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Employee ownership (EO) can be transformative for businesses across a wide range of industries. As more Baby Boomer-aged business owners reach retirement age (sometimes known as the Silver Tsunami), we are seeing more and more interest in EO models such as Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Worker Cooperatives, and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs).  While every…

It’s estimated that 75% of privately held businesses don’t have a plan for who will own them when the founders or current leaders retire. We designed the Employee Ownership Ambassador Program to introduce the idea of employee ownership as a business succession option that has great benefits for business owners, employees, and communities. This program…

The Aspen Institute recently released a report profiling the important work of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) and our key role as the first state center supported by the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX).  Wealth inequality and the Silver Tsunami of retiring Baby Boomer business owners are pressing issues in our state. One…

DURHAM, N.C.–The North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) is thrilled to announce its receipt of a substantial $100,000 grant from the AllState Foundation, further propelling its mission to champion employee ownership and contribute to closing the racial wealth gap in Minnesota and North Carolina. This grant aims to protect jobs, increase community wealth, and foster…

Durham, NC, April 11, 2023: The North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) is delighted to announce that we have hired a new executive director, Lauren Elyse Tudor, who will lead NCEOC in achieving our mission of protecting jobs, increasing community wealth, and creating a more vibrant, inclusive economy through employee ownership. With over a decade…

Successful employee ownership conversions require expert guidance in areas such as business law, planning, finance, and management. SBDCs across the country are repositories of such guidance and resources, whether someone is pursuing employee ownership or a traditional ownership plan. As more aging business owners retire during the ongoing “Silver Tsunami,” SBDCs and employee ownership centers…

This past week, we wrapped up the inaugural cohort of our NC Employee Ownership Ambassador Program. Our five participants (pictured above at our hybrid meeting last week) represented economic development, wealth management, business owners, higher education, and Small Business Centers (SBCs). They learned how employee ownership can protect jobs, increase community wealth, and create a…

Job Description: North Carolina Employee Ownership Center Executive Director Overview The North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) is on a mission to protect jobs, increase community wealth, and create a more vibrant, inclusive economy through employee ownership. We do this through telling stories, forging partnerships, and providing unbiased information to business owners and their advisors…

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Celebrate & Learn: Employee Ownership in NC! And thank you to our sponsors, The ICA Group and The Industrial Commons, for making this event possible. It was great to bring together partners, friends, and supporters of employee ownership from across North Carolina to celebrate this state’s newest…

The North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) and UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute, with support from The Gambrell Foundation, conducted research on employee ownership as a mechanism for reducing the racial wealth gap in Mecklenburg County. The Executive summary says that the research found employee ownership “can concurrently address a number of the factors contributing to…