Description

Bring your Lunch and learn about Employee Ownership as an Exit strategy! 

Business ownership requires us to be all in! And many business owners dream of the next step—I want more flexibility. I want more space to do something new. Sudden life transitions also make us reflect on what needs to change within our businesses. 

But how do you transition from a business you have worked so hard to build into something new? 

In this introductory session, we invite you to learn your choices to exit to employee ownership (EO), the act of turning an established business into a worker cooperative or an employee-owned company. 

Together, we'll explore: 

• The benefits of employee ownership 
• The spectrum of EO structures and options 
• The steps in converting your business to employee ownership 
• State tax incentives to save you money. 

Exiting to employee ownership is an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy, engage and reward employees, grow the business, and, most importantly, take control over your next steps as a business owner. We’ll discuss real-life examples of employee ownership conversions and provide time for Q+A to explore your unique situation, motivations, and questions as an owner interested in succession or exit planning. 

About your speaker: Michaela Holmes co-leads the Democratizing Ownership strategy at the Center for Community Wealth Building. She became passionate about worker ownership and cooperatives at the outset of Occupy Wall Street while gaining her M.S. in Organizational Change Management from the New School in New York. Dedicated to working towards a more equitable world, she has spent over a decade supporting worker co-op start-ups and employee ownership conversions to create workplaces that work for everyone by sharing decision-making, profits, and joy. Michaela is a proud parent to Stella, pet guardian to Lou and Piper, and partner.