People and organizations nationwide and policymakers from both political parties admire ESOPs for their distinct identity and positive impact. They are built on longevity, transparency, and ownership.

Just over 50 years ago, the United States Congress passed the first law to encourage the introduction of Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs.

Author’s Note: The inner workings of multi-billiondollar private equity deals are, by design, confidential. The following analysis of the KKR-CHI Overhead Doors transaction is a reconstruction based on the few details that are public, combined with an understanding of standard, well-documented private equity and tax strategies.

Ian MacFarlane is the president and CEO of EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC, an environmental consulting firm. The firm is 100 percent owned by employees through an ESOP, and it is also a public benefit corporation, following a period of being publicly traded and then privately held since 2001.

This question comes up frequently, both inside and outside of the ESOP community. The total number of ESOPs is stable, with about 200-250 created and a similar number terminated per year.

The Budget Lab at Yale recently analyzed Expanding ESOPs’ policy ideas and concluded they “would cost $98.6 billion over the [first ten years or] 2026-2036 time-period.” The analysis goes on further and concludes that as the proposal is “fully adopted and incorporated into business decisions” it would “c

Congress needs to consider public policy decisions with worst actors in mind, not the best. The ESOP Association has admired the commitment to shared equity Pete Stavros has demonstrated through his PR efforts and the voluntary shared equity plans he has championed at his own firm.

Pete Stavros, founder of Expanding ESOPs, shared with The ESOP Association a much more detailed public policy proposal with the ultimate aim not to promote ESOPs as we know them today, but to convince Congress to create a new type of qualified retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and to call them ESOP

Nearly five decades ago, The ESOP Association was created to defend and grow Employee Stock Ownership Plans.