Congratulations to the 2024 AACE Award Winners!

The AACE Awards honor and celebrate the greatest achievements in ESOP and employee ownership communications.  Communicating and engaging with employee owners and the surrounding community is an essential part of an ESOP's success.  This year’s winners were celebrated at the Employee Owned conference in Las Vegas November 2024.

Winners are selected in 7 categories: video, print materials, intranets, community engagement, single event, series of events, and total communications.  Winners are selected from companies with under 250 employees and companies with 250 or more employees.

And the winners are….

Video

ESOPs under 250 employees: 

Runner Up: Crop Quest 
The AACE judges were really impressed with the way this ESOPs “Connect, Protect, and Grow” video made a great connection between their business and their employee owners.

Winner: PfsBrands 
The judges felt this video perfectly encapsulated the spirit of employee ownership and what makes ESOPs so special. We win and lose as a team, and when employees treat their jobs like they own the company, they can have a big impact on the share price. They also created an educational video that explains the ESOP concept very clearly and focuses on the long-term wealth building potential for employees. 

ESOPs with 250 or more employees:

Runner Up: Kline Electric 
This ESOP created one of the best onboarding video the judges have ever come across.  The judges appreciated how the video was submitted in both English and Spanish.  It really demonstrated their commitment to employees, their vision and core values.

Winner: Basen Steel 
The judges really liked how this video traced the founder’s vision and ESOP journey, from starting the company to the trust he placed in his employees when he sold the business to them.  It’s a great tribute to the founder, the employee owners and the company’s commitment to their values.

Print Materials

ESOPs under 250 employees: 

Runner Up: Cisco-Eagle 
This ESOP made an effort to communicate with employees who are not always working at a desk.  This company had a diversity of print materials ranging from an ESOP statement reading guide, to “Bathroom News” – a series of one-pagers filled with ESOP information.

Winner: Mid-South Building Supply 
The judges were impressed with this ESOP’s consistent branding that proudly displayed their 100 percent employee ownership. All their materials were also available in Spanish, they provided great facts about their ESOP along with certificates of ownership, and our judges thought their company yearbook was a really nice touch that communicated the sense of community in the company.

ESOPs with 250 or more employees:

Runner Up: ITA Group 
This ESOP submitted results of a survey that showed 89 percent of employee owners felt connected to their ESOP, and 96 percent were excited for the future of the company. They got extra credit from our judges for their use of social media to amplify their print communications.

Winner: KE&G Construction 
This ESOP utilized a wide variety of print communications with employees throughout the year. Their information and educational materials were all available in Spanish, and the messaging used in their annual report is a great example of an ESOP with a clear vision, mission, and values.

Intranets

ESOPs under 250 employees: 

Runner Up:  Pfsbrands 
This ESOP’s intranet platform serves as a one-stop shop for their employee owners.  It includes an abundance of education and includes incredible features like a wealth calculator.  Employee owners can share and connect via the Yammer platform.

Winner: Rayser Holdings 
This ESOP’s intranet allows employees to access a great deal of useful information in a format that is highly intuitive and organized. Everything from company news, to notifications, team chats, and important documents are easy to find and well placed. For an intranet containing so much information, our judges loved the clean and uncluttered look of our winning entry.

ESOPs with 250 or more employees:

Runner Up: People Tec 
The judges though this ESOP did a great job integrating their ESOP materials with their other company communications. Our judges were impressed by the easily understandable information about the ESOP, presented in a manner that was very accessible to employees.

Winner: Kline Electric 
This ESOP built out a private community group for announcements, employee owner recognitions, education, and company news. They created a centralized hub for internal communications on a platform that all their employees were familiar with and could use and access easily. Their ESOP education section helps ensure every employee owner is fully informed and empowered, and the company’s frequent interactions keep employees more engaged and connected to their mission.

Community Engagement

ESOPs under 250 employees: 

Runner Up: The Stark Group 
The Employee Owners of this ESOP volunteered more than two thousand hours of service, helping more than 60 organizations in their community. The ESOP also offer employees two hours of paid time off each month for volunteer work.

Winner: Nobis Group
This ESOP has a proud history of service that has developed into a pillar of their corporate culture. They have a dedicated community involvement team that is committed to organizing volunteer opportunities, rallying participation, and managing their sponsorships and donations. In addition, their employees serve on boards and provide insight and expertise for nonprofits, while their technical experts work to get more children interested in STEM fields. They even award two STEM scholarships to graduating high school seniors each year. 

ESOPs with 250 or more employees:

Runner Up: Pavement Recycling Systems (PRS Holdings) 
This ESOP started their own foundation to support their community in the areas of health, education, the environment, and community parks and recreation. Their local employee owners decide how donations are allocated in each of their regions, ensuring they support causes that enrich their local areas.

Winner:  People Tec 
This ESOP contributed 250,000 dollars to a local school for technology and engineering and hold events throughout the year to encourage employee owners to engage with their community. 

They are very active in their local chamber of commerce and other local organizations, and their president and CFO even hosted a panel on the benefits of forming an ESOP. Our judges liked how they proactively engage with their state representatives, hosting tours at their offices so their elected officials can gain a deeper appreciation of how employee ownership works.

Single Event

ESOPs under 250 employees: 

Runner Up: Wiley|Wilson 
This ESOP’s held an Owner Fest that was themed The Greatest ESOP on Earth. In addition to a stock price reveal, they also focused on ESOP education and included external speakers, carnival games, and charitable donations.

Winner: Moore Holding Company 
This ESOP held a three-day event called the Elevate Owners Summit, that was programmed like a traditional trade conference. They had it all: keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and entertainment, and delivered an unprecedented learning and culture experience for their employee owners. Throughout the planning and execution phases, they leveraged all their communications channels to showcase the company’s values-based messaging and encourage employee engagement and participation. 

ESOPs with 250 or more employees:

Runner Up: Bob’s Red Mill 
This ESOP held a stock day family picnic, for which they shut down all their facilities for 24 hours so anyone who wanted could attend. They had almost 80 percent participation, and even got a visit from their Congresswoman. Our judges loved how all their communications were translated into four different languages.

Winner: Lochmueller Group 
This ESOP’s held an ESOP stock price reveal event for employee owners. But they really went above and beyond to foster engagement and inclusiveness. Every one of their offices across the Midwest had an event, with breakfast, games, t-shirts, and gift boxes for all ages. And they found a very innovative way to reveal their share price to their 13 locations, producing a mock newscast that the judges loved.

Series of Events

ESOPs under 250 employees

Runner Up: Pfsbrands 
This ESOP held many diverse educational events. They featured a lot of ESOP 101 sessions and workshops, in-office and virtually, on topics like how to read your ESOP statement. But they also found ways to make learning about their ESOP more fun, like Olympics-themed and Family Feud-style events.

Winner: The Stark Group 
This ESOP created a Shark Week theme for their Employee Ownership Month campaign. Their communications were smart, engaging, and featured consistent messaging across their channels. 

They went to great lengths to make sure employees across their locations participated in the festivities, and the results speak for themselves. 95 percent of their employee owners attended their share price reveal, 85 percent participated in a fun-filled trivia lunch, and 97 percent attended their vesting ceremony.

ESOPs with 250 or more employees

Runner Up: Lerch Bates 
This ESOP held events throughout Employee Ownership Month that they themed, ESOPtober. Activities featured kudos cards for people to celebrate their fellow employee owners, an ESOP Q and A with their CFO, a fireside chat with a recent retiree, and family activities like pumpkin decorating and costume contests.

Winner: ISG 
This ESOP held a monthlong celebration during Employee Ownership Month with fun activities to educate employees on what it means to be an employee owner. They came up with innovative themes and communications to showcase the many benefits of ESOPs and encourage team participation throughout the month. 

Our judges liked the weekly themes they used to engage during October, and were greatly impressed by their overall communications strategy, which resulted in an 84 percent email open rate.

Total Communications

ESOPs under 250 employees

Runner Up: Mid-South Building Supply 
This ESOP really leaned into their employee owned branding. Our judges especially like their new hire swag bag that also contained educational info on the ESOP and employee ownership.

Winner: Hallmark Building Supplies 
This ESOP’s took internal communications to a new level with a multiplatform, multichannel strategy. These guys did it all: They created an owners manual for employees, they have a new website, they actively engage on social media channels, their educational materials and events are exceptionally well done, with employee owned branding and messaging consistently shining through. 

ESOPs with 250 or more employees

Runner Up: Pavement Recycling Solutions (PRS Holdings) 
This ESOP did a fantastic job incorporating different mediums into a holistic communications strategy. The judges enjoyed their Why ESOP video, in addition to their newsletters, quarterly podcast, and retiree testimonials. 

Winner: Creative Financial Staffing 
This ESOP received high marks for their company University, their outstanding intranet and the quality of their educational materials, and their in-person events.