ABOUT US

ABOUT CTCEO

The Connecticut Center for Employee Ownership (CTCEO) serves as the central hub for information on employee-ownership in Connecticut.

The Connecticut Center for Employee Ownership (CTCEO), a member of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network of state centers, serves the entire state of Connecticut as the central hub for free, unbiased information on employee-ownership. Its primary mission is to educate business owners and their advisors on the benefits of employee ownership. CTCEO provides resources, case studies, articles, and a list of service providers who can assist with employee ownership transitions.

In 2019 The Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX) began to create a network of State Centers for Employee Ownership across the country. The purpose of this grass roots effort is to provide education and outreach on the benefits of all forms of employee ownership to workers, businesses, and the communities in which they reside as well as being a hub for resources to business owners and their advisors.

The CTCEO is just one of the state centers EOX helped to open. The mission of the CTCEO is to be the local unbiased “boots on the ground” hub to help guide CT business owners and their advisors on their options when starting their ownership transition process.

OUR HISTORY

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Carolyn Edsell-Vetter

Board Member

Carolyn Edsell-Vetter led the 2014 employee-ownership transition of A Yard & A Half Landscaping in Waltham, MA, and served the resulting worker cooperative as co-CEO from 2014-2019. In 2019, she joined the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast (CFNE), a regional CDFI leader in cooperative conversion financing. As CFNE's Learning Program Director, Carolyn develops innovative programs to help emerging communities navigate the world of cooperative enterprise and worker-ownership.


In addition to serving on the board of the CTCEO, Carolyn chairs the board of the Cooperative Development Institute, whose Business Ownership Solutions program has facilitated the transfer of several high-profile businesses to employees. Carolyn holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Cornell University and an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School. The daughter of a Cuban immigrant, Carolyn is particularly interested in employee-ownership as a vehicle to create social and economic justice for immigrants, people of color, and others who have faced structural barriers to capital access and wealth creation.


Richard A. Glassman

Board Member

Mr. Glassman is an attorney with more than 35 years of experience in the law, banking, and management. After a 25+ year career in commercial and investment banking and a family-owned business, Mr. Glassman returned to the practice of law focusing on the implementation and management of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Mr. Glassman is a founding partner of Schatz Brown Glassman LLP, and he is also EVP of Grandview Capital Strategies, a company providing fiduciary services to ESOP-owned

companies.


Mr. Glassman is a member of The ESOP Association and the NCEO. He is a board member or an advisory board member of a number of ESOP-owned companies and he on the faculty of the International Exit Planning Association teaching the ESOP curriculum.


Mr. Glassman works with corporations, directors, management, stockholders and ERISA fiduciaries in connection with the design, creation and management of ESOPs, equity-based compensation plans and matters relating to corporate finance, corporate governance and ERISA.

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Steve Storkan

Board Member

Steve Storkan is the Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX). Steve has been involved with employee stock ownership plans for over 25 years, most recently as the Director of ESOP Administration for Alerus Retirement and Benefits where he worked closely with businesses in the creation of an ESOP and the technical administration and compliance required in subsequent years. Steve spent 11 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota-Dakotas Chapter of the ESOP Association where also served as Chapter President and VP of Government Relations. Steve holds a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation from the University of Minnesota State Mankato.

Amy M. Huot

Executive Director, CTCEO

Ms. Huot is a manager at Proponent, the world’s largest independently owned aircraft parts distributor. While at Proponent, Ms. Huot worked as a volunteer with The ESOP Association, holding several positions in the New England Chapter. Along the way, she learned about ESOPs and the benefits of employee ownership and quickly became an employee ownership enthusiast!


While serving as the CT State Captain in 2015, Ms. Huot received an email from a business owner inquiring about employee ownership. Ms. Huot realized there were very few resources in CT for business owners to learn about employee ownership. With the help of Proponent senior management, Ms. Huot spent the next few years speaking with as many employee ownership experts she could find to try and open a CT Center for Employee Ownership. Fast forward a few years, Ms. Huot connected with Mr. Richard Glassman, and together they started the pursuit of a CT Center for Employee Ownership. Eventually the two connected with Mr. Steve Storkan of EOX and the rest is history.


When not working on improving her knowledge of employee ownership and employee engagement, Ms. Huot enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs, preferably out on nature hikes.

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