ESOPs Demystified: Is Employee Ownership Right for Your Business?

Kevin Long

Shareholder/President at Employee Benefits Law Group PC

Sep 09, 2026 | 10–11 AM PT

For many business owners, succession eventually raises a difficult question:

What happens to the company you’ve spent years building when you’re ready to step away?

Selling to an outside buyer isn’t the only option.

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) can offer business owners a path to liquidity and succession while giving employees a genuine stake in the company’s future. But understanding how an ESOP actually works—from structuring the initial transaction to managing the plan over time—can feel complicated.

Join ESOP attorney Kevin Long for a practical introduction to the design, execution, and ongoing management of employee stock ownership plans.

Kevin will walk business owners and executives through the mechanics of an ESOP, the considerations involved in determining whether one may be appropriate for a business, and what ownership looks like after the transaction is complete.

What You’ll Learn:

• How ESOPs work and where they can fit into a business succession strategy
• How an ESOP transaction is designed and structured
• How owners can use ESOPs to create liquidity while planning for succession
• What employee ownership can mean for the people within the business
• The practical realities of managing an ESOP after implementation
• Key legal, fiduciary and governance considerations owners should understand

Whether you’re beginning to think about succession, actively exploring your options, or already operating an ESOP, this session will help make the structure and responsibilities of employee ownership easier to understand.

Meet Your Expert

Kevin Long is a shareholder at the Employee Benefits Law Group and an experienced ESOP attorney who helps business owners develop stock-based succession strategies designed around their financial, strategic and corporate objectives.

His work spans ESOP transactions, fiduciary representation, IRS retirement plan law, management incentive planning, corporate governance, leveraged buyouts and other stock-based ownership structures.

Kevin is also a respected speaker and author in the employee ownership field and has contributed his expertise to organizations including the National Center for Employee Ownership and The ESOP Association.

He earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and dual B.A. degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His professional recognition includes a Preeminent Rating from Martindale Hubbell and recognition from the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers.