West Michigan’s employee ownership movement is picking up steam as two more businesses, a crane service provider and a home health care agency, converted to employee stock ownership plans in recent weeks
The conversion of Wolverine Crane & Service Inc. and Interim HealthCare of West Michigan to ESOPs adds momentum for the model within the region, which ranks among the nation’s top markets for employee-owned companies. The ESOP model allows workers to share in their employer’s success while also retaining local ownership.
Wyoming-based Wolverine Crane & Service, a provider of overhead cranes and services to clients across the Midwest, adopted the ESOP in December. The transition “honors the legacy” of the company’s late founder, Richard “Rich” Kelps, who died in May 2021, and ensures “long-term stability, growth, and shared success for the hardworking team that built the business,” according to a statement…