Verit Advisors, a sponsor of the NCEO Employee Ownership Conference in Minneapolis, April 12-14, 2016 will participate in multiple sessions. This annual conference is a premier gathering on employee ownership and over 1,400 attendees are expected.

Verit Advisors CEO, Mary Josephs, will moderate a panel on Tuesday titled “How to Go from a Partial to a 100% ESOP.” Josephs founded Verit Advisors in 2009 and has nearly three decades of experience in corporate finance. She is a nationally recognized leader and has advised structured and closed more than 200 financings for middle market companies. Ms. Josephs is a past two-term board member of NCEO (National Center for Employee Ownership).

Also on Tuesday, April 12, Peter Abrahamson will be a panelist discussing “Anatomy of a Second-Stage ESOP Transaction.” This session will tell the story of one ESOP company’s journey from partial to full ESOP ownership. Abrahamson is a Managing Director at Verit and has more than 15 years of investment banking and valuation experience, specializing in structuring ESOP transactions and the valuation of business enterprises and individual securities.

Later Tuesday is a session on “Alternative Forms of Capital for ESOP Companies” featuring John Solimine, Principal, and Stan Slabas, Senior Advisor for Verit. This session will discuss sources of capital for both newly formed and mature ESOP companies. Solimine is a founding member of Verit and has 15 years of experience in investment banking and debt capital markets, particularly with middle market companies and private equity sponsors in succession and liquidity transactions. Slabas is currently a member of the Board of Directors of S&C Electric Company, a Chicago-based global provider of equipment and services specializing in electric power switching, protection and control. He retired from S&C after a 40-year career where he was S&C’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and was instrumental in resolving challenging ownership succession issues, culminating in the establishment of an ESOP in 2007.

Wednesday, Matt Dalany, Managing Director, will be moderating a panel “ESOP Financing from the Lender’s Perspective.” This session features a panel of senior bankers discussing the state of the financing markets with particular attention to capital for new and established ESOPs. Dalany has over 30 years of commercial banking experience lending to middle market and mid-cap companies. At Bank of America, Matt and the teams he led helped thousands of primarily privately held and family-owned businesses achieve their strategic objectives.

Also on Wednesday, Mary Josephs will participate in a panel titled “Professional’s Forum on Transaction Structures.” This advanced session will be a discussion of legal, fiduciary, valuation, and corporate finance considerations in deal structures.

Join Abrahamson for lunch on Wednesday as he hosts roundtable #34 and discusses Creative Financing for ESOP Transactions. Joe Alexander, Senior Advisor will host table #43 discussing Terminating an ESOP.

About ESOPs

According to the NCEO, the first employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) was in 1956 and today there are about 10,900 ESOPs and equivalent plans employing more than 13 million employees in the U.S. ESOPs are spread throughout the nation and industries and range from just a few employees to more than 150,000 employees. Over a 10-year period, ESOPs have 25 percent higher job growth than comparable companies without an ESOP. These companies have 4 to 5 percent higher productivity in the year an ESOP is adopted. Employee ownership keeps businesses and jobs in state with ESOP companies 25 percent more likely to stay in business.

About Verit Advisors

Verit Advisors unites sophisticated middle market investment banking capabilities with a client centric boutique, fluent in ESOPs, debt and equity capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions. Integrity, teamwork, service, and innovation are at the heart of the organization, as the Verit Team strives to provide unparalleled advice and custom solutions to its clients. Mary Josephs founded Verit Advisors in 2009 in Chicago and has nearly three decades of experience in the world of corporate finance. Josephs and her team are considered to be the foremost experts in ESOP transactions and middle market strategic alternatives.