Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

Chroma Technology Corp.

http://www.chroma.com

Founded in 1991, Chroma is an employee-owned company whose primary product is filters that are used in microscopes. Technically, Chroma is not an ESOP, but it is nonetheless 100 percent employee owned, with each individual's ownership stake varying according to seniority. In its first year, Chroma employed 7 and had sales of $300,000. A decade later, the number of employee-owners had risen to 54 and sales exceeded $12 million. Read more about Chroma Technology Corp....

Carris Reels

http://www.carris.com

Carris Reels began as a family-owned business in 1951. It produces a wide variety of reels and packaging for the cable and wire industry. The company has grown to have 750 employees in 7 manufacturing and 10 assembly sites across the country. Employees now own over 40% of the company through their ESOP. Read more about Carris Reels...

Appleton

http://www.appletonideas.com

Appleton is the world's largest producer of carbonless paper. Once a division of National Cash Register (NCR), in 2001 employees invested $107 million from their pension monies to finance an $810 million buy-out, one of the largest employee buy-outs ever. Today, the 100% employee-owned company employs 3,400 people, including 1,400 in the Appleton area. Read more about Appleton...

Acadian

http://www.acadian.com

Founded in 1971 with support from veterans of the Vietnam War, Acadian became a 30% ESOP-owned company in 1993 and a majority employee-owned company after 1998. It has grown to become the nation's largest privately held paramedic firm. Today, the company has over 400 ambulances, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft, and 4,000 employees. Acadian has expanded into medical transportation, safety management, security systems, and online EMS education, fields in which it owns six subsidiaries. Read more about Acadian...

National Spinning Company

http://www.natspin.com

Headquartered in New York with two spinning plants and one dye plant in North Carolina, the National Spinning Company became an employee-owned textile company in 1994. Originally founded in 1921, the National Spinning Company specializes in dyed raw white yarns for contemporary knits, woven fabrics, and home crafts. The ESOP employs more than 700 people. Read more about National Spinning Company...

Blue Tee Corp.

http://www.bluetee.com

As one of the largest 100% employee-owned companies in the nation, Blue Tee Corp. specializes in steel recycling, distribution, and the design and manufacture of equipment and replacement parts for the refining, earthmoving, water-well, oilfield, and solid waste industries. To date, Blue Tee Corp. has approximately 5,000 employees. Read more about Blue Tee Corp....

Walman Optical

http://www.walman.com

Founded in 1915, Walman Optical is the nation’s largest independent ophthalmic company with more than 40 branch offices nationwide. The 100 percent worker-owned company has over 1,000 employees working across 19 states, and revenue topping $500 million annually.

Read more about Walman Optical...

Stylmark Inc.

http://www.stylmark.com

Founded in 1954 to produce a new, quieter, wheel-based rolling door mechanism, Stylmark has expanded to become a manufacturer of aluminum and steel products for retail, hospitality, entertainment, and other commercial environments. As a worker-owned company since 1998, Stylmark has 150 employees, revenue exceeding $20 million, and is considered one of the 50 largest companies in its industry.

Read more about Stylmark Inc....

Northwest Swiss-Matic, Inc.

http://www.nwswissmatic.com

With 125 employees, Northwest Swiss-Matic, a precision screw machine parts manufacturer that is a certified supplier to many Fortune 500 companies, is an entirely worker-owned corporation. Read more about Northwest Swiss-Matic, Inc. ...

Haldeman-Homme

http://www.haldemanhomme.com/about.shtml

Founded in 1924 as a private company specializing in light material handling equipment for industry, Haldeman-Homme established an employee stock ownership plan in 1977. By 1987, the firm was completely worker-owned. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Haldeman-Homme has expanded its business to include layouts, technical information, engineering data and services, and final installation across many industries. The firm now has 150 employee-owners and operates in 19 states.

Read more about Haldeman-Homme...

Southern Gear & Machine

http://www.southerngear.net

Southern Gear has been producing gears for aerospace and other industries since 1957. The company converted to employ ownership in 1987. From its beginnings as a small, one bay operation with just a few employees, the firm has grown to have 94 employee-owners. Read more about Southern Gear & Machine...

Delta Community Medical Center

http://www.deltamedcenter.com

A full service employee-owned community hospital, Delta has served the Memphis area for over 30 years. The facility has 151 beds, of which 143 are adult and/or pediatric care and eight are intensive care. Read more about Delta Community Medical Center...

Dunn-Edwards

http://www.dunnedwards.com

Originally a private, family-owned business founded in 1925, since 2001, Dunn-Edwards, headquartered in Los Angeles, is the largest employee-owned paint manufacturer in the United States. With more than 1,650 employee owners and over 115 stores throughout the southwestern U.S., Dunn-Edwards’ most recent annual revenues totaled more than $300 million.  This employee owned company primarily caters to architects, designers, homebuilders, and property managers in the Southwest. Read more about Dunn-Edwards...

Chatsworth Products

http://www.chatsworth.com

Once a division of a Fortune 500 company (the Harris Company), Chatsworth Products, which produces storage devices for mainframe computer equipment and data, became a 100% employee-owned company in 1991. The company has grown to employ over 900 people today. Read more about Chatsworth Products...

Stern Brothers Valuation Advisors

http://www.sternbv.com

Stern Brothers Valuation Advisors is a private company founded in 1917 and owned by its employees. Also a Chapter Officer of The ESOP Association, Stern Brothers provides business valuation, financial advisory services, and litigation support. Stern Brothers has 6 staff members, and an estimated annual revenue of more than $2.5 million. Read more about Stern Brothers Valuation Advisors...

HNTB Corporation

http://www.hntb.com

HNTB was founded in 1914 with history of having contributed significantly to the design of the Interstate Highway System. Today, it is still an infrastructure engineering and design firm that is employee-owned. Headquartered in Kansas City, HNTB generate annual revenue of $625 million and employs over 3,400 people in 60 branches nationwide. Read more about HNTB Corporation...

Commerce Bank

http://www.commercebank.com

Commerce Bank was founded in 1865, becoming the largest bank west of Chicago by 1890 as the National Bank of Commerce. Commerce Bank, a Chapter Officer of The ESOP Association., offers financial services for business looking to transition into an ESOP. With assets over $18.5 billion, the bank had a net income of $221 million in 2010. In 2008, the Commerce Bancshares Foundation invested $1.4 million in 645 community charities and organizations within the areas it operates, and also reinvests in the equity housing funds of the Kansas City and St. Louis regions.

Burns & McDonnell

http://www.burnsmcd.com

Burns & McDonnell, an engineering consultant firm, was founded in 1898 and was ranked 26th in Fortune's 2012 list of "100 Best Companies to Work For." The company is 100 percent employee-owned and has been so for more than 25 years with the average worth of stock per employee equaling $215,000. As of 2009, Burns & McDonnell reported T&D revenue of $179.9 million and employed more than 2,840. Read more about Burns & McDonnell...

Westbrook Manufacturing

http://www.westbrookmfg.com

Specializing in quality pipe fittings since 1965, Westbrook's business has grown from emergency and specialty manufacturing to include a full spectrum of pipe nipples, swage nipples, plugs, forged fittings, unions and welding outlets. In 2007, Westbrook became an employee-owned company when Sidney and Charlie Westbrook transferred ownership. Read more about Westbrook Manufacturing...

Texan Floor Service

http://www.texanfloor.com

Founded in 1987 by co-owners Jeff Hill and Bob Collier, Texan Floor Service became an employee-owned company in 2007 when the two began preparing for retirement. This commercial flooring company has about $12 million in annual revenue and 35 employees. In 2009, it became Houston's first commercial flooring company to commit to a "No Carpet to Landfill" policy, partnering with Carpet America Recovery Effort to recycle hundreds of thousands of pounds of carpet to date. Read more about Texan Floor Service...