ESOP Industry News

As more accountants retire from the profession, they are not being replaced by new practitioners. A recent Wall Street Journal article shone a spotlight on a disturbing trend: the number of college students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting dropped by almost eight percent from the previous year, according to a study by the…

A recent study commissioned by the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA) has unveiled a compelling narrative – workers who own their companies through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) enjoy significantly greater employment advantages compared to the broader American workforce. Employee-owned S corporations excel in employee retention, boasting a corporate culture that fosters worker satisfaction.…

When BDO USA’s 880 partners met recently in Florida, they voted nearly unanimously to establish an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The plan is scheduled to go into effect on August 31, 2023 and will give the firm’s 10,000 employees a direct stake in ownership. The firm’s executives will continue to lead the company and…

The Menke Group is looking forward to participating in the 2023 meeting series for the The National Center for Employee Ownership. The meeting series is designed for business owners who are evaluating whether an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is the right vehicle for their business succession needs. The first meeting of 2023, entitled “Is…

On October 23, retirement industry professionals will gather in Washington DC for the annual conference of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). Menke Group’s CFO and COO, Trevor Gilmore, will address the meeting on the topic of “ESOP Fables: Succeeding with a Powerful Succession Option”. An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is…

The ESOP Association 2022 Midwest Regional Conference is just around the corner, and Menke & Associates, Inc. is proud to be a bronze sponsor! This year’s conference will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from September 20-22nd. The conference will feature a variety of sessions on topics such as employee ownership, succession planning, and employee benefits.…

FORT WASHINGTON, PA. & PROVIDENCE, R.I.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nautic Partners (“Nautic”) is pleased to announce that it has finalized the recapitalization of IT Solutions Consulting, Inc. (“ITS”), a market-leading managed information technology (IT) service provider servicing commercial clients throughout the northeast, in partnership with ITS management. Headquartered in Fort Washington, PA, ITS is a full-service IT services…

Employees are leaving their jobs at record rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nearly 9 million Americans quit their jobs during the last two months of 2021 alone. Who among us has not had the experience recently of seeing a favorite local business with a sign in the window saying, “Sorry, we are…

Employee Stock Ownership Plans are sometimes viewed as only being a good fit for certain specific industries. Manufacturing businesses, for instance, make up roughly a quarter of all ESOP companies. Architecture, engineering, and construction firms have embraced ESOPs at an increasingly rapid rate and have seen a marked benefit, reporting a 35% higher median value…

If your business is based in Colorado and you are considering employee ownership as part of your succession plan, or simply as a way to reward the workers who have helped you get to where you are, the decision just became $100,000 easier. Governor Jared Polis announced that the CO Office of Economic Development and…

Menke & Associates was proud to assist George & Lynch, Delaware’s largest commercial construction company, with the installation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) at the end of 2021. Headquartered in Dover, George & Lynch has been building critical infrastructure in and around Delaware since 1923, tackling projects ranging from roads and bridges to…

Convenience chain Wawa is one of the largest ESOPs in America. Now, a power ranking by Forbes has named them as one of the largest private companies in America, as well. Wawa ranked 29th, with a revenue of $11 billion and 38,000 employees, making them the largest privately owned company in Pennsylvania. Wawa ranked well…

In 2015, Menke & Associates, the nation’s premier full service ESOP firm, served as advisor in the design and implementation of an ESOP for Andesa Services, the leading provider of integrated, cloud-based solutions for life insurance and annuity carriers and providers. In 2020, Andesa completed the transition to 100% employee-ownership. And in 2021, Andesa demonstrated…

In October, 2021, Russell Bond & Co., Inc., a Buffalo, NY-based insurance wholesaler and longtime Menke client, announced that they had agreed to become part of Jencap Group, one of the largest insurance wholesalers in America. Gary Hollederer, President and COO of Russell Bond & Co., described the decision to join Jencap as being driven…

November 11th, 2021 — Menke Group Managing Director, Philip DeDominicis was recently featured on the How to Hardscape podcast in an episode, entitled, “Employee Stock Ownership Plans with Menke & Associates.” In the episode they outline how to give workers an ownership interest in a company — ESOP benefits, the kinds of companies employee ownership…

ESOP companies are attractive to millennial workers because they offer benefits and a culture that fit what they are looking for. They provide powerful retirement savings at a time when perks that their parents may have enjoyed, like robust pension plans, are nearly impossible to find.

On September 9, 2021, Menke Group Managing Director of ESOP Advisory and Investment Banking Matthew Nels will be speaking at the Great Game of Business Conference in Dallas. His presentation entitled, How Business Owners, Management, and Employees Can Benefit from ESOPs, will explore the range of ownership transition options that business owners might consider, and…

The Menke Group is proud to congratulate longtime client Global Tax Management on their recent placement on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list. The Inc. 5000 is the definitive ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. GTM earned their position by posting 58% revenue growth over the last three years. Headquartered in Wayne, PA, Global…

One benefit of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) that should not go overlooked is how they can help companies grow. Not only are ESOPs powerful tools for recruiting and retaining top talent, but they also empower companies to make strategic acquisitions that help them become market leaders in their fields. ESOPs help companies make strategic…

On May 1st, 2021, Porterville, CA fruit growers Homegrown Organic Farms completed their transition to employee ownership with the implementation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

In a recent article in Forbes entitled, “The ESOP Revolution: Fighting Financial Inequality And Empowering The Working Class,” author Christopher Marquis examines the “transformative power of employee ownership” in combatting the massive wealth inequality in America. Marquis argues that businesses can claim to be “sustainable and socially responsible,” and may back up those claims with…

In a recent article published in the Harvard Business Review entitled “The Big Benefits of Employee Ownership,” Thomas Dudley, CEO and co-founder of Certified Employee-Owned, and Professor Ethan Rouen of Harvard Business School shared the results of a study based on a single question: what would happen if every American business became at least 30%…

MyPath, an employee-owned family of companies that provides comprehensive services to children and adults with physical and mental disabilities, has been named the ESOP Company of the Year by the Wisconsin chapter of The ESOP Association. Based in Oconomowoc, WI MyPath has over 2,000 employee-owners serving Wisconsin and Indiana. They have been 100% employee-owned since…

On May 7th, Menke Managing Director Phillip DeDominicis will be speaking at the Ohio Employee Ownership Conference to be held at Kent State University. Phil will be giving a presentation entitled, “Employee Owner Track: ABCs of ESOPs for ESOP Participants,” which will cover how to provide new employees with the essentials of what it means…

Architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms with Employee Stock Ownership Plans outperformed traditionally-owned AEC firms in four out of six valuation categories, according to Zweig Group’s recently released 2021 Valuation Report of AEC Firms. These findings demonstrate how an ESOP can create wealth for employees and owners alike in these vital industries. Notably, the report…

If there is one lesson to be learned from the upheaval of the past year, it is the importance of having a succession plan in place. No one can anticipate all the challenges that could accompany a global pandemic or a sudden massive economic crash, but having a roadmap for keeping your business intact in…

Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson has announced that it will be issuing stock to 4,500 of its employees, including every one of its hourly factory workers. With this move, Harley-Davidson will become one of the most recognizable employee-owned companies in America. Harley-Davidson has suffered from falling sales in recent years. Giving so many workers an ownership stake…

President-Elect Joe Biden has signaled his intentions to promote employee ownership during his administration through the nominations of two vocal proponents of Employee Stock Ownership Plans to critical positions: Marty Walsh for U.S. Secretary of Labor and Isabel Guzman to head the Small Business Administration. The Menke Group joins the ESOP Association in expressing our…

The Menke Group is thrilled to congratulate longtime client Ganahl Lumber on being named 2021’s Dealer of the Year in the $100 million+ category by LBM Journal, the leading media company serving the lumber/building material distribution industry. Ganahl Lumber has been providing quality lumber products to the greater Los Angeles metro area since 1884. Their…

In 2017, the Menke Group had the distinct pleasure of helping Philadelphia-based insurance brokers and consultants Graham Company buck industry trends by converting to 100% employee ownership. Now, in a terrific new article published on Property Casualty 360, Graham’s VP of Human Resources Karen Boyle looks back on their first three years as an ESOP…

Thursday, January 14, 2020 (1:00PM – 3:00PM EST) This 2-hour web seminar is free-of-charge and will show how ESOPs can be structured to accomplish these and other objectives that may be essential to the sustainability of your company in navigating through this difficult period. The COVID-19 pandemic will likely have a financial impact on most…

Companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans have “drastically outperformed” traditionally owned businesses at retaining jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic by a rate of 4 to 1, according to a new report released by the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing in partnership with the Employee Ownership Foundation. This report, which…

San Francisco’s Fireclay Tile has followed its peer, Menke client Heath Ceramics, into employee ownership. Fireclay had previously given its employees a 14% stake in the company in 2013, and has now expanded the employee’s ownership stake by an additional 23%, meaning the workers own more than a third of the business. Home to 150…

The Davey Tree Expert Company, headquartered in Kent, OH, was recently named the 9th largest ESOP company in America according to a report by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). With approximately 10,500 employee-owners, Davey Tree is among the largest landscaping companies in the US, regardless of ownership structure, and is a good  example…

We here at The Menke Group have previously argued that the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for change, for creating a more equitable economy, a better capitalism. We have said that the future of the American economy will hinge on employee ownership, and on ESOPs in particular. We have written about the ways ESOP companies…

The Menke Group was proud to advise and assist Colorado-based Applewood Seed Company, a wholesale supplier of bulk wildflower and garden seeds, with the design and implementation of their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The transaction, which closed on July 31st, 2020, is a critical component of the company’s comprehensive succession plan, and will keep…

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, many of us are wondering when things will get back to normal. When will life be normal again? When will business be normal again? What many people—business owners, workers, even politicians—are starting to realize is, the old normal may never come back. And that could actually be a good…

Menke Managing Director Phillip DeDominicis recently participated in a conversation with Chris Cooper, Program Coordinator of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) at Kent State University, to discuss the state of the ESOP industry in the COVID economy. In this discussion, Phil draws on his 30 years of investment banking experience to assess the realities…

This article is part of a series. For Part 1: Employee Incentive ESOPs, click here The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many owners to start thinking seriously about what their business would look like without them around to run it. Would it keep going? Would it be ready for another shutdown? The pandemic has presented the…

On June 23, 2020, as part of the annual Beyster Symposium held by the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. Menke Group founder John Menke was honored with the Founding Supporter award in recognition of his decade of support for the Institute, its conferences, and the creation of an employee…

On a recent episode of LinkedIn’s This Is Working podcast, Mark Cuban had a straightforward suggestion for how to keep employees engaged, motivated, and committed as the economy starts to come back to life: “Give them stock in a meaningful way,” he said. “You’re going to need them to grow your company. We all are…

Written in collaboration with Hilary Abell, co-founder, Project Equity Black Lives Matter protests are currently continuing into their fourth week in cities and towns across America, shining a spotlight on the injustices of systemic racism. These protests have already had a positive impact, and if they can bring about a true reckoning with the violent…

April 20th, 2020 On a recent episode of the Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah, special guest Mark Cuban discussed how to revive the economy in the wake of a global pandemic. Cuban relayed some of the advice he’s shared with President Trump as part of his involvement on the coronavirus task force. “The…

As COVID-19 spreads across the country, we know that your health and the health of your fellow employee-owners is your top priority. And we know you are also concerned about the health of your ESOP. Will it be there as a resource for those who need it most in the times ahead? The Menke Group…

March 16th, 2020 Skyline Construction Enterprises, a San Francisco-based, 100% employee-owned commercial general contractor specializing in commercial interiors, has acquired Seattle’s Unimark Construction Group and its tenant services sister company Servicemark. These acquisitions give the Skyline Group a major foothold in the Pacific Northwest—a key component of their nationwide expansion plan, according to the company’s…

March 9th, 2020 SRC Holdings Corp., which is the oldest employee-owned remanufacturer to original equipment manufacturers in North America, was recently awarded the 29th annual Txemi Cantera International Prize in Bilbao, Spain. This award is given to organizations in recognition of their support for their workers and reinforces the values of cooperation, solidarity, participation, and…

March 4th, 2020 In 2010, Bob Moore, founder of the whole grain flours and cereals company Bob’s Red Mill, celebrated his 81st birthday by giving his employees the gift of ownership. Ten years later, the Bob’s Red Mill ESOP is going strong with roughly 600 employee-owners—three times the number they had when the ESOP began—and…

February 12, 2020, ESOP Association member Daniel Goldstein, President and CEO of Folience, testified before the U.S. House Small Business Committee about the need for the Department of Labor to clarify its ESOP regulations given the impending retirements of 2.5 million baby boomer business owners. This mass retirement, known as the silver tsunami, represents the…

February 6th, 2020 In January, Columbus, OH-based GreenScapes Landscape Company became the latest landscaping firm to make the transition to employee ownership. Founded in 1977 by Bill Gerhardt, who intends to stay on as president for at least five more years, Greenscapes began as a traditional landscaping business and has expanded into a full-service landscape…

Written by Jill Odom, this article was originally published at TotalLandscapeCare.com February 4th, 2020 There are a lot of myths and mysteries that surround employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and some of these misconceptions can scare landscape company owners away from considering this business option. Make no mistake, some ESOP structures are complex, but they…

Earlier this month Jimmie Gipson, 78, announced he would be retiring as of March 31st, 2020 from Houchens Industries, where he has worked for 55 years, the last 27 as CEO. Houchens, which began over 100 years ago with a single grocery store in Barren County, KY, has grown to encompass multiple retail grocery chains,…

On January 1st, 2020, Loftness Specialized Equipment, an agricultural equipment manufacturer based in Hector, MN, became 100% employee-owned, and in doing so, reconfirmed its longstanding commitment to the town of Hector and the community who helped make the company what it is today. Dick Loftness started the company that would eventually become Loftness Specialized Equipment…

Pennsylvania’s Andesa Services, which provides integrated, cloud-based solutions for life insurance and annuity carriers and providers, started 2020 by selling 100% control of the company to its 165 employees through an ESOP. “This is one of the most exciting days of my life and I hope you share my excitement,” Andesa founder John Walker said…

January 17th, 2020 At the end of 2019, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 130-67 to advance HB 285, a bill that would further incentivize business owners in PA to sell to ESOPs by enabling sellers to avoid hefty taxes on their proceeds at both the state and federal level. “ESOPs serve the dual purpose…

January 13th, 2020 Barrio Brewery, Arizona’s oldest craft brewery, started off 2020 by selling 100% control of the company to its employees through an ESOP. Any of the brewery’s 70 employees who work 1,000 hours or more in a one year period will be automatically enrolled in the plan. For Dennis and Tauna Arnold, who…

Founder and President John Menke to present at the 2020 Kelso Fellowship Workshop January 10-12th at Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ.  He will speak on the Universal Capital Accounts and Citizen Dividend Program. The purpose of the annual workshop is to study broad-based forms of capital ownership and capital income such as employee stock ownership,…

November 17th, 2019 Dixie Plywood and Lumber Company (DIXIEPLY), a leading wholesale distributor of building materials, is proud to announce it has become 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan(ESOP). The ESOP was announced to DIXIEPLY’s employees on November 1st by Dan Bradley, President of the 75 year old company. The ESOP became effective…

November 11th, 2019 Menke was formed upon passing of ERISA on Labor Day 1974 to enable business owners to sell their companies to their employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP. 45 years later, our mission remains the same: to make employee ownership available to the largest number of employees. We relate with our…

MKSK Inc. has become an employee-owned company through the creation of a new employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. MKSK, a landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm, announced through a news release that it has created an employee stock ownership plan to provide long-term ownership and organizational stability. The move also seeks to “secure…

October 15th, 2019 Victor Alam, Corporate Counsel for Menke, to lead Sessions 1 and 3 on October 17th: – Session 1: Current Issues Facing ESOP Companies: Legal, Financial, Operational & Transactional – Session 3: Special ESOP Administration Issues: Mature ESOPs, Repurchase Liability, Plan Features As an attorney, Victor specializes in the design and installation of ESOPs, as…

Oct. 2nd, 2019 ESOP Distributions: Concepts, Requirements, and Best Practices Michael Pasahow, Senior Counsel for Menke, will present best practices for employee stock ownership plan distributions on October 4th. He will cover the key issues governing ESOP distributions – eligibility, timing, method, form and manner – a critical element of cashflow and share repurchase needs…

“How New Belgium Brewing Sold the Company – and Became More Successful in the Process” As party of the Return on Values Project, New Belgian Brewing – makers of Fat Tire Beer – produced a video outlining how becoming employee-owned has positively affected both their employees and their profits. New Belgian Brewing started with a…

June 20th, 2019 ESOPs increase the probability of creating a happy workforce for Financial Advisory firms. A report by InvestmentNews sheds light on the practices that play the biggest role in setting the Best Places apart from the competition by taking a deeper look at the data firms provide in order to be considered for the list. Read…