We’re excited to announce that RETTEW is now 100 percent owned by employees, via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
Effective Jan. 2, the transition comes at the start of our 50-year anniversary in 2019.
In the past seven years, our firm has created and grown an ESOP as part of an ownership succession plan. Most recently, the ESOP owned 30 percent of the company, with the remaining 70 percent owned by 25 company leaders who were given the opportunity to buy stock in the company, including longtime owner and recently retired George “Hank” Rettew, Jr. Hank stepped down from his role as CEO in 2015, but has maintained his role as Board Chairman.
When Hank retired, firm leaders began considering other options for the company’s ownership. Becoming a company 100 percent owned by employees seemed to make the most sense, as an employee-centric culture will contribute to the firm’s long-term success, said Mark Lauriello, President and CEO.
“I think transitioning the ownership fully to employees speaks to the legacy of our firm,” Hank said. “We have the best people, and now they will all benefit even more from the excellent work they do.”
As part of the ESOP transition, all 25 shareholders were bought out. Shares will now be distributed annually to all employees for the next 20 years. All ESOP procedures are managed by a third-party trustee.
“As we talked about what makes RETTEW’s culture a competitive advantage, we knew being focused on employees was top of our list,” Mark said.
Helping employees grow in their careers, expand their expertise, and support each other is a defining factor of our company culture, and we know this step will have major impact on our 350 employees!