In this episode we speak with Steve Storkan, Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX) - a national nonprofit focused on establishing and supporting a network of independent nonprofit State Centers for Employee Ownership. We talk about the steady growth in number of state centers since EOX’s founding, the importance of being open to all forms of employee-ownership, successful strategies to engage public officials and economic development professionals, and much more.
Steve Storkan is the Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX), a grassroots organization whose mission is to significantly expand employee ownership in the United States by establishing and supporting a network of independent nonprofit State Centers for Employee Ownership. Since its founding in 2018 EOX has helped launch 8 new state centers. It has the goal of having state centers covering 70% of the country by 2025. Steve Storkan has been involved with employee stock ownership plans for over 25 years, most recently as the Director of ESOP Administration for Alerus Retirement and Benefits where he worked closely with businesses in the creation of an ESOP and the technical administration and compliance required in subsequent years. Steve spent 11 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota-Dakotas Chapter of the ESOP Association where also served as Chapter President and VP of Government Relations. Steve holds a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation from the University of Minnesota State Mankato.
This episode of the Owners At Work podcast is brought to you with the support of GBQ. GBQ is a full service tax, consulting and accounting firm headquartered in Columbus OH. GBQ provides a full range of ESOP services, including pre-ESOP planning, evaluation & formation services, ERISA compliance, and mature ESOP planning.
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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