In this episode we share a recording of the "Valuation Checklist for the ESOP Company" presentation, led by Kaitlin Wilusz, Manager at Value Management Inc. (VMI) at The ESOP Association Pennsylvania / Delaware Chapter’s Annual Spring Conference in State College, Pennsylvania. (The link to the Valuation Checklist presentation slide deck that accompanied this audio in included with Episode 69 our website, www.theesoppodcast.com.)

VMI is a financial consulting firm specializing in valuing businesses, corporate securities, and professional practices. Katie Wilusz is responsible for providing research and performing financial and economic analyses for the valuation of closely held enterprises, professional practices and publicly traded securities. Prior to VMI, Kaitlin was a senior financial analyst at Ernst & Young where she worked within the Valuation & Modeling group, specializing in financial services.

Brian Keisling, Capital Trustee's Client Engagement Officer, recorded today's mini-cast from The ESOP Association Pennsylvania / Delaware Chapter’s Annual Spring Conference at the Toftrees Golf Resort in State College, Pennsylvania.

Brian shares his perspective of the value participants got out of this year's sessions. We'll be sharing a presentation from this conference, as well one from the New England Chapter Spring Conference we attended earlier this week, on upcoming podcasts, but it is no substitute for being there! We all make ESOPs better when we work together. Plan to attend your own chapter meeting; you can get all the details at www.esopassociation.org/chapters.

In this episode, Bret Keisling, Rich Heeter, and Brian Keisling of Capital Trustees continue from Episode 67 and answer more of your ESOP questions.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Please, keep them coming to [email protected]! If you want to hear even more, listen to the first part of this month's grab bag in Episode 67 and also check out Episode 40: "Your ESOP Questions Answered."

Spring has truly sprung, and with it, spring ESOP Conference season! On today's ESOP Mini-cast we highlight upcoming ESOP Conference presentations:

-- First up, on March 25, 2019 Rich Heeter and Bret Keisling will be at The ESOP Association New England Chapter’s Annual Spring Conference at the Marriott Burlington in Burlington, Massachusetts.

On March 25, 2019 in the 9:30 – 10:30 AM concurrent session, Jon Williams of Blue Ridge ESOP Associates, Bret Keisling of Capital Trustees, and Mary McCooe of Maselan & Jones will present ESOP 101. “Are you new to this whole ESOP thing? Are you a first-time conference attendee? Could you use a refresher course to learn more about the basics? If you answered yes to any of these, then this is the session for you!! You will leave this session with a better understanding of how an ESOP works, why ESOP companies are so great, and what you can do to make yours better!! No question is too basic!”

-- Next up, from March 27-28, 2019 Brian Keisling and Rich Heeter will be at The ESOP Association Pennsylvania / Delaware Chapter’s Annual Spring Conference at the Toftrees Golf Resort State College, Pennsylvania, which will include a company tour with Restek Pure Chromatography.

On Wednesday, March 27, 2019 from 4:00 – 5:00 PM Ed Wilusz and Sue Wilusz of Value Management, Inc., Rich Heeter of Capital Trustees, Sean-Tamba Matthew of SES ESOP Strategies, and Matt Hancock of Praxis Consulting Group will be on stage for “ESOP Jeopardy!” in the Silver Maple Ballroom, to be followed by the Networking Cocktail Reception in the Aspen Room.

-- And then from April 9–11, 2019 the entire Capital Trustees team will be going to this year's record-setting National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, PA. (You can hear all about #NCEO19 on The ESOP Mini-cast Episode 27).

On Tuesday, April 9th, in the 10:30–11:45 AM NCEO Concurrent Session, Bret Keisling of Capital Trustees, Michael D. Gore of Penn United Technologies, Inc., and Edward A. Wilusz of Value Management Inc. will present “Can ESOPs Do That? When Business Decisions Affect Value.” “Management may need to consider value in situations where it may not have come to mind such as capital expenditures, compensation, and strategy.”

On Wednesday, April 10th, in the 3:45–5:00 PM NCEO Concurrent Session, Rich Heeter of Capital Trustees, Robert Hilton of South Park Advisors, LLC, and Kathleen Weber of ESOP Plus: Schatz Brown Glassman LLP will present on “Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation and Warrants.” “An overview of non-qualified deferred compensation, including warrants, SARS, and phantom stock followed by real world examples with discussion from the perspective of trustee, attorney, and valuation.”

We look forward to seeing many of our listeners. We always appreciate it when listeners of the podcast come up and introduce themselves; we love to hear your feedback face-to-face, or email us at [email protected].

As our regular listeners know, at the end of every episode of The ESOP Podcast, we invite you to submit topics for discussion. In this episode, Bret Keisling, Rich Heeter, and Brian Keisling of Capital Trustees go through that 'grab bag' and answer your ESOP questions.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Please, keep them coming to [email protected]! And if you want to hear even more, check out our first ESOP Q&A Grab Bag in Episode 40: "Your ESOP Questions Answered."

On today's podcast we welcome back Kevin McPhillips, Executive Director/CEO of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PaCEO - ownershippennsylvania.org.)

Kevin McPhillips describes the mission of PaCEO and shares what it is like to work with local and state government on an issue that has such broad, bipartisan support. We then get an overview of what we know so far about the 2018 Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA), which makes SBA ESOP financing easier.

We then talk about this year's record-setting National Center for Employee Ownership conference in Pittsburgh, PA, #NCEO19, to be held April 9–11, 2019 (preconference on April 8). There are many great new features to be experienced at the conference -- not the least of which will be the PaCEO pierogi station!

Our goal on The ESOP Podcast is to keep you up-to-date on all things ESOP, and to support the growth of all aspects of employee ownership. Some of our upcoming work towards that end:

- Many of you have questions on Benefit Corporations, also known as B-Corps, and so we are preparing an explainer episode on this topic.

- We'd like to extend a warm welcome to James J. Bonham, the new President and CEO of The ESOP Association. All of us in ESOP world can look forward to meeting him at upcoming ESOP Association chapter conferences this spring, and of course at the 42nd Annual Conference held May 22-24 in Washington, DC. We encourage you to join us by registering at esopassociation.org.

- In related news, we'll soon be sharing an additional episode with outgoing ESOP Association President Michael Keeling (you can hear his first visit with us on Episode 24). Michael Keeling has served the association since 1991, and this is an opportunity for us to express our gratitude for his service and share the great progress employee ownership has made during his tenure.

- Don't forget, registration is open at nceo.org for the April 9–11, 2019 National Center for Employee Ownership conference in Pittsburgh, PA, #NCEO19.

- And last, but not least, a BIG thank you all of you for the +15K listens since we started broadcasting a year and a half ago. Let's all keep spreading the word about ESOPs!

On this bonus episode of The ESOP Mini-cast, we talk with Tim Garbinski, outreach coordinator for the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) about the big plans for this year's national employee ownership conference in Pittsburgh, PA, #NCEO19, to be held April 9–11, 2019 (preconference on April 8).

Registration is open now at www.nceo.org, and if you register before March 12th you'll get the early-bird discount. We look forward to seeing you there!

Capital Trustees has had the good fortune to be involved with many excellent ESOP organizations over the years, and in this quick mini-cast, we share some of their ideas for fully engaging their employee-owners.

And speaking of best practices: Employee ownership conferences are one of the best places to exchange ESOP ideas, and the early registration deadline for this year's NCEO national conference, #NCEO19 in Pittsburgh, PA, is March 12th, 2019. Head to www.nceo.org and register today.

At the 2019 #ESOPPros Conference, The ESOP Podcast sat down with Kjersti Cory, Senior Vice President at 100% employee owned GreatBanc Trust Company (www.greatbanctrust.com) for a collegial discussion about the importance of external trustees for employee-owned companies.

Regular listeners will remember Kjersti Cory from our Lian Shalala Gravelle Fundraiser at #ESOPLV, (listen to Mini-cast 16 for details; donations continue to be accepted at www.gofundme.com/lian-shalala-gravelle-fundraiser).