May 15, 2007 (Washington, DC) – The Illinois Chapter of The ESOP Association was named the 2007 Most Improved Chapter by The ESOP Association. The award was presented at the Association’s 30th Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership.
The Illinois Chapter was selected from 18 Association Chapters across the United States for this honor.
“In 2004, the Illinois Chapter was almost completely dormant. In 2005, the Chapter kicked off a meeting with around 80 persons, and in 2006, the meeting nearly doubled in attendance. An amazing achievement for a Chapter that had no meetings portfolio or activities in several of the preceding years,” said J. Michael Keeling, President of The ESOP Association. “The Chapter has become focused on drawing ESOP companies to their meetings and has been seeing an increase in attendance. We look forward to seeing great things from the Chapter in the coming years.”
Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents over 1,400 ESOP companies who believe that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation and strengthen our free enterprise economy.
###