Leadership Program for ESOP CEOs and Presidents

CEOs, Presidents, and designated successors of ESOP companies are invited to apply to participate in this unique executive leadership program designed to address the challenges and opportunities of leading when employees are co-owners of their company.

Program highlights include:

Enhancing leaders’ abilities to build and support the components of an ownership culture that have been shown by research to be core components of ESOP company success;
Providing an environment where ESOP leaders can openly share their successes and challenges with one another to leverage one another’s experience in addressing the issues they face;
Connecting participants to a national network of peer ESOP executive leaders who continue to be a resource to one another after the formal program ends.

Our 2026 program agenda includes two intensive, week-long on-campus sessions, July 26th-31st and December 6th -10th , as well as visits to other participants’ companies and virtual monthly meetings between sessions.

This program, created in 2003, was the first program designed specifically for top leaders of ESOP companies. It is distinguished by:

Being designed and updated according to foundational principles defined with the deep involvement of a group of successful ESOP company CEOs;
Combining knowledge-based research, academic investigation, and participant’s experiences shared among participants and supporting faculty;
Convening a maximum of 20 ESOP leaders in each year’s cohort to facilitate building meaningful and lasting connections among participants;
Welcoming program participants into a 20+ year alumni network adding to the over 200 ESOP CEOs and Presidents who have completed the program at Penn.

Program faculty are drawn from various schools and departments at the University of Pennsylvania, supplemented with faculty from leading universities, deeply experienced employee ownership practitioners, and thought leaders from across the country. Faculty are carefully selected based on demonstrated commitments to advancing the theory and successful implementation of employee ownership.

If you are interested in applying to participate in our 2026 program, please complete this interest form, following which we will contact you for an interview. Alternatively, you can indicate an early interest in attending the 2027 program so you will be among the first to know the 2027 program dates, cost, and selection process before registration is made public for everyone.

*Signing up here does not obligate you in any way to commit to attending the 2026 or 2027 program.

Eligibility

Eligibility: Participants must be the CEO or president of a company that has an ESOP in place or the designated future CEO or president. If you would like to join us, please complete the interest form here to set up a meeting with Dr. Virginia Vanderslice. To maintain the quality of instruction and peer networking, we will limit participation to 20.

Since 2003, CEOs, presidents, and their designated successors at employee-owned companies have been learning from Penn faculty. There is no other program like it, and the CEOs who have participated lead some of the most innovative and successful companies in the employee ownership community.

“This program is a must for any incoming, high-potential and seasoned CEOs who would be interested in growing.”

Dave Wright, Hunter-Davisson

“This program presentation was the best leadership course for the ESOP CEOs. I have personally grown as an individual, made more lifelong connections with other CEOs, and have been set on a path to be a successful and effective leader!”

Heather Braimbridge-Cox, Windings

“The leadership program was a transformative experience that equipped me with essential skills and insights. I gained a deeper understanding of effective communication, collaboration, and decision-making. The program fostered a supportive environment that encouraged self-reflection and personal growth. Through interactive workshops and engaging discussions with fellow participants, I developed new strategies for leading with empathy and purpose. Overall, this program has inspired me to embrace a more inclusive and visionary approach to leadership, positively impacting both my professional and personal life.”

Rebecca Gray, Gardener's Supply

“A powerful program which will help any CEO take their game to the next level!”

Bob Dill, formerly of Hisco

While continually evolving to reflect the best knowledge and experience regarding leadership of employee-owned companies, our agenda invites practice around the following principles:

Leadership

Leadership matters. Leadership—like ownership—must be distributed widely throughout the enterprise, but the unique role of the CEO as the leader of the employee-owned firm cannot be minimized and needs to be supported. We are deeply focused on leadership development and network-building for current and incoming CEOs and presidents of employee-owned companies.

Program

The program is distinguished by a combination of extraordinary participant interactions, provocative presentations, and thoughtful feedback. Participants discuss what matters to them. A special atmosphere is created where robust discussions promote meaningful relationships among participants that serve an ongoing resource—personally and professionally—for participants long after the university’s formal program ends.

Faculty

Faculty with deep knowledge of and experience with employee-owned companies is essential for a world-class educational program if it is to be useful and transformative for ESOP leaders and their companies. Equally important are faculty who can facilitate the kinds of discussions that enable CEOs to share who they are and what they know with their peers throughout the country. Program founders Andrew Lamas, JD and Dr. Virginia Vanderslice, both of whom have organized, collaborated on, and taught in this program since 2003, and who have been teaching at Penn since 1990, will co-lead again in 2025.

Learning

Leaders drawn to this are special because they are undaunted by the challenge of self-reflection. They believe that searching deeply within themselves for foundational values is key to the external expression of the many dimensions of leadership. They believe that lifelong learning—and teaching one another—is essential for personal growth and for the success of the employee-owned enterprises that they lead.

Session 1 Sample Schedule: July 2026

July 26 ,2026

Sunday

Campus Tour (optional); Orientation; Community Building

July 27, 2026

Monday

Leadership Framework; Values; Trust

July 28, 2026

Tuesday

Emotional Intelligence- Theory and Skill Development/Practice; Individual Assessment Debriefs with an Executive Coach

July 29, 2026

Wednesday

ESOP Research Implications; Ownership Culture

July 30, 2026

Thursday

ESOP History & Philosophy via Philly tour; Leader as Coach; Group Dinner

July 31, 2026

Friday

Storytelling as Leadership Tool; Individual Projects; Personal Mission

*Breakfast and lunch will be provided Monday-Friday.

Session 2 Sample Schedule: December 2026

December 6, 2026

Sunday

Reconnecting; Intersession Debriefs

December 7, 2026

Monday

Team Dynamics & Development; Strategic Thinking

December 8, 2026

Tuesday

Strategy Development; Leading Change

December 9, 2026

Wednesday

Board Development; Future Leadership Team; Leadership Development At All Levels; Building a Succession System.

December 10, 2026

Thursday

Individual Feedback; Ongoing Development Plans; Closing & Graduation

*Breakfast and lunch will be provided Monday-Thursday.

Coordination with Other Organizations

This program aims to coordinate with the valuable work being done by many organizations, including the ESOP Association, the Employee Ownership Foundation, Employee-Owned S Corporations of America, the Aspen Institute, Kent State University’s Ohio Employee Ownership Center, the University of California-San Diego’s Beyster Institute, the Employee Ownership Expansion Network, and more.

The Center for Social Impact Strategy is engaging with The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) to provide additional professional development opportunities and resources for participants and help share information about the 2026 program.

Rutgers University, through its Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, will support faculty speakers. Melissa Hoover at Rutgers says, “The leadership program at Penn is a critical piece of field infrastructure. As the University Consortium on Employee Share Ownership takes shape, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Penn and offering faculty speakers to the program.”

Matt Helmer of the Aspen Institute writes, “The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program is excited to see this important collaboration between Penn and NCEO that equips leaders with the unique skills and capacities needed to help employee-owned companies succeed. The Penn ESOP Leadership Program for CEOs exemplifies a powerful approach that aligns with the Economic Opportunities Program’s commitment to leadership development through experiential learning and peer-based exchange and supports our shared vision for building a fairer economy through employee ownership.”

Chris Cooper of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University writes, “For many years, the Penn Program has been the gold standard for leadership development for employee-owned companies. There have been a number of Ohio companies that we’ve referred to the program, and those that have attended have always spoken well of the experience. I also know many of the faculty personally (and closely) and can attest to their thoughtful and detailed approach to helping leaders from EO companies meet their challenges. We’re excited to see this new level of collaboration from the broader EO community for the program and look forward to being a part of it.”

Kim Blaugher of the Beyster Institute at the UCSD Rady School of Management writes, “Leadership is the key ingredient to a successful ESOP company. The Penn Program is the premier opportunity to refine and expand the knowledge required to be a successful ESOP leader. We look forward to collaborating with Penn, Rutgers, Kent State, and other academic institutions to provide leading ESOP and employee ownership academic course offerings.”

Interest Form

FAQs

Can I join for just one week?

No. The program includes 2 on-campus sessions,not a choice of 2 program times.

Can I participate if I am a president or CEO who has not been formally chosen or publicly announced?

You are welcome to participate if you have been formally designated even if not yet announced in your company AND you are not more than 2 years away from moving into the leadership role when you begin this program.

What if I can’t attend 100% of the agenda — I have to arrive late or leave a day early?

You should plan to attend the following year.

How many applicants do you get for how many spaces?

The number of applications varies. We will likely cap the cohort at 20.

Will there be other companies like mine in the cohort?

We always have a mix of large and small companies. In 2025, all had 100% ESOP-owned companies except one, which was in the process of a merger with a plan towards becoming 100% employee-owned However, we have had participants from partial ESOP companies.

What if I already have an MBA, and am participating in another Leadership program?

What is the refund policy?

A $4,500 tuition deposit is not refundable. Refund requests sent to admissions@csis.upenn.edu may be honored if they are made before May 1.

Interest Form

If you are a current or incoming ESOP President or CEO, but are unable to participate this year, complete this form to express your interest in the 2027 cohort.