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📈 Ownership Pays Off

EOX's Steve Storkan presents groundbreaking study on ESOP distributions

At the recent Mid-Year Fellows Workshop in Honor of Louis O. Kelso at Rutgers SMLR, EOX Executive Director Steve Storkan was named as a new Rutgers Executive Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. As part of the fellowship, Steve and Aaron Dean, CEO of Deanalytics, compiled and analyzed data on aggregate ESOP distributions from 2009 to 2024, including the impact of terminated ESOPs on those payouts. The goal of the data study was to put clearer numbers behind the enormous economic impact of what ESOPs have delivered for workers over an extended period, on a state-by-state basis, and deliver them in an impressive, searchable dashboard.

This research will help ground future conversations with state and federal policymakers, funders, and business owners who want to understand not just how ESOPs work, but what they actually mean for workers’ wealth-building — and not just as a benefit at the point of retirement. Please help us congratulate Steve and Aaron for their remarkable work on this project, and for the ways this data will help pave the way for more employee ownership.

In addition to the data study presentation, EOX and the State Center Network were well represented at the Kelso Workshop with board members Adria Scharf, Lisa Gomez, Ken Baker, and Jim Steiker, and State Center leaders Kevin McPhillips, Bill Castellano, and Michael Palmieri in attendance. It was also great to see Ken Baker receive the Rutgers Institute Award, recognizing his long-standing leadership in the employee ownership community.

WANT TO HEAR MORE? Register for our upcoming webinar where Steve will walk through the findings and what they might mean for the future of ESOPs and the broader EO landscape.

CLICK TO REGISTER

Beyond Retirement — The Real Story of ESOP Payouts

March 12, 2026 | 1:00 PM ET

EOX ON THE MOVE

North Dakota has joined the State Center Network
EOX reaches goal of establishing 25 State Centers for Employee Ownership by the end of 2025.

North Dakota is officially on the EO map. The North Dakota Center for Employee Ownership (NDCEO) has launched as the 25th State Center in the EOX network, bringing our “25 by 25” vision to life. We’re deeply grateful to the many North Dakotans who helped make this possible — especially Tammy Miller, Kirk Lindemann, Cole Mercier, Danielle Foster, and the dozens of others who are leading the formation of the Center — and we’re excited to see how NDCEO will help local business owners keep legacies, meaningful jobs, and community wealth rooted in the state.
READ HERE →

NEWS ACROSS THE EOX NETWORK

SPOTLIGHT: MOCEO launches the Kansas City Citywide Task Force on Employee Ownership

In just 3 months after becoming MOCEO's Executive Director, Julie Leonhardt is making waves with the launch of the KC Citywide Taskforce on EO, bringing together heavy hitters like City of KC, the KCEDC, numerous Chambers, the MO SBDC, UMKC, KC Sourcelink and others to expand the employee ownership movement in Missouri.
READ HERE →

CONGRATULATIONS to EOX Board Member, Ken Baker, on being awarded the Inaugural Leadership Award by the Montco Foundation!
READ HERE →

ALCEO is teaming up with Project Equity and other community leaders to advance EO in Birmingham →

FLCEO hires their first Executive Director, Tom Verbos, with support from the EOX Grant Program →

IACEO receives $250K from JPMorganChase to continue advancing EO in Iowa →

ILCEO announces their 2025 report of the Top 50 Employee-Owned orgs in Illinois (available on their new site) →

MICEO joined the Great Lakes EXPO to engage with innovators and industry leaders to share the good news about EO →

NCEOC welcomes HMS Motorsports to the EO family as North Carolina's newest Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) →

RMEOC hosts informative policy toolkit webinar with EOX, showing how employees can "buy your business without personal debt" →

TXCEO is gearing up for the 2026 Purpose Trust Ownership Conference, hosting an exciting Howdy Hour →

WACEO launches WACEO-Inland, partnering with Inland Cooperative Services to expand EO across the Spokane region →

WICEO Executive Director, Joe Sapp, testifies before the state Committee on Ag. and Revenue in support of SB21 →

UPCOMING EVENTS

🗓️ Check out the EOX Events Calendar!

CONFERENCE — NCEO Women's Summit

hosted by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO)

February 02 - 03, 2026 | Fort Lauderdale, FL

REGISTER →

CONFERENCE — 2026 Purpose Trust Ownership Conference

hosted by the Texas Center for Employee Ownership & the Purpose Trust Ownership Network

February 25-27, 2026 | Austin, TX

REGISTER (Waitlist*) →

*Event is Sold Out, But Waitlist is Available

WEBINAR — The Future of Business - How Shared Ownership Drives Innovation and Performance

hosted by RIT | Saunders College of Business Executive Education

February 26, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
REGISTER →

WEBINAR — Beyond Retirement — The Real Story of ESOP Payouts

hosted by EOX and Deanalytics | EOX Presents Rutgers Data Study

March 12, 2026 | 1:00 - 1:30 PM ET

REGISTER →

CONFERENCE — NCEO Annual Conference

hosted by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO)

April 6-9, 2026 | Milwaukee, WI

REGISTER →

EO IN THE NEWS

The Capitol ESOP Group named one of America's Top Wealth Management Teams Private Wealth for 2025
READ MORE →

SES ESOP Strategies CASE STUDY — Broadcast tower and antenna construction and maintenance company commits to employee empowerment by becoming 100% employee-owned
READ MORE →

HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED?
EOX encourages all of our readers to subscribe to The Stakehold — a weekly newsletter on all things employee ownership (and then some), including purpose trust ownership, steward ownership, workplace democracy, and the ownership economy.

This is the best way to stay up-to-date in real time while you wait for EOX's monthly publications.

POLICY CORNER

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Becomes the First City to Provide Preferences for Employee-Owned Businesses

Under the city's new equal business opportunity (EBO) policy, Grand Rapids now provides purchasing preferences to businesses that are employee-owned through an ESOP, EOT, or worker coop while being certified by a recognized third party, such as Certified Employee-Owned or the NCEO.
READ MORE →

EO RESOURCE

🧭 DOWNLOAD - EO Capital Roadmap
Presented by Ownership Capital Lab, working to mobilize $10B by 2040
DOWNLOAD →

SUPPORT EOX

Want to get more involved in a State Center near you or at the national level? Please email Steve Storkan at sstorkan@eoxnetwork.org.

If you're interested in donating to support our work to expand employee ownership across the United States, please click the button below to make a tax-deductible gift to the Employee Ownership Expansion Network!

EOX EIN: 83-2849677

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