We’re on a mission to preserve and protect the job and community impacts of small and medium sized businesses throughout the state of North Carolina by helping to transition many to employee ownership.
Anne-Claire Broughton tells the story of the founding of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center
Anne-Claire Broughton, Merald Holloway, and La-Tasha Best-Gaddy tell the story of the founding of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center
Staff
Illa Burbank
Executive Director
Illa Burbank
Executive Director
Illa Burbank's business career spans over 30 years. Starting as a commercial credit analyst and lender at a regional bank, she then joined Incodema, a start-up sheet metal prototype manufacturing company. There she became CFO and wore many hats in finance, human resources, regulatory and more before being appointed President. During her 21 years with Incodema, the company made one acquisition and spun off a new business segment as its own company. Illa was instrumental in transitioning Incodema Inc. to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and is very familiar with employee ownership’s power for employee engagement and wealth building. She enjoys working with Cornell University's accelerator programs to mentor start-ups and small businesses and sits on the board of an ESOP company. Illa earned a BS degree in Finance and an MBA from Ithaca College.
In her spare time, Illa volunteers with the Hillsborough Community Garden to grow food for families in need, plays in the dirt at home with her own garden, and enjoys visiting her three adult children.
Board Of Directors
Andrew Foster
Board Member
Clinical Professor of Law & Director of Community Enterprise Clinic, Duke Law
MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER
Anne-Claire Broughton
Founder & Senior Advisor
Anne-Claire Broughton
Founder & Senior Advisor
Anne-Claire Broughton has spent more than 10 years assisting business owners with ownership transitions via ESOPs, Employee Ownership Trusts, and worker cooperatives. She advised The Electric Violin Shop in its 2016 transition to a worker cooperative, ShopBot Tools with its 2021 transition to an employee ownership trust, and Sow True Seed with its 2021 transition to a worker cooperative.
She is a co-author of Using an Employee Ownership Trust for Business Transition, a book published by the National Center For Employee Ownership. Broughton is also an expert in ownership culture development as a certified open book management coach with The Great Game of Business. She previously spent more than 13 years advising early stage businesses as Co-Founder and Senior Director of SJF Institute. Anne-Claire holds a BA from Oberlin College and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. In her spare time, Anne-Claire enjoys playing the violin, singing, hiking, and spending time with her young adult daughter.
Preserving jobs, building community wealth, and protecting the legacy of retiring business owners across North Carolina — that was our mission when we founded the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center in 2019, in response to the growing Silver Tsunami. I’m incredibly proud of the work NCEOC has done — and continues to do — alongside dedicated partners across the state to raise awareness about employee ownership as a powerful succession strategy for businesses of all sizes. A heartfelt thank you to our hardworking staff, Board members, volunteers, and collaborators. Your commitment is helping to make this vision a reality.
Anne-Claire Broughton
NCEOC Founder
FOUNDING FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
If you are an individual or company residing in North Carolina and would like to support us in our mission, you can donate here.
Mission
The North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) serves as the central hub for employee-owned businesses in North Carolina. NCEOC is a statewide educational nonprofit with a mission to preserve and protect the job and community impacts of small and medium-sized businesses by helping many to transition to employee ownership. In this we are dedicated to protecting jobs, increasing community wealth, and creating a more vibrant, inclusive economy.
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