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
Four Wisconsin companies and founders will be recognized for their commitment to employee ownership — through leadership, legacy preservation, emerging ownership, and meaningful community impact. 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.
Legislative Perspective & Fundraising Appeal
Wisconsin State Representative Darrin Madison offers a legislative perspective on employee ownership and the importance of keeping Wisconsin businesses locally rooted and broadly owned. Joe Sapp then closes the formal program with a live fundraising appeal supporting WICEO's statewide education, outreach, and transition assistance programs.
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.
Four awards. Four Wisconsin stories.
Each award recognizes a company or founder that embodies what employee ownership can look like when it's done right. Nominations closed on August 15 — thank you to everyone who submitted one. Winners will be announced live at the dinner on October 22.
- Ownership culture embedded throughout the organization
- Strong performance supported by employee ownership
- Positive impact on employees, families, and the community
- Employee-owned 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
- Consistent investment in the local community through giving, sponsorship, volunteerism, or direct programming
- Community engagement that grows out of the ownership model and its values, not alongside them
- A sustained track record of service rather than a single campaign or initiative
- Impact that meets real local needs and strengthens the community the company calls home
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.
Representative Madison has served Wisconsin's 10th Assembly District since 2023. He joins the evening to offer a legislative perspective on employee ownership — and why keeping Wisconsin businesses locally rooted and broadly owned matters for workers, families, and communities across the state.
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.
Investment banking products and services within the United States are offered exclusively through BDO Capital Advisors, LLC, a separate legal entity and affiliated company of BDO USA, P.C., a Virginia professional corporation. For more information, visit www.bdocap.com. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. BDO Capital Advisors, LLC Member FINRA/SIPC.
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.
