Five Big Ideas for Employee Ownership
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A newsletter from the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program. Subscribe for highlights from the 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum.
As interest in employee ownership continues to grow, many employers, investors, and policymakers are asking what it will take to expand these models across industries and communities.
While employee ownership can support business success and create higher-quality jobs, challenges related to finance, regulations, and low awareness still limit growth.
In this issue of “From the Forum,” we’re highlighting five speakers from the 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum who explored new opportunities and ideas for growing employee ownership. The Forum — co-hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University — brought together leaders and practitioners to explore how ownership can reshape work and workplaces.
Five Big Ideas for Employee Ownership
In this session, five speakers share perspectives on how employee ownership can support economic mobility, business performance, and community stability. Speakers include:
- Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, Department of Africana Studies, John Jay College, City University of New York
- Tammy Miller, Former Lieutenant Governor, State of North Dakota
- Phil Reeves, Founding Partner, Apis and Heritage
- Jesse Walker, Book Editor, Reason Magazine
- Leslie Wilson, Dean, Wilson College of Business, University of Northern Iowa
The conversation spans worker cooperatives, business succession, bipartisan support, and the role of higher education. Speakers point to the need for stronger infrastructure, simpler ownership transitions, better access to capital, and new ways to bring employee ownership into more industries and communities. Click here for the full discussion.
Check out the highlights
Related Resources
A Bold Path to an Inclusive, Thriving Economy: Employee Ownership | The Rockefeller Foundation
Academic Center for Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing | David W. Wilson College of Business
Apis & Heritage| 2025 Skoll Award for Social Innovation
From Border States to State House … Tammy Miller | Electrical Trends
About the Employee Ownership Ideas Forum
The Employee Ownership Ideas Forum brings together leading policymakers, practitioners, experts, and the media for a robust discussion on how we can grow employee ownership for the shared benefit of American workers and businesses. It is hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing.
About the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing
The purpose of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing is to study the various models that have emerged and will emerge of employee ownership shares and profit shares in the corporation and society of the United States and around the world.
About the Economic Opportunities Program
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.
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