Montgomery County Community College’s Baker Center of Excellence for Employee Ownership and Business Transformation (Baker Center) and the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO) will be starting a new series of roundtable discussions exclusively created for employee-owned companies.

The Employee Ownership Business Roundtable series will bring together leaders of companies with established Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) from across Pennsylvania to discuss concerns, exchange ideas, learn about best practices and develop a network of colleagues.

“Leaders of companies with ESOPs often meet at conferences or seminars but not on a routine basis where they can informally discuss issues with peers and exchange ideas about practical solutions,” said Scott Moon, Executive Director of the Baker Center 

Kevin McPhillips, Executive Director/CEO of PaCEO, added, “The roundtable series will provide the opportunity for these discussions by business leaders with their peers and industry experts who will be available to answer questions.”

The first roundtable discussion will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 17, from 1-2 p.m. via Zoom. The topic will be “Challenges for Mature ESOPs - Dealing with the Challenges of the Repayment Obligations.” The industry advisors for this session are Mario Vicari, Partner, Kriescher Miller, a business advisor for privately held companies, and Judy Kornfeld, the founder of ESOP Economics Inc.

The roundtable series is free but registration is required. Attendance will limited in order to foster a friendly, informal environment for discussion.

“We’ll share some introductory information to frame the overall discussion, but the floor will then be open for the participants to ask questions and share their experiences,” said Moon, who will help to facilitate the discussion with PaCEO and the industry advisors. “We hope leaders will join us for this productive series of discussions.”

Future roundtable discussions will be held monthly and will feature the topics of “Dealing with the Haves and Have-Nots,” “Communication in a Dispersed Geographic Work Environment” and “ESOP Value and Newer Employees.”

For more information, contact Scott Moon at smoon@mc3.edu or Kevin McPhillips at kevin@paceo.org.

About the Baker Center of Excellence for Employee Ownership and Business Transformation

The Baker Center of Excellence for Employee Ownership and Business Transformation (Baker Center) will be a catalyst for economic growth and serve as a mechanism of upward social mobility, equity and inclusion. It will focus on three priorities to support employee-owned companies:

Offering educational activities on the benefits and considerations of employee ownership

Supporting an online library of resources on the issues of employee ownership, including white papers, videos and case studies

Raising awareness of the benefits of employee ownership to company founders, employees and the community at large through events and programs

In the academic year 2020-21, MCCC received its largest gift in its 56-year history of $3 million from Kenneth D. Baker for the creation of the Baker Center of Excellence. Baker, the CEO of NewAge Industries in Southampton, Pa., is a proponent of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) after converting NewAge in 2006 and seeing the positive benefits for both employees and the company.

About the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership

The Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO) promotes better understanding of the values of employee ownership among business leaders, public officials, employees, members of the media, students, teachers, nonprofit leaders, consumers, and other persons and organizations in Pennsylvania.

The PaCEO has a single focus – to assist businesses in the State of Pennsylvania in understanding employee ownership and its benefits. We lend guidance by educating interested parties and by supplying a listing of subject matter experts who have become known to us through their expertise and working support of our organization, and who have demonstrated extensive experience in working with ESOP clients.