Tuesday, November 10, 2026
8:00am – 3:30pm
Delta Hotel by Marriott
11320 Chester Road
Cincinnati, OH 45246
We are pleased to partner with Co-op Cincy for this year's Southwest Forum.
This day-long forum, held in Southwest Ohio, is designed to review the current year, and look forward to and plan for the upcoming year. It also provides a great opportunity to network with and learn from peers in other employee-owned companies and leading experts in the field of employee ownership.
The forum features sessions on legal and technical issues, CEO/CFO and HR Professional Roundtables, HR and communications issues, and business owners exploring a sale to employees.
Sessions are tailored to create tracks for:
• ESOP Leaders
• Selling Owners / Economic Developers
• HR & Communication Professionals
• Worker Cooperative Leaders
• The Ownership Story: Winning Candidates, Keeping Employee-Owners
• HR & Communications Roundtable
• What Actually Builds Ownership Culture
• CEO/CFO Roundtable
• Governance 101: How Your Board & Trustee Should Actually Work Together
• Funding the Repurchase Obligation: Cash Strategy for the Long Haul
• Co-op Dayton – From Startup to Sustainability: Building Through Shared Ownership
• Co-op Cincy – Governance & Growth: Sustainergy / Our Harvest
• Culture, Capital, and Closing the Deal: An ESOP Acquisition Panel
• Employee Ownership and Economic Development: A Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Strategy
• Selling to an ESOP 101: Structure, Process, and What Comes After
• Beyond the ESOP: Exploring Worker Cooperatives and Employee Ownership Trusts
8:00am - 8:30am – Breakfast and Registration
8:30am - 9:00am – Morning Welcome from OEOC and Co-op Cincy
9:15am - 10:30am – Concurrent Sessions 1
10:30am - 10:45am – Networking break
10:45am - 12:00pm – Concurrent Sessions 2
12:00pm - 1:00pm – Lunch (served 12:00 -12:30 / speaker 12:30 - 1:00)
1:00pm - 1:15pm – Networking Break
1:15pm - 2:30pm – Concurrent Sessions 3
2:30pm - 3:30pm – Reception
All registrations include breakfast, lunch, beverages, and reception.
NETWORK MEMBERS
$100 per attendee – Early Bird Rate (registration prior to 10/27/2026)
$125 per attendee – Regular Rate
NON-MEMBERS
$200 per attendee – Early Bird Rate (registration prior to 10/27/2026)
$225 per attendee – Regular Rate
You can register and pay via check by emailing Kelley Fitts at kfitts@kent.edu.
Email oeoc@kent.edu or call (330) 672-3028 for information on joining The OEOC Network to receive discounts on registrations.
Refund Policy
100% - 7 days (or more) prior to the event. 50% - 6-4 days prior to the event. 0% - 3 days (or less) prior to the event
Sponsorship opportunities are available for the Southwest Ohio Employee Ownership Forum.
These include:
- breakfast sponsorship
- lunch sponsorship
- reception sponsorship
- parking sponsorship
For more details, review and fill out our SPONSORSHIP FORM.
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