In this episode of Owners at Work, we sit down with Todd Leverette and Kyle Chin-How of Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H)—the 2025 recipient of the John Logue Award in Employee Ownership, which we present annually to organizations making a lasting and transformative impact in the field. A&H is a mission-driven investment firm focused on financing worker buyouts that create 100% employee-owned businesses, particularly for workforces that have been historically excluded from ownership. Todd and Kyle share their personal paths into this work, and how A&H is addressing one of the biggest barriers to employee ownership: the lack of accessible capital for business transitions. We talk about the successful deployment of their first $58 million fund—creating over 450 worker-owners and transferring more than $65 million in enterprise value—and their ambitious goals for Fund II, which has already raised $85 million in its first close. The conversation highlights the emotional weight of their work, lessons from the field, and their long-term vision to help make employee ownership a scalable and mainstream model for succession
Todd Leverette is Managing Partner at Apis & Heritage Capital Partners where he brings over a decade of experience working with and for small business to bear on A&H and the portfolio companies in Legacy Fund. Todd began his journey in employee ownership in Detroit, MI at the Center for Community Based Enterprise, where he discovered the power of alternative ownership models to change lives. He continued this journey as the lead of Legacy Business Initiatives at the Democracy at Work Institute, where he laid the foundation for the creation of Apis & Heritage and Legacy Fund - missioned with attacking the racial wealth gap and scaling employee ownership across the US for the collective good of workers, investors, and communities. Prior to his work in small business and employee ownership, Todd worked in corporate finance at JP Morgan Chase and received his JD/MBA from Columbia University ('13). Along with his Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner, Philip Reeves, Todd is a proud graduate of Morehouse College ('08).
Kyle is based in New York City and he leads sourcing and deal origination for A&H. He previously worked at Skadden and Citigroup Inc., where he executed a wide variety of M&A transactions. Before entering the private sector, Kyle was a dedicated activist and student government leader at his local community college, the place where he engaged elected officials, advocacy groups (environmental, immigrant rights, education, etc.) and small businesses in the New York City borough of Queens. He also interned in Joe Biden’s office at the White House during the Obama Administration. Kyle is the proud son of multiracial immigrants from Guyana, and he grew up in Queens. He is a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar and received his B.A. summa cum laude in Philosophy and Political Science from The City College of New York. Outside of work, he loves languages, politics, sports, and hip-hop.
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This episode of the Owners At Work is sponsored by Blue Ridge Associates, Blue Ridge is the largest independent ESOP and 401(k) Third Party Administration and Recordkeeping firm. Blue Ridge Associates employs the finest professionals in the business and has over 30 years of experience providing quality third-party administration services.
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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