Register today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/selling-a-small-business-to-a-worker-co-op-brattleboro-tickets-31653417223
When the time comes for the owner of a small business to exit, the process of finding an appropriate buyer can often be challenging and stressful, even for enterprises with a solid track-record of success. However, one often-overlooked potential buyer can be found right under the current owner’s nose: the employees!
While the model has existed for decades, the past few years of the “Silver Tsunami” of baby boomer retirements has seen a surge in the sale of small businesses to their employees via worker cooperatives. Financial institutions have become increasingly familiar and comfortable with financing such transactions, and there’s a growing community of such companies in Vermont and the Valley.
This seminar will offer an introduction to the worker co-op model and an overview of the steps and process of a sale to the employees. It will also feature a live story from Deirdre Kelley of the Brattleboro Holistic Health Center, which made the transition to a worker co-op in 2011. The seminar is free, but seats are limited, so please register as soon as possible to reserve your place!
Sponsors: Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Vermont Employee Ownership Center, Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation.
Presenters:
CORY GREENBERG, Shutesbury, Massachusetts, has been advising businesses and non-profits on financial, management, planning, real estate and negotiating for over 30 years. Cory was board member of the Co-operative Fund of New England from 1993-2010, serving as loan committee chair and treasurer, and is President of the Co-operative Capital Fund, Treasurer and board member of Ten Directions, Inc. and is on the advisory board of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society. He has been CFO at a publicly traded company as well as a financial manager of a worker cooperative, and is a graduate of Hampshire College. For more information visit:www.cory.greenberg.com.
ADAM TROTT, Executive Director, Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives (VAWC)
DEIRDRE KELLEY, Brattleboro Holistic Health Center (BHHC)
DON JAMISON, Executive Director, Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC)