Ownership Across America: What Iowa and New Jersey Are Teaching Other States
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What role should states play in expanding employee ownership? Increasingly, they’re serving as testing grounds for new ideas.
Across the country, policymakers and advocates are exploring new ways to help businesses transition to employee ownership, from financing strategies and technical assistance to outreach and education programs that help introduce business owners to employee ownership as a succession option.
Each state faces its own economic and political challenges, but common approaches are beginning to emerge. Twenty-five states now have state centers of employee ownership to support this work, including at least eight that receive state funding. Some states are building partnerships with universities and economic development agencies, as Iowa has, while others are developing financial incentives such as New Jersey’s new revolving loan fund, and programs to help businesses navigate the transition. These efforts offer insights into how states can build the infrastructure needed to make employee ownership more accessible.
In this issue of From the Forum, we revisit a conversation with state and federal leaders about the policies and partnerships taking shape nationwide. Watch the conversation to learn how state leaders are advancing employee ownership and what their work could mean for the future of ownership policy across the United States.
State Innovations in Employee Ownership
This session from the 2026 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum highlights some of the newest and most promising state-level innovations, the leaders driving them, and what other states and federal policymakers can learn from what’s emerging. Hilary Abell, chief of the employee ownership division at the US Department of Labor, maps the national landscape of state programs; Iowa state Representative Shannon Lundgren discusses how Iowa has funded feasibility studies since 2011 and why new employee-owners need to understand what ownership means; and New Jersey state Senator Andrew Zwicker explains how a proposed revolving loan fund could finance ownership transitions when state budgets are tight. Watch the session here.
Check out the highlights
Related Videos
The American Dream needs more owners | Tammy Miller | TEDxFargo
Related Resources
- Employee Ownership: An Economic and Workforce Development Strategy for State and Local Governments
- Employee Ownership as Economic Development | LSI Research
- Employee Ownership Resources | EOX
- Employee Ownership Initiative – Employee Ownership in the States | U.S. Department of Labor
- Boots on the Ground: A Profile of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center
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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