A couple of weeks ago, the DISTek team had the honor of attending AND presenting at The ESOP Association’s Midwest Regional Conference held in Kansas City, Missouri. Industry leaders, innovators, and professionals gathered to share their knowledge and experiences of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP’s). This year’s conference provided valuable insights that will help shape the future for DISTek’s employee owners.
Top takeaways from the conference:
Collaboration and Teamwork
For the past few months, DISTek employee-owners Michelle Pezley, Jeremy Yoder, and Charlie Myers collaborated and worked tirelessly to prepare a presentation on our DISTek U training program, and further highlight on the ESOP course. Our CEO, Jeremy, started the presentation with the creation of DISTek U and provided the “why” behind developing our own training program. The leader of our training and engagement efforts, Michelle, then spoke to the ins and outs of the training program and offered the audience an easy formula for how they can replicate it within their own company. Finally, Charlie, an Employee Ownership Committee member, presented a real time perspective of what it looked like creating the ESOP track utilizing the DISTek U framework.
The team would not have been able to offer such a great presentation if it weren’t for our Employee Ownership Committee sitting in on a dry run of the presentation prior to the conference. Honest feedback is always welcomed! Go check out our presentation Accelerating Excellence: DISTek U.
Conference Takeaway
Sharing is caring! A common theme of ESOP conferences, specifically within the Midwest, you will notice how honest and vulnerable folks are willing to be. Leaders are willing to share their secrets to ESOP successes or even speak to the not-so-pretty times. Regardless of the matter, the participants and speakers are always willing to share information with other ESOP organizations in the spirit of advocating for ESOP’s.
With it being Michelle’s first time attending the conference, she was able to offer her perspective by stating,
The energy from the conference was contagious. I left the conference excited and ready to educate our employees about the benefits of being an employee-owned company. I want to help our employees understand how great this benefit is. It puts DISTek a step above the rest.
Networking and Connections
Beyond the formal ESOP sessions, the networking opportunities were invaluable. The team connected with fellow professionals from the IA/NE ESOP Association chapter and exchanged ideas that could lead to exciting collaborations in the future. Also in attendance were three DISTek Board of Directors, which allowed us to debrief and discuss the conference from both an employee-owner and a board member perspective. Building these relationships is a vital part of continued growth and innovation at DISTek.
Offering DISTek’s insights at this year’s Midwest Regional conference has not only expanded the team’s knowledge but also reinvigorated the passion for employee ownership. And with October being Employee Ownership Month, Jeremy, Michelle, and Charlie look forward to sharing and implementing innovative ideas and strategies gathered to better serve employee owners and further DISTek’s legacy of shared success.
