In this episode we speak with five experts in the field of employee ownership about the process of selling a business to employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Each interview focuses on a particular aspect of the process. Taken together, the interviews provide a general primer for anyone interested how the process works as well as what key issues should be considered at different points within the process.
Phil DeDominicus is Managing Director of Investment Banking at Menke & Associates. Prior to joining Menke & Associates, Mr. DeDominicis spent three years as Director of Investment Banking for the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Citigroup in New York, focusing on change of control advisory assignments to middle-market companies. Prior to that, Mr. DeDominicis spent ten years as Director of Investment Banking for the Mergers, Acquisitions & Private Finance Group of Morgan Stanley. Mr. DeDominicis received his degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware in l985, and his MBA degree in Finance and Accounting from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA in 1989.
Floyd Trouten is a tax director in the transaction advisory service area at Barnes Wendling. He has been involved in over 335 transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, redemptions, leveraged buyouts, ESOPs, and other structuring formats. His industry focus includes working with manufacturers, distributors, financial service companies, high-tech and software companies, and with private equity/investment companies. Floyd has extensive experience working with family offices and high net worth individuals and is the lead client service director in this area.
Tim Jochim is a Partner at Walter and Haverfield. He is a national authority on business succession and ESOPs and a trusted advisor to clients in succession planning, business transactions, legacy planning and corporate governance. He also has expertise in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, employee benefits and corporate tax. He is a frequent speaker to business and trade organizations on business succession, ESOPs and corporate governance. As to the latter, Tim’s expertise and judgment are frequently requested in the capacity of an outside or independent Director for ESOP companies. Tim is a former adjunct professor of corporate finance at Capital University School of Law and of business policy at The Ohio State University. Tim is a member of the Legislative and Regulatory Committee of the ESOP Association and is co-founder of the Ohio/Kentucky Chapter of the Association. He is also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth and the National Center for Employee Ownership. Tim is also known as the “Godfather” of ESOPs in Ohio.
Brian Bornino is the Director and National Practice Leader for the Valuation and Financial Opinions practice at GBQ Consulting. Mr. Bornino’s practice focuses on assisting business owners with ownership transition planning and execution, with specialties in valuation advisory and ESOP advisory. Brian has been active in the national ESOP community for 25-plus years and has been involved in 1,000-plus ESOP advisory and valuation engagements. ESOP services provided include ESOP feasibility studies, initial ESOP valuations, ESOP implementation consulting, transaction advisory and structuring (company-side and trustee-side representation), annual ESOP valuations, fairness and solvency opinions, ESOP valuation report reviews, ESOP dispute consulting and advisory and ESOP trustee advisory.
Avery Chenin currently works at SES ESOP Strategies. For more than 25 years, Avery has counseled businesses and their owners on how to incorporate employee ownership into their business succession plans. He represents closely held businesses and their selling shareholders, ESOP sponsors and ESOP fiduciaries in transactions involving employer securities. Avery works with companies and their owners in the planning, development, implementation and ongoing maintenance of ESOPs. He also helps clients with IRS and Department of Labor examinations and audits, and in the resolution of plan defects, including the submission of plan corrections under both the IRS and Department of Labor correction programs. In addition, Avery assists companies with executive compensation, welfare plan and employee benefit plan issues that are a part of these and other transactions.
The Owners at Work Podcast is a continuation of the biannual Owners at Work Newsletter which ran for 19 years (1990-2019). We are hoping to continue the same conversations and focus on providing updates on everything employee ownership. We plan to interview practitioners with expertise in different facets of employee ownership, academics doing new and interesting research, and most importantly, individuals who have a personal experience with employee ownership, including current and former employee-owners, mid-level to C suite management, and selling owners.
We want to produce a show that engages with relevant questions and provides practical lessons and information. We want this podcast to include the voices of those who practice employee-ownership each and every day. To that end we want to hear from you! We want to highlight what you are doing, whether you are an employee-owned company, a practitioner, or researcher.
***Please reach out via email: oeoc@kent.edu
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