3 pm – 5 pm - CEO Roundtable * SOLD OUT, contact kfitts@kent.edu to be placed on waitlist*
3 pm – 5 pm - CFO Roundtable *
3 pm – 5 pm - HR Roundtable *
5 pm - 7 pm - Opening Night Reception with drinks and appetizers**
* To encourage open discussion roundtable attendance is limited to members from employee-owned companies.
** Opening night reception is $40 per individual. No charge if registered for April 22nd pre-conference roundtable or April 23rd full conference.
To register for pre-conference events fill out this form and email it to Kelly Fitts at kfitts@kent.edu
Click here to register for the conference
Each year the OEOC’s Annual Conference features an interesting mix of featured speakers and 20-plus
breakout sessions for management and leaders of employee-owned companies, rank and file
employee-owners and business owners interested in selling to their employees.
This session will help guide senior leaders and board members in determining whether a Repurchase Obligation Study or a Sustainability Analysis is the right tool for developing a long-term funding plan for their ESOP. We'll explore the differences between these two approaches, when each is most appropriate, and how the insights gained can inform strategic financial planning. Whether your ESOP is newly established or more mature, understanding which analysis best fits your company's needs is a critical step toward ensuring the long-term health and viability of your employee ownership plan.
ESOP valuations don’t hinge solely on financial statements—qualitative factors often play an equally powerful role in determining long term company value. In this session, Jason Venner (Clampco) and Eric Flickinger (Eide Bailly) will walk attendees through real examples of how these non financial elements shape both company performance and the valuation process. Jason will lead with practical, company level narratives—highlighting how leadership, governance, workforce dynamics, communication practices, strategy decisions, and employee owner engagement show up inside an employee owned business. Eric will then connect each of these factors to the valuation perspective, illustrating how analysts assess them, how they influence risk and growth assumptions, and how they ultimately affect the ESOP’s appraised value. This session is ideal for company leaders, ESOP committees, HR professionals, and employee owners seeking to better understand the “story behind the numbers” and how everyday organizational decisions directly impact valuation outcomes.
This session will provide employee owners at ESOP companies with a grounding in the basics of ESOPs; what they are; how you participate; how you accumulate value in your ESOP account; what vesting is; and how you receive the value of your ESOP account when you retire or leave the company.
Culture change may start at the top, but it succeeds or fails in the middle. Managers and supervisors shape ownership through how work gets done every day — and they often determine whether people stay or leave jobs. This interactive session highlights the limitations of engagement surveys and ESOP education in changing behavior. Instead, participants will learn how to link reliable data on the most important indicators of ownership behavior with practical steps managers and supervisors can take to create the conditions that support ownership on the job.
Many owners like the idea of employee ownership as a succession strategy, but may find that for some reason or another, an ESOP just doesn't work for them and their company. There are other options, and this session explores two of them - a worker cooperative and an Employee-Owned Trust (EOT). This session will cover the basic structures of each and the situations in which they can be effective.
Join a panel of women leaders working in the employee ownership community as they lead an open discussion on the the experiences, issues and challenges facing women leaders in employee-owned companies.
ESOP-owned companies are often strong acquirers due to their financial stability, ownership structure, and attractiveness to sellers. This session will cover motivations for ESOP acquisitions, how to determine when an acquisition is appropriate, and key steps in executing a transaction, including pipeline development, organizational preparation, and deal structuring. Learning objectives include identifying and evaluating potential acquisition targets, assessing your company’s financial and operational readiness, and understanding common deal structures and how to select the appropriate approach.
This session is a “101”-level introduction to the basics of business financials and financial terminology. It is designed to provide employee-owners a base-level understanding of interpreting financial concepts and information and how it impacts business results.
This session is a “101”-level introduction to the basics of business financials and financial terminology. It is designed to provide employee-owners a base-level understanding of interpreting financial concepts and information and how it impacts business results.
This session will provide cooperative members, or those considering membership in their worker cooperative, with a grounding in the basics of the worker cooperative structure. It will cover what they are; how governance operates; how you become a member; how you accumulate value in your internal capital account; and how you realize that value.
Brian Bornino - GBQ Capital Advisors
Herb Wainer - Horizons Incorporated
Chris Cooper - Ohio Employee Ownership Center
Horizons Incorporated became ESOP-owned in early 2025. This session explores their full journey to employee ownership: the alternatives considered and why shareholders chose an ESOP, the OEOC's role in the education process, how the feasibility study shaped the final decision, and the transaction process itself.We'll also cover Horizons' first year as an employee-owned company — the employee rollout, communicating ESOP benefits, and building an ownership culture.This session is ideal for companies considering an ESOP, those with newly established ESOPs, employees or management new to an ESOP company, or any organization looking to better communicate the ESOP to their workforce.
Taking on a leadership role in an ESOP company brings unique opportunities — and a steep learning curve. This session is designed for those new to guiding their company's ESOP journey, whether you've recently stepped into a leadership position or want to deepen your understanding of what makes an ESOP thrive. We'll cover the most important priorities for new ESOP leaders: understanding plan documents and compliance, building relationships with key advisors, and working effectively with your valuation advisor — including what drives the annual valuation and how to communicate value to employee-owners. Real-world stories will highlight common challenges and how to navigate them. Attendees will leave with a clear roadmap for their first year, including what to prioritize, how to leverage internal and external resources, and strategies for fostering a culture of ownership.
Employee Stock Ownership Plans create a powerful ownership mindset — but ownership alone doesn't guarantee engagement, retention, or sustained performance. This session explores how Total Rewards and Culture benchmarking reports equip companies with actionable insights to bridge that gap.Attendees will learn how comprehensive benchmarking — covering compensation, benefits, incentives, career development, and workplace culture — provides a fact-based framework for aligning rewards strategies with employee expectations and business outcomes. By comparing practices against industry peers, leaders can identify strengths, uncover hidden risks, and prioritize investments that reinforce trust, motivation, and long-term value creation.The session will review benchmarks across construction, manufacturing, food & agribusiness, healthcare, transportation, and professional services. As a live event, we'll generate real-time reports based on audience participation and the industries represented in the room.
Join us as we walk through the essential duties that a Board of Directors must consider following an ESOP transaction — whether the board is newly formed or well-established. We'll cover day-to-day responsibilities such as selecting independent board members, evaluating offers and letters of intent from potential buyers, assessing acquisition opportunities, and understanding the key differences between corporate fiduciary duties and ERISA fiduciary duties.
Thinking about retirement often raises important questions: What will I do when I retire? Am I saving enough? Will I even be able to retire? In this session, we’ll explore how to turn your vision for retirement into clear, tangible financial goals. Whether you’re 10 years away or 40, you’ll learn practical investment strategies you can use today to help design and fund the retirement you want tomorrow.
Distribution policy and repurchase strategy are at the heart of every successful ESOP, yet the interplay between them is often overlooked. This session will start with an overview of distribution timing and methods, then dive deeper into advanced topics such as the form of distributions (cash vs. stock), redeeming and segregating shares, and the mechanics and strategic uses of 80-26 loans. We’ll also explore how to facilitate a releverage, including real-world examples and unique considerations. Attendees will gain practical insights and actionable strategies for aligning distribution policy with long-term repurchase planning and sustainability.
Periods of growth and change can put real pressure on cooperative values, governance, and culture. This session draws on the experiences of two Ohio-based worker cooperatives that have navigated significant growth, examining how they managed expansion and change without losing their cooperative identity. The discussion highlights practical lessons for both leadership and worker-owners.
Presenters
Congratulations — your company is now fully or partially employee-owned. But do your employees actually understand the benefits of that ownership? If not, is it indifference or simply a lack of understanding? This session explores how to leverage your employee ownership structure to improve retention, attract talent, and drive growth. Whether your transaction involved phantom equity, a worker co-op, EOT, or ESOP, the same fundamental question applies: what needs to change now that employees are owners? Using practical examples across all four structures, we'll cover what must evolve in governance, communication strategy, and incentives once employees become owners — or beneficial owners — of the business. This session is ideal for any organization that has recently transitioned to employee ownership and wants to ensure that transition delivers its full potential.
Cooperative culture is reinforced—or weakened—by what happens in day-to-day operations. This session examines how cooperatives intentionally build and sustain culture by embedding cooperative values into management practices, communication, and workplace routines. The focus is on practical approaches that make culture visible and durable.
Decades of research show how employee ownership positively affects workers, firms, and communities, but much of this evidence remains fragmented and hard to acess and apply at your company. This session highlights core findings from the research and showcases a new Rutgers project that translates existing evidence into concise briefs and real-world case studies. Attendees will leave with concrete ways to use research to guide strategy, communication, and program design at thier employee-owned company.
Managing an ESOP involves a range of ongoing administrative responsibilities that are essential to keeping the plan compliant and running smoothly. This session provides a practical overview of core ESOP administration topics, including annual processes, key deadlines, and coordination with third-party advisors. The session will conclude with an open Q&A to address participant questions and real-world challenges and is ideal for leaders at new ESOP companies and new leaders at mature ESOP companies.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
.png)
.png)
%20.png)
.jpeg)
.png)
.jpeg)
-Slider%20300x200.png)