Standing Ovation for EBSA Leader Ending DOL’s “War on ESOPs”
Friday’s keynote address at National Conference 2026 featured Daniel Aronowitz, the Assistant Secretary of Labor and head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). He spoke about the many changes he is instituting at EBSA that will benefit ESOPs, leading to a rousing standing ovation at the conclusion of his remarks.
The White House first nominated Daniel Aronowitz to be Assistant Secretary for EBSA in February 2025. He moved through hearings in June, followed by a successful confirmation vote in September. At those hearings, Aronowitz pledged—in response to a senator’s question on ESOPs—to ‘end the war on ESOPs.’ It is now highly encouraging to see him translating that commitment into action, advancing reforms at EBSA, supporting ESOPs, and delivering the leadership he promised during his confirmation. Throughout the confirmation process The ESOP Association publicly supported Aronowitz’s nomination with both advertising in support of his conformation and with grassroots support from TEA’s membership designed to help build bipartisan support.
Upon taking office, Assistant Secretary Aronowitz immediately began to make some changes that benefit ESOPs, notably including the elimination in January of DOL’s longstanding National Enforcement Project against ESOPs. In his remarks to attendees, Assistant Secretary Aronowitz referenced several additional changes at EBSA, largely related to its investigative and oversight role.
Notably, the Department’s posture on ERISA is changing to reflect that the law is about “process” rather than result. This change also means reviewing dozens of existing cases against ESOPs, which he announced at a recent congressional oversight meeting in April. Assistant Secretary Aronowitz also announced reforms to EBSA’s investigative efforts, curtailing unnecessarily lengthy and rudderless investigations, and ending the use of what he characterized as “novel” legal theories that have often been used against ESOPs. He is also ending “fishing expedition” style investigations at EBSA, which have targeted ESOPs through plan sponsors.
Under Aronowitz’s direction, EBSA is also reforming how it uses common interest agreements, which were secret agreements between the Department and private plaintiffs’ firms to share information related to investigations and audits of ESOP companies and plan sponsors. These sorts of taxpayer-supported private lawsuits have been the subject of severe criticism by Congress and in legal proceedings. The ESOP Association raised all these issues with EBSA previously, requesting reform and a more balanced approach from EBSA.
Overall, the speech was a remarkable turnaround from the prior posture at EBSA and the DOL, which was skeptical of, if not outright hostile to, ESOPs. Decades of overly aggressive efforts by EBSA against ESOPs contributed to a severe “chilling effect” on ESOP formation. That posture is now changing, which should be encouraging to both existing ESOPs and those considering forming an ESOP.
Jim Bonham, President and CEO of The ESOP Association, said during his introduction of Assistant Secretary Aronowitz, “…there’s a difference between good intentions and good action, and the list of public officials who forgot their promises or became distracted by other priorities once gaining power is far too long. Fortunately for us, Assistant Secretary Aronowitz’s tenure has been a breath of fresh air.”
In the end, attendees responded to Assistant Secretary Aronowitz’s speech with a rousing standing ovation, showing him and the DOL staff who joined him at the conference their appreciation for his ongoing work ending the “war on ESOPs.”
