The idea that workers should share in the wealth they create is as old as America itself. When George Washington took office, one of his administration’s earliest challenges was reviving the New England cod fishery, devastated during the Revolutionary War. The solution Congress enacted in 1792 split benefits between ship owners and crews, requiring a written profit-sharing agreement with every fisherman aboard. It was the first time the federal government formally endorsed broad-based profit sharing.

Nearly two centuries later, economist Louis Kelso took that principle further. He believed workers should acquire ownership stakes in their companies through the productive power of capital itself. His vision became the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, written into federal law in 1974 as part of ERISA.

This matters more than ever. A “Silver Tsunami” of baby boomer business owners is reaching retirement, with millions of companies needing ownership transitions this decade. Meanwhile, wealth concentration continues to grow. Employee ownership addresses both challenges: it gives retiring owners a responsible exit and gives workers a real stake in the economy.

What many owners don’t realize is there’s no single path to employee ownership. A retiring owner can arrange a management buyout. They can form an ESOP, creating a trust that buys shares on behalf of employees—without workers investing a dime. They can sell to an existing ESOP or to an ESOP holding company, giving employees stakes across multiple businesses. Owners can also form a worker cooperative or an Employee Ownership Trust. Each path has different tax implications, but all share the same goal: keeping companies locally rooted and building wealth for the people who do the work.

I know this firsthand. My father exited his software company through an ESOP in 2004. Over twenty years later, it still bears the same name and many of the same employees. Inspired by his example, I did the same with my IT company, Intrust IT, completing a transaction in 2025 that made us 100 percent employee-owned through an ESOP holding company. The exit was financially comparable to private equity, and the tax benefits actually made it better.

If you are a business owner considering employee-ownership and don’t know where to start, Greater Cincinnati is part of the “Business Legacy Initiative”, which provides free resources to exiting owners. Learn more at BecomeWorkerOwned.org. You can also attend “Is an ESOP Right for You?” June 15–16, 2026 in Columbus. Register at NCEO.org.

From colonial cod fishermen to today’s employee-owners, the idea that those who create wealth should share in it has always been part of who we are. The only question is whether we’ll pass it on.