Employment and Jobs

Owning It: Experiences from the Front Lines of Employee Ownership

April 9, 2025  • Economic Opportunities Program & Rutgers University

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Description

Tens of millions of employee-owners go to work every day in the US. What they experience is often different from the rest of the workforce in terms of the financial rewards they receive, the culture they operate within, and the roles and responsibilities they assume. These experiences offer a different vision for our economy and our approach to work in the US. Hear from employee-owners about their experiences with ownership and the effects it has had on their lives and communities. Panelists will discuss how ownership affects their job quality, their performance, their relationship with their company, and their perspectives on other outcomes from employee ownership.

Speakers
  • Ashley Bell, Inventory Coordinator, A Few Cool Hardware Stores 
  • Adrian Flores, Project Manager, Accent Landscape Contractors 
  • Sarah St. Onge, Inside Sales Engineer, Admix 
  • Juan Carlos Lopez, Executive Associate, Cooperative Home Care Associates
  • Moderator: Tim Garbinsky, Communications Director, National Center for Employee Ownership
Related Resources

Podcast: ACE in the Hole: ACE Hardware’s Gina Schaefer on Becoming an ESOP

 

About the Employee Ownership Ideas Forum

This video comes from the third Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. Our 2025 forum, “From Workers to Owners,” highlighted how the experience of ownership changes the reality of work for workers. The forum featured companies in a range of business sectors and explored how employee ownership fits their business strategy and approach to business leadership. The particular role employee ownership can play in supporting business success was discussed , and the role institutional investors can play in improving capital access for employee ownership conversions and expansions was also considered.


For clips and highlights from the Forum, subscribe to the Economic Opportunities Program on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aspeneop/

And tune in to our podcast to listen to full discussions on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aspeneop

For more from the Forum — including audio, transcripts, and additional resources — visit:

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