in 2019. Described as an employee-owned strategic services and IT consulting firm, Pariveda Solutions earned the highest score (99) from its employees for being a workplace offering clear career advancement, pay transparency, a mentorship program and an Esprit de Femme program to help women share and discuss new ideas. Along with Pariveda, the top five companies include Ultimate Software, Protiviti, ZS and Boston Scientific.

NORWALK, Conn., Jun 04, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Best Friends Pet Hotel, a national operator of pet hotels with 30 locations throughout the United States offering boarding, grooming, doggy day camp, training and retail services at each of its locations, announced today its Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, acquisition led by Mosaic Capital Partners.

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban has proposed a solution for income inequality that doesn't involve dismantling capitalism: Business owners should give all their employees equity.

Wealth inequality is gearing up to be a major issue in the 2020 election and one possible solution growing in popularity is the idea of employee ownership.

Joseph Blasi, Rutgers University; Douglas L. Kruse, Rutgers University, and Maureen Conway, Rutgers University

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), along with Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced two pieces of legislation to help workers around the country form employee-owned businesses. The WORK Act – modeled on the success of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center – would provide more than $45 million in funding to states to establish and expand employee ownership centers, which provide training and technical support for programs promoting employee ownership. The bill is also co-sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and was introduced in the House by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

Daily Herald's parent company diversifies to offset print declines.

Alloy Engineering, founded in 1943 in a Rocky River home, fabricates alloy parts for high-temperature and corrosive-resistant industrial applications. It also boasts Ohio's first Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, established in 1974. The plan is recognized as the first for an Ohio company by the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC). At 45 years old, it's also the long- est-running ESOP in the state.

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Miklos Systems Inc. (MSI) of Fairfax, VA has won The ESOP Association's highest corporate honor—the ESOP Company of the Year Award. The award honors a company that actively participates in the employee ownership community and that demonstrates a dedication to The ESOP Association's vision of employee participation, wealth creation, and individual dignity and worth.

Rutgers analysis finds workers in firms with employee share ownership build greater wealth and they are six times less likely to be laid off

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Janet Edmunson, founder of JME Insights in South Portland, ME, has been named the 2019 Life Service Award winner by The ESOP Association. The Life Service Award honors individuals who've made a significant, long-term contribution to employee ownership and the ESOP community.

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE: WMS) ("ADS" or the "Company"), a leading global manufacturer of water management products and solutions for commercial, residential, infrastructure and agricultural applications, today announced its Board of Directors has approved a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share as well as a quarterly cash dividend on ADS common stock of $0.09 per share.

Taking cues from Colorado, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia, all of which have recently enacted legislation supporting and encouraging the establishment of ESOPs, the states of Texas, Indiana, and Nebraska are now moving forward with their own pro-ESOP initiatives.
Nebraska Law Allows ESOPs to Own CPA Firms

A new study from Rutgers University's Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation, titled Building the Assets of Low and Moderate Income Workers and their Families: The Role of Employee Ownership, was released last month. Authored by Janet Boguslaw of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis and Lisa Schur at Rutgers, the study finds that being an employee-owner in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)-owned company can have life-changing effects.

Canfield & Tack and Cohber Press have announced their intentions to merge their Rochester, N.Y.-based printing companies effective June 1, offering clients commercial printing, collateral management, direct mail and digital marketing solutions. Employees of Cohber will become employee-owners at Canfield & Tack and all operations will be consolidated into Cohber's existing 84,000-sq.-ft. production facility located at 1000 John St. in Henrietta, N.Y.

KeHE Distributors (KeHE) announced today that it has completed comprehensive review to find a strategic capital partner for growth, replacing a longtime minority shareholder. TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. (TowerBrook), an international investment management firm, has become a shareholder in KeHE and has committed additional capital for future growth.