Rutgers Appoints 33 Fellows to Study Employee Share Ownership Model
On Feb 13, 2024
The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing has appointed 33 research fellows to join its global network of scholars and subject matter experts. They will explore business models that enable workers to build wealth on top of wages, creating new opportunities to strengthen the middle class and close racial and gender wealth gaps.
“If we want to build an economy that provides financial opportunity and security for more people, we need to understand how to include more employees in ownership,” said Adria Scharf, associate director of the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. “These fellows are advancing understanding of employee share ownership, profit sharing, and similar tools for sharing wealth and profits, in important ways. We are delighted to recognize and support their work.”
The institute is the world’s leading academic research hub dedicated to employee share ownership, equity compensation, profit sharing, and worker cooperatives. The fellowships are funded by major foundations, employee-owned companies, and individuals interested in growing a critical body of knowledge and a robust field. Selected on a competitive basis, the 2023-24 class is one of the largest and most diverse in the 16-year history of the program:
Adrianto, University of Minnesota, Employee Ownership Foundation Louis O. Kelso Fellow
Courtney Berner, University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, Executive Fellow
Vipul Bokil, University of Pittsburgh, Institute Fellow
David Bright, Democratic Ownership Matters & The Church of England, Executive Fellow
Dylan Cooper, California State University Channel Islands, Robert W. Edwards Fellow
Sean Geobey, University of Waterloo (Canada), The Social Capital Partners Fellow
Daniel Goldstein, Retired CEO of Folience Inc., Executive Fellow
Tej Gonza, University of Ljubljana & Institute for Economic Democracy (Slovenia), Nachson and Arieh Mimran to.org Fellow
Joo Hun Han, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea), Rutgers Research Fellow
Julian Hill, Georgia State University, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow
John Hoffmire, University of Oxford (UK), Faculty Fellow and Mentor
Melissa Hoover, Rutgers University, Institute Fellow
Eric Hoyt, Stockton University, Institute Fellow
Oyindamola A. Ijewere, Project Equity, W. K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow
Esteban Kelly, United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Executive Fellow
Biko Koenig, Franklin & Marshall College, Institute Fellow
Fidan Kurtulus, University of Massachusetts Amherst & Rutgers University, J. Robert Beyster Fellow
Jegoo Lee, University of Rhode Island, Institute Fellow
Christopher Mackin, Rutgers University & Harvard Law School, Ray Carey Fellow, Abby Rockefeller Fellow
Brendan Martin, Seed Commons, Executive Fellow
Svetlana Masjutina, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow
Joost Minnaar, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), Bill Nobles Fellow
Jack Moriarity, Rutgers University & Lafayette Square Foundation, Executive Fellow
Andrew Pendleton, University of New South Wales (Australia), Nachson and Arieh Mimran to.org Fellow
Ida Rademacher, The Aspen Institute, Executive Fellow
Sarah Reibstein, Barnard College & New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Nachson and Arieh Mimran to.org Fellow
Delilah Rothenberg, The Predistribution Initiative, Executive Fellow
Emre Sahin, University of Nevada, Reno, Rutgers Research Fellow
Adria Scharf, Rutgers University, Joseph Cabral Distinguished Scholar and Fellow, The Elias Foundation Fellow
Zoe Schlag, Common Trust, Executive Fellow
Katherine Sobering, University of North Texas, Faculty Fellow and Mentor
Marcelo Vieta, University of Toronto (Canada), The Social Capital Partners Fellow
Jason Wiener, Main Street Phoenix Project & Colorado Governor’s Employee Ownership Commission, Executive Fellow
“Rutgers has built a powerful brain trust of experts across a broad spectrum of backgrounds, all focused on rigorous study of what happens when employees own a fair share of their workplaces,” said Melissa Hoover, senior fellow at the institute. “This rich laboratory fosters not just excellent scholarship but innovative collaborations that create better companies and better jobs.”
The Institute recently hosted its annual conference on employee ownership research, one of the world’s largest convenings of experts on capital shares in the workplace. In addition to revealing the class of fellows, the institute announced the winners of its biennial Joyce Rothschild Book Prize, recognizing significant contributions to the advancement of economic democracy:
Shared Winner: “Cooperatives at Work” by George Cheney, Matt Noyes, Emi Do, Joseba Azkarraga, Marcelo Vieta, and Charlie Michel
Shared Winner: “Own This!: How Platform Cooperatives Help Workers Build a Democratic Internet” by R. Trebor Scholz
Honorable Mention: “Co-operative Struggles: Work Conflicts in Argentina’s New Worker Co-operatives” by Denise Kasparian
Honorable Mention: “Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory” by Bernard E. Harcourt
Honorable Mention: “Create Amazing: Turning Your Employees into Owners for Explosive Growth” by Greg Graves
Honorable Mention: “Humanity @ Work & Life: Global Diffusion of the Mondragon Cooperative Ecosystem Experience” by Christina A. Clamp and Michael A. Peck
The institute presented its highest honor, the Institute Award, to Cindy Turcot in recognition of her decades-long commitment to building employee-owned companies. Turcot is the Past Chair of the Board of Directors of The ESOP Association and the Employee Ownership Foundation, and she served as president and CEO of the employee-owned Gardener’s Supply Company.