The Employee Ownership Foundation today announced that Cindy Turcot, a longstanding leader in the employee ownership community, has been elected Chair of the Employee Ownership Foundation.

Turcot is the President of Gardener's Supply Company, a 100 percent employee owned business based in Burlington, VT. She has served on the Foundation's Board of Trustees since 2005 and is a past Board Chair of The ESOP Association.

"This is a very exciting time for employee ownership, and I am thrilled to be stepping back into a leadership role at the Foundation," said Turcot. "At Gardener's Supply Company, becoming 100% employee owned has permanently changed the lives of our employee owners for the better. I can't wait to start working with the rest of the Foundation Board to make sure others receive the same opportunity to become owners where they work."

"I am thrilled to welcome Cindy, who brings tremendous energy, experience and a passion for the Foundation's central mission of growing the number of Americans who own a stake in the place where they work," said James J. Bonham, Foundation President. "Cindy is a person who not only has vision but puts her shoulder down and does the hard work, too."

Turcot takes over as Chair from Mark Lomele, who has served in the role since 2015. Typically, the EOF Chair is limited to serving no longer than two terms, or four years. Lomele, who retired from a 30-year career with California based Recology, Inc. in 2018, will continue to serve as a member of the EOF Executive Committee. Last year, Lomele was recognized with the Life Service Award by The ESOP Association for his contributions to the employee ownership community.

About the Employee Ownership Foundation

Since its founding in 1991, the Employee Ownership Foundation has operated in pursuit of a single overarching goal: to help more individuals become employee owners.

The Foundation has raised and donated millions of dollars to collect data used by academics, encourage objective research, and to facilitate dialogue about employee ownership between thought leaders. Going forward, the Foundation will also place a larger emphasis on raising awareness of the employee ownership model among business owners and to fund more applied research that can further improve the market advantage held by well-run employee owned businesses.

Governed by a national 50-person Board of Trustees and an eight-person Executive Committee, the EOF is recognized by the IRS as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and donations to it are tax deductible.