Bret Keisling shares an exciting announcement made at The National Center for Employee Ownership's Annual Conference this week by Loren Rodgers (NCEO) and Steve Storkan (EOX) about the formation of the NCEOX Initiative. This collaboration will combine the excellent messaging of the NCEO with the amazing messengers at Employee Ownership Expansion Network and their state employee ownership centers, which currently cover 70% of the US.
At a time when EO is ascending in the US (and around the world), the NCEOX Initiative could drive a dramatic increase in ESOPs, worker co-ops, and employee ownership trusts (EOTs).
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Mini-cast 226 Transcript
[00:00:00] Bret Keisling: Welcome to the EsOp Mini-cast. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Bret Keisling, and as it says on my business cards, I'm a passionate advocate for employee ownership. This week, The National Center for Employee Ownership had their annual conference in Kansas City and by all accounts, it was an amazing event.
[00:00:27] I wasn't able to attend, but I loved seeing so many posts on social media from friends and EO allies about the great sessions, the keynote speakers, the networking, and tons of great pics and posts from downtown Kansas City and Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
[00:00:45] One announcement in particular struck me as so amazing and potentially transformative for employee ownership. As soon as I saw it, I immediately channeled the great American philosophers, The Pointer Sisters, and thought "I'm so excited! I just can't take it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!" I was so excited, I even thought about singing that part on the podcast, but I've heard myself singing and it would have been horrible. So, you're welcome.
[00:01:13] So, what has me so excited? It's the announcement of a new collaboration between the NCEO and the EOX, the Employee Ownership Expansion Network. They're calling this the NCEOX Initiative.
[00:01:28] Now, as I said, I wasn't in Kansas City this week, so I didn't hear the announcement, but there is a press release which is available on the NCEO's website, and we'll include a link in our show notes.
[00:01:39] Summarizing from the press release, it notes that the NCEO's mission is to make employee ownership thrive by making it better through research, events, networking, and all of the many, many things the NCEO does that so many employee-owned companies, the employee owners, and practitioners rely on to do their jobs better. The NCEO has been amazing at creating the message, but the press release notes that quote "the right message works only if the right messenger delivers it. And that's where the state centers for employee ownership comes in," unquote, noting that no one does locally rooted employee ownership as well as EOX.
[00:02:20] This is the reason why the NCEO and the EOX have chosen to coordinate their efforts in a formal collaboration, which is the NCEOX Initiative.
[00:02:31] The press release notes that the one and only mission of the EOX is making employee ownership bigger and its success so far is measured in the 12 state centers for employee ownership opened since 2019, and the EOX network now covers more than 70% of the US population.
[00:02:50] The announcement was made at the conference by Loren Rogers of the NCEO and Steve Storkan of EOX. I'm really proud that both Loren Rogers and the NCEO founder Corey Rosen have been on the podcast and Steve Storkan has been on several times as well. And I've had episodes dedicated, I think, to eight or nine of the state centers on The EsOp Podcast.
[00:03:11] The EOX has done a phenomenal job in a short period of time, creating an EO presence across the country. And the state centers do a great job of supporting all forms of employee ownership: ESOPs worker collectives, and employee ownership trusts.
[00:03:26] The fact that the NCEO and EOX are going to collaborate is amazing and should give a significant boost to employee ownership efforts that have, in my opinion, been on the upswing in the last few years.
[00:03:38] So, congratulations to everybody at the NCEO and the EOX for this exciting announcement of the creation of the NCEOX Initiative. We'll reach out to Loren Rogers and Steve Storkan and see if we can't get them on the podcast before too long to share more information. And we'll also share a link to the NCEOX Initiative in our show notes, although at the time I'm recording this, it's limited to the announcement of the formation. But keep your eye on this initiative, I think it's going to be transformative.
[00:04:08] With that, we'll wrap up this episode of the Mini-cast. Thank you so much for listening. This is Bret Keisling. Be well.
[00:04:15] Bitsy McCann: We'd love to hear from you. You can find us on Facebook at EO Podcast Network and on Twitter @ESOPPodcast. This podcast has been produced by Bret Keisling for the EO Podcast Network, original music composed by Max Keisling, branding and marketing by BitsyPlus Design, and I'm Bitsy McCann.
Standard Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are my own and don't represent those of my own firms or the organizations to which I belong. Nothing in the podcast should be construed as guidance or advice of any kind in any field and the fact that I mentioned an organizational website or an advocate or a company on a podcast does not reflect an endorsement, but if you've heard your name or your group's name mentioned on this podcast, I'd love to have you come on and talk about it yourself.
A note on the transcript: This transcript was produced by Descript, an automated transcription service. While it has been reviewed by The EsOp Podcast, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the transcription. Please refer to the original audio when citing sources.