Employee ownwership for a new economy

Employee ownership comes in many guises, from broadly sharing equity in start-ups and tech firms, to worker coops, to ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans), the most common and powerful form of broad-based ownership. This panel will look at how these plans work technically, how to create them, and what impact they have on companies, communities and employees. The session will include me, the founder of the National Center or Employee Ownership, a female CEO of an ESOP company, and an academic studying this field. The panel will be racially and gender diverse.

This topic is more essential than ever. The current crisis has highlighted the essential inability of capitalism to create a more inclusive, equitable economy. But capitalism is a very effective engine for growth. Employee ownership aligns fairness and performance. Unlike virtually ever other economic fix now proposed, it is supported by both parties with almost no opposition.

Yet is it still vastly underused and largely misunderstood, as people make a variety of incorrect assumptions about how it works. Social capitalists can help change this by sharing ownership more widely themselves, investing in companies that share ownership, and promoting the idea to those who don’t.

Confirmed Panelists

Corey Rosen is the founder of the National Center for Employee Ownership, a private, nonprofit membership, information, and research organization in Oakland, CA. The NCEO is widely considered to be the authoritative source on broad-based employee ownership plans. He cofounded the NCEO in 1981 after working five years as a professional staff member in the U.S. Senate, where he helped draft legislation on employee ownership plans. Prior to that, he taught political science at Ripon College. He is the author or co-author of over 100 articles and numerous books on employee ownership, and co-author (with John Case and Martin Staubus) of Equity: Why Employee Ownership is Good for Business (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). He has appeared frequently on CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, and other network programs; and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and other leading publications. He has lectured on employee ownership on six continents.

He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Cornell University. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Great Place to Work Institute (creators of the “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America” list). He currently is on six ESOP company boards.

The NCEO’s Web site is www.nceo.org.

In 2009, he was awarded the Txemi Cantera Social Economy Award, given annually in Spain.

Unconfirmed Panelists

We have many members who can speak on this topic, and if this is accpeted, I will invite a female and or non-white leader of an employuee wonership company and a famele or non-white academic.

Supporting Materials

• Employee wonership and economic well-being
• web site, national center for employee owwership

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