In early November, we reached out to the ESOP community to help us raise money for Lian Shalala Gravelle's 6 month old twin boys, Charlie and Enzo Gravelle. We wanted to take a moment to give you an update on that fundraiser, and express our gratitude to all the donors and members of the ESOP community who shared their support.

Very special thanks to Kjiersti Cory of the GreatBanc Trust Company for putting a fun spin on a serious cause; you can watch Bret Keisling and Kjiersti Cory following through on their fundraising 'bet' in Las Vegas on Capital Trustee's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CapTrustees/

If you are interested in donating, the GoFundMe is still open here: https://www.gofundme.com/lian-shalala-gravelle-fundraiser?fbclid=IwAR1-MW30qG5cyzu7ixmuCJuCcQeVaV-g_f-_U8eqWzAVPR5bA6D1yyPd3A0

In this episode, Seth Webber (Principal, CFA, ASA, CBA, CVA, CBEC) of BerryDunn, headquartered in Portland, Maine, shares his extensive expertise on ESOP feasibility studies and plan design. This is the ideal podcast to listen to if you are considering a transition to employee ownership, or exploring your succession plan options.

In this quick Thanksgiving break episode, we share our gratitude for employee ownership conferences and talk about how the face-to-face interaction at these conferences strengthens the ESOP community.

Bret Keisling of Capital Trustees sat down with John Murphy, President of Atlantic Management Company (www.atlantic-mgmt.com) at ESOPLV for a discussion about ownership transition, valuation, and employee ownership.

Atlantic Management Company is a leading valuation and financial advisory firm headquartered in Portsmouth, NH. Their Ownership Transition Group specializes in ESOPs, Mergers & Acquisitions, and succession strategies for privately owned companies. The ESOP Podcast congratulates Atlantic Management Company on their new New Orleans office!

In this quick mini-cast, we share some of Capital Trustees recent activities, and then look forward to our podcast plans for the coming weeks. Finally, we give a big shoutout to our listeners -- we hit 10K listens this week! We're pleased to get more ESOP information out there in the world. Thank you to the employee ownership community -- here's to 10K more!

In this episode we have a wide-ranging discussion on ESOPs and ownership culture with Linshuang Lu, MSOD, Principal at Praxis Consulting Group (praxiscg.com). This episode was recorded at The ESOP Association's 2018 National Conference in Las Vegas.

Linshuang Lu provides organization development, strategic planning, leadership development and culture change services to nonprofits and employee-owned companies. She is passionate about helping organizations develop their leaders and foster deeper staff engagement in order to create better workplaces and achieve greater impact. She plays an active role in the employee ownership community, regularly speaking at regional and national conferences, and writing on leadership development and culture topics.

She has served on the board of The ESOP Association and the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and is currently a member of the Ownership Culture Committee of The ESOP Association.

Note: You can listen to the "Improving the Bottom Line: A Technical Look at Culture & Value" presentation that Bret referenced in this podcast in Episode 30: https://soundcloud.com/theesoppodcast/episode-30-improving-the-bottom-line-a-technical-look-at-employee-ownership-culture-and-value

Bret Keisling and Patrice Radogna of Capital Trustees visited BerryDunn [BerryDunn.com] in Portland, Maine. In this episode, we share their roundtable discussion with BerryDunn's Seth Webber (Principal, CFA, ASA, CBA, CVA, CBEC) and Katy Whitehead (Manager, CVA, MBA).

Be sure to subscribe to receive updates about our future episode with Seth Webber, as well as our 2019 webinar series where we will go into more depth on several of the key points covered in this roundtable.

Kjiersti Cory of the Great Banc Trust Company has a secret talent: Dressage style horse tail braiding! Bret Keisling of Capital Trustees has a not-so-secret talent: Growing a beard!

Since employee ownership is all about putting your talents together to build something greater, they decided to join forces! At #ESOPLV, The ESOP Association's 2018 Las Vegas Conference, Kjiersti will braid Bret's beard dressage style to raise money for the "Lian Shalala Gravelle Fundraiser." As you'll hear, we're willing to get pretty silly in the service of a serious cause, especially if we meet our most ambitious goal of raising $20K.

And yes, we are serious about this! And to get even more serious for a second: For those who didn't have the pleasure of knowing Lian Shalala Gravelle, Esq., her passing has been a tremendous loss to the ESOP community. She worked at ESOP Plus: Schatz Brown Glassman LLP and Krieg DeVault and was Vice President of The ESOP Association’s New York/New Jersey Chapter.

Donate NOW at our special ESOP Community donation page is at https://www.gofundme.com/lian-shalala-gravelle-fundraiser?member=1039604

Do you have an Employee Stock Ownership Plan? Are you considering one? Are you in the Central Pennsylvania area? Then this episode is for you!

In this episode we talk with Trevor Bare of Conrad Siegel [www.conradsiegel.com]. They are hosting an Employee Ownership Exchange on Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 from 7:30 AM – 11:00 AM at Spooky Nook in Manheim, PA. This event is open to the public and is an excellent opportunity to explore employee ownership plans, discuss recent developments, and answer ESOP plan sponsor questions.

Conrad Siegel is an employee benefit and investment advisory firm headquartered in Harrisburg, PA that provides customized retirement, healthcare benefit and investment planning solutions for businesses and individuals.

If you are interested in attending the Exchange, you can sign up for free on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/employee-ownership-exchange-tickets-49446886970

In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Moberger of employee-owned Mass. Bay Brewing Company, known for Harpoon Brewery, 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.

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 12th, 2018 a The ESOP Association 's New England Chapter's Annual Fall Conference in Mystic, Connecticut.