The ESOP Association's Employee Ownership Blog has a new address --- http://www.esopassociationblog.org.  Update your bookmark for the new blog.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt;"Times New Roman";} Part I The Annual Awards for Communications Excellence (AACE) are sponsored by The ESOP Association to recognize the outstanding communications programs of its members. AACE winners are...

Read More "AACE Awards – Looking Back at 2011"

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt;"Times New Roman";} The following article originally ran in the August 2011 issue of the ESOP Report, the newsletter of The ESOP Association, as the Washington Report column.  The ESOP Report newsletter...

Read More "Balance: Good News for ESOP Advocates"

Guest Blog Authors: Dave Fitz-Gerald, VP, CFO & Treasurer, Carris Reels, Inc., Proctor, VT and Linshuang Lu, Consultant, Praxis Consulting Group, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. On Friday, July 22, 2011, the New England Chapter of The ESOP Association held its first ever ESOP conference conducted entirely in Spanish. The program provided basic ESOP education, financial literacy training, and community building exercises. ESOP companies often have unique and compelling cultures so participants were...

Read More "GUEST BLOG – ESOPs in en Español"

BUT, Game Not Over! Since late October 2010, The ESOP Association, and the ESOP community, has protested vigorously against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed regulation to make all appraisers of private ESOP company stock ERISA fiduciaries. Today, the DOL issued a press release announcing that it would issue a new version of the regulation revising the definition of ERISA fiduciaries in January 2012, and begin the comment period, in essence, all over again. This news is a good...

Read More "DOL Backs Off Proposed Fiduciary Regulation; To Issue New Version in Early 2012"

ESOP Association member, Jackie J. Salmon of McCready and Keene, Inc., located in Indianapolis, IN, was recently interviewed about ESOPs on Inside Indiana Business with Gerry Dick. You can watch the interview here.  Go take a look. And thanks to Jackie for helping to spread the ESOP message. 

Read More "Inside Indiana Business Highlights ESOPs"

The following press release was sent out yesterday by The ESOP Association.   For Immediate Release: September 15, 2011 For More Information: Amy Gwiazdowski, 202/293-2971, amyATesopassociation.org   The ESOP Association Submits Statement to Finance Committee on Tax Reform and Retirement Security   September 15, 2011 (Washington, DC) – On September 15, 2011, The ESOP Association submitted a statement for the record to the Senate Committee on Finance which held a hearing...

Read More "New from The ESOP Association"

The following press release was sent out yesterday by the Employee Ownership Foundation.   For Immediate Release: September 14, 2011 For More Information: Amy Gwiazdowski, 202/293-2971, amy AT esopassociation.org   ESOP Companies Report Positive 2010 Even Amid Slow Economic Recovery   September 14, 2011 (Washington, DC) -- Results from the Employee Ownership Foundation’s 20th Annual Economic Performance Survey of ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies that are...

Read More "News from the Employee Ownership Foundation "

Congressman Rokita (R-IN) Drills Deep on Labor Department’s Lack of Data Supporting Proposed Appraiser/Fiduciary Rule   On July 26, 2011, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held an oversight hearing on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed regulation to mandate that all appraisers of private ESOP company stock be ERISA fiduciaries.   Both Republican and Democratic members asked sharp...

Read More "Indiana Freshman Congressman Speaks Out for ESOPs, Strongly"

Back in 2007, J. Michael Keeling, president of The ESOP Association, appeared on the Conversations with Harold Channer program (more information here and here) which is taped in New York City. The programs are carried on the cable television systems in Manhattan and can also be viewed at www.mnn.org --- click on channel 1 at the site.   The 2007 program recently re-aired on Thursday, August 18, 2011 and though we missed the program, we thought we’d share a link so...

Read More "Oldie but a Goodie"

Every October, The ESOP Association and its members celebrate Employee Ownership Month (EOM). Each summer, the Press & Event Planning Kit, which highlights EOM activities of ESOP Association members, is shared with all corporate members to help generate event ideas.    Download your copy of the 2011 Press & Event Planning Kit.    EOM is a celebration of the incredible spirit of employee ownership and an opportunity to educate employee owners about the...

Read More "Employee Ownership Month 2011 – Download Your Press & Event Planning Kit Today"

On September 6, 2011, S. 1512, the Senate counterpart to H.R. 1244, the “Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2011,” was introduced by a bi-partisan group of Senators: Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME).   “What is important is these Senators recognize that our national ESOP policy, while modest, is responsible for millions of locally controlled jobs in high performing companies that ensure employees...

Read More "Pro-ESOP Bill Introduced in Senate"

As an ESOP advocate I was absolutely frustrated reading the newspapers and listening to cable TV news commentators on Labor Day.  It was lament after lament that we have no national policy honoring labor anymore; that our nation is fixated on capital and the men and women who own our capital, and who trade our capital assets.   I wanted to scream --- "But there is a policy that favors labor and that policy makes them owners of capital.  It’s our employee stock ownership...

Read More "Labor and Labor Day"

A few of you out there may have heard of the Department of Labor (DOL) ESOP Project. If you’re an ESOP Report reader, you’ll note it was briefly mentioned in the Advisory Committee on Valuation column in the August 2011 issue. (You can find the ESOP Report online in the members only section of the Association’s website.)   We bring it up here because of an article in the August 18, 2011 Daily Tax Report titled, “Failure to Offset Mutual Fund Fees Tops...

Read More "The ESOP Project"

Since August is at an end, we thought we’d take a minute to re-cap this month’s highlights.   We started off the month with AACE Awards videos.   Reminded everyone to meet with their member of Congress.    Listed the ESOP advocates.    Discussed letters to the Department of Labor.   Linked to a Wall Street Journal article about the Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary regulation.   Highlighted the Curriculum Library on Employee...

Read More "August 2011 Wrap-Up"

Publications Highlight Structuring Leveraged ESOP Transactions The ESOP Association’s Advisory Committee on Finance has put together a spectacular guide for anyone who wants to finance an ESOP. This booklet tackles issues such as: Lending Considerations for ESOPs Second Stage ESOP Financing ESOP Refinancing Multi-Investor Transactions Differences Between Leveraged & Non-Leveraged ESOPs ...

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With summer coming to a close, we thought it might be a good time to share information on upcoming conferences, seminars, and Chapter events. Below are links to events offered by the Association.   Board of Directors Retreat Limited to Board of Director Members (inside or outside), CEOs, Internal Trustees and Significant Non-Trust shareholders.  Restricted to 125 attendees.)   A new program in the Association’s portfolio that is modeled after the highly successful...

Read More "ESOP Calendar of Events"

As many of our readers know, the Employee Ownership Foundation provides scholars and university professors with funding for research on employee ownership. As part of the ongoing work to encourage colleges and universities to incorporate employee ownership information into curriculums, we would like to share a link with readers to the Curriculum Library on Employee Ownership, or CLEO, on Caseplace.org which is an online, searchable library of teaching and background materials on employee...

Read More "Curriculum Library on Employee Ownership"

The Friday, August 12, 2011 edition of The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial titled, “The Borzi Savings Bomb,” questioning the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule on the definition of a fiduciary including making all appraisers of private ESOP companies ERISA fiduciaries.   If you haven’t seen it, the major thrust of the editorial is that the DOL hasn’t justified the need for the regulation.   We’ve said from the beginning:   DOL’s...

Read More "Wall Street Journal Editorial Questions DOL Proposed Fiduciary Regulation"

During this year’s Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., many ESOP Association members paid visits to Capital Hill to meet with their members of Congress to discuss ESOPs and employee ownership. Among the numerous discussions that took place, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed regulation to make appraisers fiduciaries was also on the agenda. Several members of Congress including: Senator Susan M. Collins (R-ME); Senator Scott P. Brown, (R-MA); Senator Kelly Ayotte...

Read More "Letters to the Department of Labor"