Governor Jared Polis has been awarded the inaugural Torchlight Award for his leadership in advancing employee ownership and employee stock ownership plans (ESOP), an honor that comes from The ESOP Association.

With high elevation, low humidity, and intense sunlight, gardening in Colorado is not for the faint of heart. Despite these challenges, OrganaGardens has been providing custom landscaping services to the Pikes Peak Colorado Springs area since 1995.

DENVER -- Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), announced today that 14 grantees have been awarded $217,000 in American Rescue Plan funding through Cycle B of the Colorado Creative Corps ARP grant. This funding initiative is supported through Colorado’s partnership agreement with the National Endowment for the Arts.

With over 100 locations across Colorado, Arizona, and California, many individuals are already familiar with FirstBank, or 1STBank, as a banking and financial services company. What some customers may not know, however, is that this privately held company has been employee-owned since they were established in 1963.

The Colorado Employee Ownership Office, a division of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), announces four employee ownership conversions from round three of the Employee Ownership Grant.

The Colorado Employee Ownership Office at the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) has partnered with the

Since their founding in 2004, Namaste Solar knew that they wanted their business model to be different. While there are many ways a business can establish an edge, the company identified early on that employee ownership would be one of their most impactful strategies to incorporate from the ground up.

“If we could have everybody acting and thinking like an owner,” says Co-Founder, Blake Jones, “that would translate into better work quality, better customer service and basically better ability to run the company and be competitive.”

Governor Polis’ signing of HB 21-1311 program put in place for January 1, 2022 launch
 
DENVER — The Employee Ownership Office, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), will launch the application process for the Employee Ownership Tax Credit on January 1, 2022. The tax credit will be available to Colorado-headquartered businesses that want to convert to an employee ownership model and will cover up to 50% of a qualified business’ conversion costs for use on their state income taxes.

Colorado Pool and Spa Scapes celebrated a conversion to an employee stock ownership plan on April 1, 2021. Initially, the founders started bringing in long-term employees as partners. As the company grew, it became apparent that approach could not be sustained with more career and long-term employees joining the team. The company found employee ownership to be the solution.

Hercules Industries was family-owned since 1962. When it came time for the owners to transition out, they heard presentations from buyers and investors, but none of the presentations impressed the owners and none felt like the right fit. 

That is, until the former owners lit up when they heard about employee ownership, specifically an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The choice was clear as the owners knew that an ESOP would be a wonderful way to transition the legacy to the employees who helped build it.