OE S employee stock ownership plan

for years while also benefiting our rural Iowa communities. We have many people who grew up here in north Iowa working for us, and they’re hopefully going to be set for retirement because of the wealth the company has provided for them.”

Mike Schreurs (Marketing ‘69) had a similar positive experience with Strategic America, a Des Moines-based marketing company. About four years ago, the company started to move toward an ESOP because Schreurs, the company chairman, and his brother were approached by another company about acquisition. They realized they didn’t want to feed into a larger organization. They wanted to retain the culture they worked to build and provide a unique opportunity for employees while also having an exit strategy to retire themselves.

The transition is still a work in process, and Schreurs mentioned it has been costly, particularly for a small business with around 135 employees. Schreurs said some younger employees are still learning about the benefits of ESOPs, but he has noticed many taking more care of their work and expenses. “That’s a value we are seeing more and more, that they have a personal stake,” he said.

When first researching ESOPs, Schreurs reached out to a company in an adjacent space that operated an ESOP of their own. The company shared they helped make 142 employees millionaires over 25 years. That’s Schreurs long-term hope for Strategic America.

“We’ve got great benefits and competitive salaries, and yet to come into consideration is the value of this stock, and we expect it to grow,” Schreurs said. “Our hope is that in the next 20 years or so, employees are going to be glad they bought in.”

Schreurs added, “Companies want to survive and thrive whatever the season is, and they want to be part of something bigger to gain long-term significance. I think an ESOP is clearly one of the best ways to do that.” BIZ