In this episode we speak with Jonathan Welle of Cleveland Owns and Ellen Vera of Co-op Cincy – two Ohio-based nonprofits that are working around cooperative development and community wealth building and are members of the the Ohio Worker-Ownership Network (OWN). We dig into how both Jonathan and Ellen began working on cooperative development, mission of vision of their organizations, and talk about programs and initiatives they are currently working on to build community and worker owned enterprises.
Jonathan is a co-op and organizer passionate about closing the ownership gap in his hometown of Cleveland. He spent three years in corporate consulting, where he saw the power of ownership -- and the danger of ownership unaccountable to the people it affects. He worked on President Obama's 2012 campaign and as a Peace Corps volunteer. You can find him catching sunsets during runs at Cleveland's Edgewater Park.
Ellen Vera has organized people from diverse backgrounds to improve their workplaces for more than a decade, and became a Co-Founder of Co-op Cincy and of 1worker1vote in 2011 to develop a more sustainable model of organizing, economic democracy and wealth-building with marginalized communities. Ellen oversees new co-op organizing projects, the launch of Co-op Cincy’s education arm, Co-op U, and makes sure we have the resources we need to be successful.
Apple Growth Partners - is an accounting and business advisory firm with more than 77 years of experience that delivers healthy, sustainable growth. AGP offers a full range of services for privately held businesses, including tax planning and compliance, audit and assurance, business valuation, litigation consulting - with a special focus on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). With more than 100 employees, and office locations in Akron, Canton, and Cleveland. AGP’s professionals provide the expertise your business needs.
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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