morning plenary panelists
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| Clay Adams | Jim Feinson | Mike Sessions | Steve Voigt |
Clay Adams is Chief Operating Officer of Resource Systems Group, where he is responsible for developing and executing RSG's operating plans, including strategy, sales/marketing, finance, and human resources. He also serves as an adviser on select projects. Mr. Adams brings several years of management consulting experience to RSG in the fields of general strategy, transportation, technology, and the environment.
Jim Feinson is President and Chief Exectutive Officer of Gardener’s Supply Company, the nation’s largest catalog and e-commerce marketer of gardening products and accessories. Jim has been at Gardener’s Supply Company for 23 years, and President since 1999. He helped direct the company’s profitable growth from 40 employees when he joined in 1988, to 250 regular and 150 seasonal staff in 2009. The company became 100% employee-owned in 2009. Jim is also very active in the community, serving on industry, for profit and non-profit Boards.
Mike Sessions is Senior Vice President of Pizzagalli Construction Company. Mike has also worked as Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of Operations at Pizzagalli. He has served as the Governor’s appointee on a workforce committee, Board member of GBIC, and as an adjunct faculty member. He has given numerous presentations covering ESOP and other topics at both local and national conferences.
Steve Voigt is President and Chief Exectutive Officer of King Arthur Flour Company of Norwich, Vermont. Voigt joined the company in 1992 as VP of Finance, led the process of becoming 100% employee-owned starting in 1995, and become CEO in 1999. He is Past Chair of The ESOP Association and is also on the boards of Newport Harbor, King Arthur Flour, Kalow Technologies, the New England Mail Order Association and the Vermont Business Roundtable, where he serves as Vice Chair.
Kathy Brytowski, PHR is a Human Resources Manager for Carris Reels, where she has worked for 10 years. She assists the HR functions in the Virginia, North Carolina, and Rutland, Vermont facilities. Her emphasis is in learning and development and the administration of the retirement and ESOP plans. Kathy also serves as a member of Carris’s Corporate Steering Committee, which focuses on the company’s long term plan and mission of employee ownership and governance.
Barbara Clough, QKA is a Senior Plan Administrator at Blue Ridge ESOP Associates, a nationally recognized third-party administration firm that provides employee benefit plan administration and related services exclusively to ESOP companies. Ms. Clough has more than 20 years of administration experience including private and publicly-held plans ranging in size from 20 to 20,000 employees as well as extensive experience with ERISA law, Department of Labor Regulations, IRS code compliance, and IRS/DOL audits. She is a member of The ESOP Association’s Administrative Advisory Committee, frequent speaker at NCEO and ESOP Association conferences as well as the co-author of Chapter Six, “Complying with the Section 409(p) Anti-Abuse Rules’’ of the NCEO’s publication S-Corporation ESOPs.
Chuck Coyne is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers, and Managing Director of Empire Valuation Consultants, LLC. He has over 20 years of experience in the valuation of closely-held business interests. He has prepared valuations for estate and gift tax, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), family business succession, bankruptcy and reorganizations, fairness opinions, family limited partnerships (FLP) and limited liability companies (LLC), marital dissolution, shareholder and partnership disputes, and mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Erbin Crowell works with the Cooperative Fund of New England and organizations such as the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops. For over a decade he was a member of Equal Exchange, a worker co-operative and fair trade organization based in southeast Massachusetts, where he served in management roles and for six years on the board of directors. He currently serves on the board of the National Cooperative Business Association.
Aaron Dawson has been a worker owner at Equal Exchange for over six year and works as the Interfaith Customer Service Manager. He has also been a board member of the US Federation of Worker Co-ops for the last year and a half. Involvement in worker co-ops runs in Aaron’s family. His father, Steven Dawson, is a co-founder of the ICA Co-op Loan Fund and helped to set up Cooperative Home Care Associates in New York City.
John Dionne is the Vice President of Product Development and Professional Services for Windmill International, Inc. Windmill is a Veteran Owned Defense Contractor supporting Department of Defense, Homeland Security and Government Agencies both in the US and abroad. John is also the chairperson of Windmill’s ESOP Communication Committee having worked his way up through the company to executive management from a field level position over the last 12 years. Windmill is 49% member owned (120 persons strong) and has been an ESOP company for five years with annual revenues of approximately $40M.
Philip Fiermonte is the Outreach Director for Senator Bernie Sanders and works in the Senator’s Burlington Office. Phil has worked for Senator Sanders for 13 years going back to the days when Mr. Sanders was Vermont’s sole Congressman. A graduate of the University of Vermont, Phil worked as a labor organizer for the American Federation of teachers for seven years and led the successful efforts to organize 1300 nurses at Fletcher Allen Hospital and over 600 full-time faculty members at the University of Vermont. Phil served on the Burlington City Council representing Burlington’s Old North End from 2000-2006.
Erich Finley works in Project Development at Birdseye Building Company where he also chairs the ESOP committee. Birdseye is an architecture, building and woodworking company located in Richmond, Vermont.
David Fitz-Gerald is Vice President, Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer and an employee-owner of Carris Reels. Dave is responsible for finance, banking, insurance, tax, accounting, auditing, budgeting, forecasting, cost accounting, credit, collection, computer, and legal aspects of the company’s business. Prior to joining Carris Reels, Dave worked in public accounting, and was first introduced to the company in 1986 as an entry-level auditor. He is also the President of the New England Chapter of The ESOP Association.
Rick Gile is the founder and former majority owner of Kalow Technologies, a Rutland-based designer and manufacturer of custom control systems machinery. In 2004, Kalow owners, including Rick, sold the company to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and began to transfer management responsibilities to the next generation of leaders. Several years into the program, things are unfolding as planned. Rick left the employment of Kalow in December 2008, but remains on the Board of Directors.
Kate Guerrina has spent 20 years in various aspects of advertising, media buying, print and design. She joined Chroma as the Director of Marketing in 2002, and became an owner one year later.
Don Jamison has worked in the employee ownership field for fourteen years. He is a founder of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center where he helps plan and deliver VEOC’s educational offerings, and works with those in established companies assess the potential of employee ownership for their businesses.
Newell Lessell is the President of the ICA Group, a non-profit consulting organization that provides business, education and financial services to employee-owned companies. Newell has over 10 years of experience in worker ownership consulting and has co-founded several social purpose enterprises. At ICA he has worked with companies in a range of industries to develop market strategies, improve financial performance and create innovative structures that provide ownership opportunities for employees.
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