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����ɫ��ҹ University will host the 27th Annual Ohio Employee Ownership Conference on Friday, April 19, at the Hilton West in Fairlawn, Ohio. The theme for the conference, presented by ����ɫ��ҹ’s Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC), is “Employee Ownership: Building Jobs, Wealth & Communities.”

“Ohio, along with the rest of the United States, is seeing signs of a recovery from the most severe economic crisis of the last seven decades,” said Steve Clem, OEOC senior program coordinator. “Employee-owned companies are certainly not immune to the vagaries of the economy. However, they often do save jobs and companies, anchor capital locally, benefit local economies and create new wealth for employee owners.”

Participants at the conference will hear from keynote speakers who represent the two leading employee ownership organizations in the nation. The morning speaker will be J. Michael Keeling, president of the ESOP Association. Since assuming his position in April 1991, the association has experienced strong growth in membership and revenues, and is the largest organization in the United States dedicated to ensuring employee-owned companies are operating effectively.

The luncheon speaker will be Corey Rosen, co-founder and senior staff member of The National Center for Employee Ownership. Rosen co-authored, along with John Case and Martin Staubus, “Equity: Why Employee Ownership Is Good for Business.” He is generally regarded as the leading expert on employee ownership in the world.

Last year’s conference attracted 300 people. Widely regarded as the “best one-day conference on employee ownership in the country,” this annual event brings together employee owners, both management and shop floor workers, to learn how to improve the performances of their companies.

The conference also attracts community and economic development professionals, government officials, nonprofit organizations, students and professional service providers. Over the course of the day, 19 panels (some featuring CEOs and CFOs from several of Ohio’s employee-owned companies) will provide participants with the opportunity to learn more about topics ranging from the basics of employee ownership to more technical issues, such as fiduciary responsibility, repurchase obligation, and valuation, to visions for the next decade of employee ownership.

The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on April 19 at the Hilton West in Fairlawn, Ohio, followed by a reception until 6 p.m. Registration begins at 8 a.m. The cost is $125 before April 6, $150 after April 6 and $195 at the door.

����ɫ��ҹ’s OEOC is a non-profit program established in 1987 to provide outreach, information and preliminary technical assistance to Ohio employees and business owners interested in exploring employee ownership. Since its inception, the OEOC has helped nearly 15,000 Ohio employees become owners.

For more information, call 330-672-3028 or visit .

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Media Contacts:
Steve Clem, cclem@kent.edu, 330-672-0335
Bob Burford, rburford@kent.edu, 330-672-8516