Meriden, Conn – BL Companies, a multi-disciplinary architecture, engineering and environmental (A/E/E) firm providing services to public and private clients in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, celebrated becoming 100% employee owned on December 31, 2011.
Through a transaction with its 9 shareholders at the end of 2011, the Company purchased the remaining 20% of outstanding shares of stock to become 100% owned by all of its employees through an ESOP (“Employee Stock Ownership Plan”) – an ERISA regulated plan.
“As a client works with our employees, they are working with an employee owner who understands the importance of client service and meeting our project commitments”, says Carolyn Stanworth, President and CEO of BL Companies. “Our employee owners have the chance to be financially successful based on their hard work, performance and that of their colleagues.”
“The Leadership Team at BL Companies shares a strong belief in the value of employees and moving towards a structure where all employees are owners was a natural extension of this belief”, says Stanworth. “As owners, employees benefit directly as their hard work increases the value of the Company. The Company also benefits from the efforts of employees, and those benefits go back to all owners — the employees themselves.”
As a multi-discipline A/E/E firm, BL Companies success requires significant collaboration by all of its professionals. The culture created by all employee owners benefiting from BL’s success has been instrumental in meeting the demands of our clients and achieving the growth and expanding geographic reach that BL enjoys.