Baker Center for Employee Ownership
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Baker Center?
The Baker Center for Employee Ownership (“BCEO”) will use the “Center of Excellence” model to advance the adoption of employee ownership as a business succession strategy. Utilizing a partnership approach, the BCEO will pull together experts and organizations with specialized skills and knowledge in the employee ownership domain. The Center will work in conjunction with these partners to curate information to distribute and provide leadership, best practices, research, support, and training on relevant topics. The BCEO will also work with academic institutions and resources to integrate employee ownership into those areas. - The mission of the Baker Center is to bring resources to multiple audiences to increase the number of employee owned businesses, regardless of structure. The BCEO will accomplish this mission by curating and creating employee ownership resources to support educating and raising awareness of the benefits of employee ownership for employees, business owners, professionals, academia and communities.
- The BCEO provides support in three critical areas: content, curriculum, and community.
Content: the BCEO will provide valuable information about the benefits and issues
impacting employee ownership, the conversion to an employee ownership structure and ongoing successful operations of employee ownership.
Curriculum: the BCEO will curate, develop and distribute educational materials and programs on all facets of employee ownership to support to support the creation of: new employee owned organizations, professional development of new employee owners, education and recruitment of industry professionals, and integration of principles of employee ownership into academic curriculum and text. Community: the BCEO will provide opportunities to potential employee owned companies to join with other organizations to explore and vet employee ownership, and for current employee owned companies and professionals to share best practices, review industry trends and network with others interested in employee ownership.
- Who will find value in the offering of the BCEO?
Companies: Employee ownership can take many forms. As a result the Baker Center will be of interest to for-profit companies across industries; regardless of shape, size or structure.
Professional Organizations (Accounting, Legal, Financial, Organizational): In addition to working with employee owned companies, the BCEO will offer services to providers of accounting, legal, banking and a spectrum of financial services as they look to learn more and partner with companies taking the employee ownership journey.
Higher Education: The BCEO will offer support to institutions of higher education who would like to incorporate employee ownership into their curriculum – this could be in professional areas such as management, accounting, finance, human resources, and in the liberal arts in areas of sociology, social justice, etc.
- How is the Baker Center for Employee Ownership structured?
The Baker Center for Employee Ownership (“BCEO”) is a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership, a registered Pennsylvania 501(c)(3) non- profit. - What is the relationship between the BCEO and the PaCEO?
The BCEO is a not for profit subsidiary of the PaCEO. The two organizations are closely aligned on mission and objectives but with a different focus of activities. The PaCEO is primarily focused on industry awareness and advocacy activities and the BCEO is focused on content, curriculum and community/network building activities. - How is the BCEO funded?
The initial funding for the BCEO is an endowment from the family of Ken Baker, chairman/CEO of NewAge industries, a 100% employee owned company. Additional sources of support include, sponsorships, individual and corporate gifts, foundations, program and content revenues. - What is the governance structure of the BCEO?
Oversight for the activities of the BCEO falls under the PaCEO leadership and its Board of Directors. Strategy and day to day operations fall under the responsibility of the Executive Director of the BCEO. - Who leads the BCEO?
Scott Moon is the Executive Director of the BCEO; Scott has a deep background and understanding of employee ownership having worked for an employee owned company. - Is the BCEO a membership organization?
Currently the BCEO is funded through the generous support of the Baker family, going forward the BCEO may offer membership opportunities. - Is the BCEO a membership organization?
As a 501(c)3, the BCEO cannot participate in political activities or make contributions for political purposes.
- How can I support the BCEO?
There are a variety of ways to support the BCEO.
Partners / Professional Service Providers: The BCEO will work with organizations andindividuals with knowledge of employee ownership to provide assistance with relevant content, as well as developing and delivering training and participation on programming.
Companies: BCEO will be looking to partner with both employee owned and other companies to develop curriculum and training.
Please contact info@baker-center.org if you are interested in learning more. - How do I get more information about or contact the BCEO?
You can receive more information by sending an email to info@baker-center.org and stay tuned to this page for the latest updates.
The Baker Center is a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership, a registered Pennsylvania 501(c)(3) non-profit
Initial funding for the Baker Center for Employee Ownership was provided through a generous endowment from the family of Ken Baker,
Chairman/CEO of NewAge industries, an employee owned company.