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Panel Proposals

Innovative Leadership

How Employee Ownership Can Align Your Purpose, People, and Profit

Wednesday, April 8, 2026
1:10 PM - 2:10 PM CDT
Location: Baird Ballroom D | Demo Stage
CE: 1
CE Type: SHRM
Education Level: Intermediate
In this session, Bob Whalen dives into how he’s helped his company achieve a compounded return of 33% for employee-owners over a 15-year period by leveraging the power of an ESOP. To achieve success, businesses don’t have to choose. Bob demonstrates how ESOPs can, and should, prioritize their people, align their purpose, and increase their profits to take their business to the next level. But being an ESOP isn’t a magic elixir. It makes this quest easier, but there is certainly more that goes into reaping the full benefits. In this session, Bob covers how an ESOP can help businesses achieve their goals by focusing on people, purpose, and profits.

NCEO Publication: Leadership Development and Succession

Learning Objectives:

  1. Develop an understanding of how ESOPS generate alpha—or additional value over comparable businesses
  2. Embrace the idea that it’s not just about what you do, but how you do it, that unleashes the full power of people within your organization
  3. Gain clarity on how employee ownership creates a unity of purpose that sets the people and the company up for success