Our Mission
Our mission is to help people and companies use employee ownership to grow successful, sustainable businesses and communities with broad equity ownership, while meeting seller’s and employees’ needs.
We create employee ownership that fits you because we have experience with diverse methods, including Employee Stock Ownership Plans ESOPs, cooperatives, employee owned trusts (EOT), direct ownership, participation systems and successful employee ownership in unionized companies.
Biography of Deborah Groban Olson
Since 1981, Attorney Deborah Groban Olson has specialized in creating and advising employee-owned companies,and cooperatives, representing sellers, buyers, companies, unions and trusts. Olson is a former chair of the National Center for Employee Ownership. She was Board Chair of the employee owned Once Again Nut Butter Collective (OANB), an ESOP, for 10 years. At OANB she facilitated a 3-year process that created an inclusive and efficient system employee participation in 79 types of decisions. She is a board member of Circle Pines Center, a cooperative education and recreation center. She founded and served from 2007-2019 as Executive Director of the Center for Community Based Enterprise, Inc. which provides legal, business planning, marketing and employee training to help create living wage jobs through employee ownership. She founded the Capital Ownership Group at Kent State University, a global online think-tank and conference center on using employee ownership to counter the negative impacts of globalization. Olson has also published and spoken extensively in both the US and Europe. A 1976 Order of the Coif graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, she has an AV peer rating from Martindale Hubbell as a preeminent attorney in her field. Read full biography.
We advise business owners:
Who wish to sell part or all of their businesses to their employees.
Looking into succession that will not only benefit them and their families financially but will continue to provide jobs in their community. (See Case Studies: Zingerman’s, Arbor Assays, Carris Reels, Once Again Nut Butter, National Forge, and Fulton Tool and Die, Inc.
Who wish to build sustainable businesses that provide good permanent local jobs.See Case Studies: Zingerman’s, Arbor Assays, Carris Reels, and Once Again Nut Butter.
Who seek resources to save money and pay less taxes.
We advise employee groups:
Who are interested in buying the businesses in which they work. See also: Unions & Employee Ownership)
Such as cooperatives and unions with business law services.
Such as non-profit organizations with legal assistance.
We also assist existing employee owned companies with:
Development of effective workplace participation and workplace democracy.
Life cycle issues unique to employee owned companies.
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS
We can smoothly transition your privately-owned business to a worker-owned one that meets the seller’s objectives, is socially responsible and includes employee participation. Learn more
TESTIMONIAL
“When we founded our ESOP I was afraid that I was asking too much because of the unique provisions I wanted. I had talked to several other potential attorneys and advisors. They said “Why, and you can’t do that”. Deb cut through ESOP law and got our ESOP exactly like I wanted and it has worked beautifully. Deb is smart, fast, knowledgeable and efficient. I would recommend her for anyone considering employee ownership.” - Bill Carris, selling owner & current board chair, Carris Reels, Inc.
