Celebrating
Employee Ownership
in Wisconsin
The inaugural annual dinner honoring the companies,
founders, and workers who chose a different path.
A night to celebrate the people who bet on their workers — and won.
The Wisconsin Employee Ownership Celebration Dinner is WICEO's inaugural annual gathering — an evening of recognition, inspiration, and community for the businesses, founders, and advocates proving that employee ownership works.
Through awards, compelling stories, and a shared commitment to keeping Wisconsin businesses locally rooted and broadly owned, this evening celebrates what's already happening — and raises the resources to make it possible for more.
An evening worth your Thursday.
Reception
Join us in the Red Crown Club for cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres as the sun sets over Lake Mendota. Connect with fellow business owners, advisors, lenders, and advocates building Wisconsin's employee ownership ecosystem.
Welcome Remarks & Dinner
WICEO Executive Director Joe Sapp opens the evening with remarks on what this night represents — for the businesses in the room, for the workers who built them, and for the future of Wisconsin's economy. A plated dinner is served as the program begins.
Awards Ceremony
Three Wisconsin companies and founders will be recognized for their commitment to employee ownership — their leadership, their legacy, and their proof that this model works. Each award tells a real Wisconsin story.
National Perspective
Steve Storkan, Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX), shares where the employee ownership movement is headed nationally — and why Wisconsin is positioned to be a model state for the decade ahead.
Keynote Address
A Wisconsin founder who chose employee ownership over an outside sale shares their story — the decision, the transition, and what it means today to walk the floor knowing every person there owns a piece of what they built together.
Networking & Close
The bar reopens and the evening continues — unstructured time to connect with award recipients, speakers, fellow owners, and the advisors and lenders who make ownership transitions possible across Wisconsin.
Three awards. Three Wisconsin stories.
Each award recognizes a company or founder that embodies what employee ownership can look like when it's done right. Nominations are open — do you know a Wisconsin business or founder who deserves recognition?
- Employee ownership culture visible throughout the organization, not just on paper
- Sustained business performance supported by the ownership model
- Meaningful community impact — employees, their families, and the local economy
- Company has operated under employee ownership for 5 or more years
- Founder passed on a genuine outside sale opportunity to choose employee ownership
- Transition created tangible, lasting financial benefit for employees
- Business remains stable, locally rooted, and operationally strong
- A story with the power to inspire other Wisconsin founders
- Transition completed thoughtfully with genuine employee involvement
- Early signs of impact: improved morale, retention, or engagement
- Demonstrated commitment to making ownership real and meaningful
- Forward-looking potential to become a Wisconsin ownership success story
Know a Wisconsin company or founder who belongs in this room?
Our awards are chosen by a selection committee — and nominations come from people like you. There's no fee, no minimum company size, and no required format. If you know a business or founder whose employee ownership story deserves recognition, we want to hear it.
Nominations are free, open, and rolling. Self-nominations are welcome, especially for the Legacy Preservation Award.
- 1 Open to any Wisconsin-based employee-owned company — ESOP, worker co-op, or employee ownership trust
- 2 Self-nominations are welcome, particularly for founders who chose employee ownership at transition
- 3 Questions? Contact Joe Sapp at jsapp@wiceo.org — we're happy to help you find the right fit
Voices that move the room.
Joe leads WICEO's statewide work expanding access to employee ownership transitions for Wisconsin businesses. He opens the evening with a welcome and closes the formal program with a direct fundraising appeal for WICEO's education and outreach mission.
Steve leads EOX, the national network supporting state-based employee ownership centers and advocating for employee ownership policy at the federal level. He brings a national frame to Wisconsin's moment — and makes the case for why what happens here matters far beyond state lines.
Our keynote speaker is a Wisconsin-based founder who sold their company to their employees — and will share the real story of that decision: the moment, the transition, and what it means to walk the floor knowing every person there owns a piece of what they built. Announcement coming soon.
The Edgewater Hotel
Red Crown Club
Support the movement.
Sponsoring the Wisconsin Employee Ownership Celebration Dinner places your organization at the center of Wisconsin's growing employee ownership ecosystem — connecting you with business owners, advisors, lenders, and policymakers who are actively building it. Three tiers, all limited.
Join us on
October 22nd.
Seats are limited. The Red Crown Club holds an intimate gathering — every person in the room is there because they believe in what Wisconsin's workers can build when they own it.
