Selling Owner Pre-Conference
June 11th, 2026 10:30-4:15pm in Burlington, VT
Are you a business owner seriously considering selling your business to your employees?
Join the crew of VEOC, Rob Brown from Cooperative Development Institute, Attorney Tabitha Croscut from Devine Millimet, and Allison Curtis from ICA Group to learn about common broad-based employee ownership models, and dig into everything you need to know in order to really get started on the ownership succession path. This pre-conference day is exclusively for business owners. It will be held at the offices of an established EO company in the Burlington area.
Key employees are welcome to attend the main conference on Friday for programming specifically designed for them.
In order to register for this pre-conference (and get access to a discount for businesses planning on converting to Employee Ownership!) schedule a short online meeting with Matt Cropp, Executive Director of VEOC. Matt will get you into our system and send you a special registration link. You must register for the pre-conference by May 29 to guarantee your spot!
Meet the Presenters
Tabitha Croscut is a director, shareholder and chair of the ESOP practice group at Devine, Millimet & Branch, P.A., with a national legal practice focused on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) as succession and employee compensation strategies. In addition to counseling her clients regarding transactional, compliance and fiduciary issues with respect to their ESOP, she has represented companies, sellers and internal and external trustees in ESOP transactions ranging from under a million dollars to over a billion dollars. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars nationwide and presents regularly on how ESOPs can be an effective exit or transition planning tool for owners of closely held businesses. Tabitha serves as a director of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC), is a member of The ESOP Association and a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
Rob Brown is the Director of Business Ownership Solutions (BOS) at CDI. He is a nationally recognized expert in the field of employee ownership transitions, and has assisted dozens of businesses explore, assess, structure and execute transitions to worker-owned cooperatives. Rob leads regional and national programs to educate and advise business owners on exit planning processes and options, and has developed extensive education and training programs for boards, management, and members of new worker-owned cooperatives. He participates in several national networks promoting the strategy of employee ownership conversions and best practices in the field. Rob lives with his wife and son in Northport, Maine.
Allison Curtis is the Director of Conversions and Consulting at The ICA Group, a national non-profit that supports employee owned companies nationally. Allison works with business owners across ICA’s industries and geographies who are pursuing transitions to employee ownership and supports companies after they convert. Prior to joining ICA, Allison worked as an urban planner and data analyst for a regional planning commission. She earned a Master of Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy from Tufts University where she focused her studies on community land trusts and other community ownership models. She has a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Lewis and Clark College.
Matt Cropp is Executive Director of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center, where he has served in various roles since 2014. He came to working in broad-based ownership through an interest in cooperative finance, writing his master's thesis on the founding and evolution of the Vermont State Employees Credit Union. Outside of VEOC work, he has participated in the launch of several cooperative businesses, and currently serves as board treasurer of the Vermont Real Estate Cooperative. Matt lives in Burlington with his wife and their very energetic 2 year old...
Annie is the Program and Operations Generalist at VEOC. Their primary foci include supporting employee owned businesses that are trying to align policies and procedures with practices, building supportive workplaces, and helping people navigate change and conflict. Prior to VEOC, Annie worked at Real Pickles in Greenfield, MA for 12 years and was part of their co-op conversion. And prior to that, they taught 3-8th grades, indoors and out, in Western Mass, Bainbridge Island, Washington and Monteverde, Costa Rica. Academic work includes a BA in Geology from Carleton College and graduate level work in Environmental Education through the University of Washington and a certificate in Training, Facilitation, and Consulting through Marlboro College.