Unique Governance Structures Designed to Protect Employee Ownership by Sarah Stranahan Kevin and Nicole Koch, founders of Technicians for Sustainability (TFS), a solar design–build firm based in Tucson, Arizona, built their company from scratch. After more than a decade of running the business, the couple made an unconventional decision, converting TFS to a worker cooperative […]
Continue ReadingEA Engineering: Aligning Mission and Corporate Structure
How the problems of stock market ownership led this firm to employee ownership by Marjorie Kelly EA Engineering, an environmental consulting firm, found its values upended when the company went public. To return to its roots, the original founder bought the company back and then transitioned to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) along with […]
Continue ReadingEileen Fisher: Designing for Change
A business that puts sustainability and human rights at its core by Sarah Stranahan Eileen Fisher, Inc., designs women’s clothing. The company, which is 40 percent employee owned and a B Corp, is a leader in its human rights and sustainability practices. We wanted to understand how Eileen Fisher managed to incorporate its values into a […]
Continue ReadingKing Arthur Flour’s Recipe for Success
ESOP plus B Corporation by Sarah Stranahan Fifty by Fifty recently spoke with Suzanne McDowell, one of a three-person co-CEO team currently leading King Arthur Flour, as part of our research into the relationship between employee ownership and environmental sustainability. We knew King Arthur Flour, under the leadership of then-CEO Steve Voigt, had become a founding B […]
Continue ReadingEmployee-Owned Butler/Till Grows Its Sustainability Mission
As retirement neared, Butler and Till chose to protect their company culture with an ESOP by Sarah Stranahan When Butler/Till’s original founders Sue Butler and Tracy Till began to look at retirement, they were concerned about protecting their company culture. They had thought they would look for a compatible buyer but instead chose to transfer […]
Continue ReadingOrganically Grown Company Transitions from ESOP to Perpetual Trust
Pioneering a New Business Structure to Preserve Mission by Natalie Reitman-White In some situations, employee ownership via an ESOP may not be suited to advancing a sustainability mission, due to the demand on profits that comes from a perpetual duty to buy back shares from employees. Organically Grown Company faced this situation with a wave […]
Continue ReadingGardener’s Supply: A Company as a Living System
How Employee Ownership Has Protected a Founder’s Vision by Marjorie Kelly What is a company? The dominant view today, the Wall Street view, is of an object owned by shareholders, which has a primary purpose of producing a smooth flow of earnings, like so many ball bearings off an assembly line. The alternative the planet […]
Continue ReadingWorker Cooperatives: State of the Sector
National survey shows small but steady growth of U.S. worker cooperatives by Karen Kahn A new report from the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives estimates that 357 worker cooperatives operated in the United States in 2016. These businesses employed 6,833 people and generated $428 million in gross revenues in 2016.[i] As the numbers suggest, […]
Continue ReadingPowerful New Approaches to Scaling Employee Ownership
New Economy Coalition Conference Embraces Employee Ownership by Sarah Stranahan The importance of taking employee ownership to scale was front and center at the June CommonBound conference in St. Louis, Missouri. More than 700 people attended this biannual event of the New Economy Coalition, including activists, thinkers and leaders from across the world, working for a more […]
Continue ReadingAspen Institute Touts Employee Ownership as Solution to Economic Insecurity
by Karen Kahn Employee ownership is getting increased attention from the Aspen Institute, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank seeking to build leadership and find solutions to the many challenges that face our nation. On May 10, as part of the Working in America series, the Employment Opportunities Program and Financial Security Program sponsored “Having a Stake,” […]
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