In this episode, Bret Keisling discusses control of an ESOP company from the perspective of the employee owner, with simple practical examples. We explain why every court decision and settlement agreement is important to employee owners, and the difference between “controlling” a board of directors, and having its support.

As we prepare for next week’s launch of The EO Podcast, Bret Keisling looks back at the most listened to episodes, shares some statistics from our first two seasons, and mentions just a few of the people who’ve helped make The ESOP Podcast a success.

Next week when we return, our name will be The EO Podcast. This reflects our focus on the broader employee ownership community. For those of you who subscribed to the podcast, you won't have to do a thing, it'll automatically download. For those of you who searched for "The ESOP Podcast," remember to look for "The EO Podcast" or go ahead and SUBSCRIBE right now.

In this episode, Bret Keisling discusses challenges to growing the EO sandbox, including identifying how vast employee ownership is currently, how “we” can work, and shares some ideas for bringing employee ownership to the forefront of national dialogue.

Our “ESOP Podcast Summer School” series is wrapping up this week. We’ve selected highlights from our archives featuring employee-owners, and we’ve been re-releasing them all summer long, so if you like this episode be sure to also check out the rest in the series. (Note that these episodes are from the archives, please remember that the links and email addresses mentioned in the podcast may no longer be valid.) As you enjoy summer school, we are working hard behind-the-scenes at www.KEISOP.com to bring you new content and services that are better than ever, starting in the fall of ‘19!

Our featured guest is Robert "Bob" Whalen, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HB Global, LLC [hb-global.com]. HB Global is the employee-owned holding (parent) company that provides support to four operating divisions located along the East Coast, two in Pennsylvania, one in Florida, and one in Massachusetts.

Bob Whalen describes how their ESOP creates both a positive current working environment today and a retirement vehicle for the future. An ESOP won't turn a bad company into a good company -- but an ESOP can make a good company into a *great* company. Focusing on employees first helps HB Global outperform the marketplace.

You can hear the original May 22, 2018 release of this episode in full in "Episode 34" of The ESOP Podcast.

In this episode of The ESOP Mini-cast, Bret Keisling discusses his support for all forms of employee ownership, his belief that EO can and will address societal issues such as gender, race, and pay/income discrepancies, and why he’ll work with everyone including socialists, Marxists, and capitalists to support ESOPs, CoOps, collectives and more.

Our “ESOP Podcast Summer School” series continues. We’ve selected highlights from our archives featuring employee-owners that we’ll re-release all summer. (Because these episodes are from the archives, please remember that the links and email addresses mentioned in the podcast may no longer be valid.) As you enjoy summer school, we are working hard behind-the-scenes at www.KEISOP.com to bring you new content and services that are better than ever, starting in the fall of ‘19!

Our featured guest is Rob Zicaro, an ESOP advocate, speaker, and consultant, and a singer-songwriter. He spent 26 years as an employee-owner at Web Industries, and he shares his insider's perspective from his years as an active employee-owner, as well as his current experience enjoying this unique benefit and continuing his career in music (at RobZMusic.com).

Rob offers a lot of food for thought for both current and prospective employee owners, with an emphasis on the importance of developing a culture of communication and mutual respect.

You can hear the original February 20th, 2018 release of this episode in "Episode 22" of The ESOP Podcast.

On this special episode of The ESOP Mini-cast, Bret Keisling discusses the key elements in making a podcast; explains how and why the ESOP podcast is going from one title to five or six by year-end; and why we'll support and encourage anyone who wants to do an EO podcast (hint: we all need to build the sandbox.)

Our “ESOP Podcast Summer School” series continues. We’ve selected highlights from our archives featuring employee-owners that we’ll re-release all summer. (Because these episodes are from the archives, please remember that the links and email addresses mentioned in the podcast may no longer be valid.) As you enjoy summer school, we are working hard behind-the-scenes at www.KEISOP.com to bring you new content and services that are better than ever, starting in the fall of ‘19!

Our featured guest is Ken Baker, CEO of NewAge Industries [www.newageindustries.com] in Southampton, PA, and co-founder with Dan Adley of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO). In this informative interview, we learn how NewAge Industries grew from the dream of founder Raymond Baker into a 45 million dollar operation and a 49% employee-owned company. He then describes why his succession plan is for the employees to ultimately assume 100% ownership to continue the firm's success and Raymond Baker's legacy.

Ken Baker educates others about ESOPs, through the training he conducts in his own company, and by sharing best practices with other companies in the state of Pennsylvania via the PaCEO [www.ownershippennsylvania.org]. He feels that ESOPs address a range of issues – the wealth gap, retirement savings, retention, and employee engagement. ESOPs also raise the wealth of the American worker. When employees have financial stability, they perform better in the workplace. A strong ESOP community benefits all ESOP companies, not just one, as well as society as a whole.

You can hear the original January 9th, 2018 release of this episode in full in "Episode 16" of The ESOP Podcast.

Our “ESOP Podcast Summer School” series continues. We’ve selected highlights from our archives featuring employee-owners that we’ll re-release all summer. (Because these episodes are from the archives, please remember that the links and email addresses mentioned in the podcast may no longer be valid.) As you enjoy summer school, we are working hard behind-the-scenes to bring you new content and services that are better than ever, starting in the fall of ‘19!

Our featured guest is Mike Shuey of Restek Corporation [https://www.restek.com/], who is an officer with the ESOP Association's PA/DE Chapter. Mike talks with Bret about advocating for ESOPs at the state and federal level.

Restek Pure Chromatography is based in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and is proud to be a company of owners. Mike Shuey is Restek’s International Customer Service Supervisor. He received the 2016 ESOP Outstanding Chapter Officer Award.

[You can hear the original September 29th, 2017 release of this episode in full in "Episode 3" of The ESOP Podcast.]

Our “ESOP Podcast Summer School” series continues. We’ve selected highlights from our archives featuring employee-owners that we’ll re-release all summer. (Because these episodes are from the archives, please remember that the links and email addresses mentioned in the podcast may no longer be valid.) As you enjoy summer school, we are working hard behind-the-scenes to bring you new content and services that are better than ever, starting in the fall of ‘19!

Our featured guest is Aaron Moberger of employee-owned Mass. Bay Brewing Company, known for Harpoon Brewery [https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/who-we-are/employee-ownership/], UFO Beer, and Clown Shoes Beer, and discuss why he volunteers to be a New England Chapter officer at The ESOP Association, and what employee ownership means for an Independent Craft Brewer like Harpoon Brewery.

[You can hear the original October 30th, 2018 release of this episode in full in "Episode 49" of The ESOP Podcast.]