May 17, 2006 (Washington, DC) – Joseph Cabral has been awarded The ESOP Association’s Life Service Award, the Association’s highest honor, for his commitment to employee ownership and his unrivaled efforts on behalf of The ESOP Association. The award, presented at the Association’s 29th Annual Conference in Washington, DC, has been presented only nine times in the Association’s 29 year history. 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.
As a former CEO and Chair of Chatsworth Products, Inc. in Westlake Village, California, a 100% employee-owned company and manufacturer of structural support systems for technology equipment, Mr. Cabral has been actively involved with the Association and the employee ownership community for many years.
“While one has to cite the numerous official positions a Life Service Award winner has held in The ESOP Association, the Association’s honoring Joe is for more than his role as Association Chair, Vice Chair, Board Member, California Chapter President, Strategic Plan and Plan Monitoring Chair and on and on. Joe’s mark was made when he led the Association to drop its defensive public posture of trying to protect ESOPs, to adopting a strategy of having a great national debate on employee ownership,” said J. Michael Keeling, President of The ESOP Association. “Since then, ESOP advocates and the Association have devoted time, energy, and money to raising the profile of ESOPs believing that any national debate on employee ownership will result in a national policy for ESOPs.”
Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents over 1,400 ESOP companies and 750,000 employee owners who believe that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation and strengthen our free enterprise economy.