ESOP Association Leadership

From The ESOP Association’s national headquarters in Washington, DC, James Bonham serves as President and CEO, leading The Association and its 19 state and regional chapters throughout the nation. Bonham also serves as President of the Employee Ownership Foundation, whose mission is to educate and expand employee ownership throughout the United States.

Bonham is a recognized expert in public policy, government advocacy, and executive leadership. He brings more than 25 years of experience as a high level government official, advisor, and business leader with expertise in the fields of taxes, labor, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and government contracting.

Before joining The Association, Bonham was Chairman for nearly eight years of the highly regarded Public Policy and Government Relations practice at Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP, a nationally recognized law and business consulting firm. In this role, Bonham led teams of lawyers, policy experts, and advocates representing clients as diverse as New York Life, The Recording Academy (Grammy’s), StarKist, and the American Land Title Association.

During a decade of public service, Bonham held multiple senior staff positions, including Chief of Staff in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, where he was frequently cited in the media as one of the 50 most influential aides of either political party.

His passion for shared capitalism springs from a family commitment to employee ownership: His grandfather had a personal and professional relationship with James Cash (J.C.) Penney, based partly on a shared business philosophy. One of their beliefs was granting a form of ownership to employees in the small mercantile businesses they ran. Bonham is proud to carry on today his family tradition of expanding employee ownership.

EVP, Human Resources

Superior Farms/Transhumance Holding Company Inc.

Karen Ellis is the Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Superior Farms/Transhumance Holding Co., which is a100% employee-owned company since 1991 with its corporate office located in Sacramento, CA.  Ellis also serves as a member of the Board of Directors and began her career at Superior Farms in1996. 

Ellis has served on TEA’s Board for many years, most recently as Vice-Chair of the Association for the past two years and Secretary-Treasurer prior to that.  Ellis has also served on the EC of the SRCC and as Chapter President of the California and Western States chapter.  She also serves as a Trustee to the Employee Ownership Foundation and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.