Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
Aspen Institute
Videos
Bridging the Gap: Institutional Investment and Employee Ownership
Employee ownership has gained increasing recognition and support from investors in recent years. However, attracting scaled institutional capital remains a challenge for the field. The perceived complexity of employee ownership, uncertainty about returns, regulatory and fiduciary challenges, and a lack of understanding about how the model works pose significant challenges to capital market adoption. In this conversation from the 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, panelists discuss the current state of employee ownership investment and examine how institutional investors, asset owners, and allocators can bring forward the investment the field needs to grow.
Speakers
Ted Margarit, Managing Partner, Paralign Capital Partners
Catherine Toner, Managing Director of Impact Investing, Gary Community Ventures
Lindsey Zizumbo, Executive Director, Sorenson Impact Foundation
Moderator: Alison Lingane, Founder, Ownership Capital Labs
This video comes from the third Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. Our 2025 forum, “From Workers to Owners,” highlighted how the experience of ownership changes the reality of work for workers. The forum featured companies in a range of business sectors and explored how employee ownership fits their business strategy and approach to business leadership. The particular role employee ownership can play in supporting business success was discussed , and the role institutional investors can play in improving capital access for employee ownership conversions and expansions was also considered.
