Empowered Owners

Luke Orszag , President of Firstar Precision , returns to Empowered Owners to recap a year he describes as "a tale of two halves." The first six months saw demand almost disappear entirely, then September hit, and everything changed. Firstar spent the rest of the year digging out of the backlog, with workers voluntarily taking on extra hours, training new employees, and showing attitude and effort...

Brad Benoure returns to Empowered Owners, just over a week after officially stepping away from the President role of a 60 year old family business. It's the culmination of a two-year process that began when Empowered Ventures bought Benoure Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning in 2024. Brad reflects on what mattered most in choosing a buyer and why EV's promise not to "swoop in and start chang...

Kim Dinwiddie , VP of HR, returns to Empowered Owners to unpack EV's healthcare transformation—moving from fully insured to self-funded. Kim defines Healthcare for Us, with priorities focused on being better stewards and empowering employee owners to become better healthcare consumers, and explains the mechanics of going self-funded. She answers why EV decided to unbundle everything and, more impo...

TVF President Tad Calahan returns to Empowered Owners to catch up on the year. Now in its 16th year of employee ownership, TVF has navigated significant headwinds including tariffs, soft demand, cost pressures, and the growing pains of implementing a new CRM while still ending the year strong. Tad explains why TVF takes pride in the ability to perform in good times and bad, including when the tari...

Whitney Brothers President Scott Kroeger sits down with Chris Fredericks for our first-ever in-person podcast at Keene State College 's beautiful Media Arts Center. Scott reflects on his first eight months leading a 122-year-old company, and shares his unexpected journey from global public companies to starting his own business during Covid in search of purpose and meaning, eventually discovering...

Chris Fredericks hosts the biggest group conversation yet on Empowered Owners, bringing together four employee ownership committee members from four different companies to debrief the annual EV Employee Ownership Summit. Erica Roudebush ( TVF , fifth Summit), Travis Adams ( Benoure , first-timer), Amanda Smith ( Paramount , second Summit), and Dennis Casey ( Firstar , rookie) share their raw first...

Chris Fredericks and Casey Grisez reunite for another EV update episode, announcing new hires at EV, explaining the shift to self-funded healthcare and what it means to own your health, and sharing updates on fiscal 2026 financials. They break down what Ownership in Action looks like through growth, innovation, service, and enjoyment, and why the best advice might just be Bill Belichick's "do your...

Rachel Wolf , Director of Finance and Strategy at Paramount Plastics , joins Empowered Owners to share her remarkable origin story. She started working in her parents' carpet cleaning franchise at age 12, cleaning up to six houses a day, doing pro-bono work for families facing eviction, and learning empathy the hard way. She explains how those eight years taught her work ethic, customer service, a...

How many leaders retain their entire staff in the face of an industry-wide downturn? We’re lucky that Curtis Elliott , President of Paramount Plastics , is one of them. Curtis takes us inside the RV and marine market, where many companies resorted to deep layoffs after Covid, and reveals why Paramount took the harder path of investing in their people. That decision—avoiding “violent change”—built...

Eric Lothrop, VP at Benoure Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning , takes us through his 17-year journey from roughing in houses to overseeing custom residential construction. Eric opens up about finding his passion for mechanicals, climbing inside 2.5 million BTU boilers before transitioning to small residential systems, and discovering his true calling: building something from nothing using j...

Not many people have stewarded century-old companies. We're lucky that Mike Jablonski , former owner-operator of Whitney Brothers , is one of them. He takes us through 121 years of American manufacturing—from making wooden toys with hydro-powered equipment to today's manufacturing methods. Mike shares the remarkable story of how Whitney Brothers survived the Great Depression, world wars, devastati...

Meet Grace Talamini , the multi-talented coordinator at Benoure Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning . She manages social media, schedules service, and is one of Benoure's leading ESOP enthusiasts. After realizing she wasn't "a school person," Grace moved from Massachusetts to Vermont, landing at Benoure, where she found a company with better benefits than most in the trades. From being so ner...

Kim Dinwiddie , EV's VP of Human Resources, returns to break down what's happening in the world of healthcare. Many companies are facing the highest cost increases in 15 years, and Kim explains why and what EV is doing to fight back. Instead of just accepting whatever healthcare "happens to us," EV has spent the past year finding partners and innovative tools to help employee owners get better car...

Sam Marion , Sales Director for Apparel & Home Décor at TVF , shares her unexpected journey into the textile industry—starting with her mom's women's biker apparel company and childhood travels to fabric mills in Cambodia and Taiwan. From being a picky eater who learned to embrace new experiences at age 13, to learning from legends at TVF, Sam's story is one of learning and seizing opportuniti...

EV CEO Chris Fredericks sits down with Casey Grisez, EV's finance and marketing associate, to decode the mystery behind ESOP share prices and valuations. With a background in business valuation, Casey covers the complex process of how companies get valued each year, including the income, market, and asset approaches that determine a share price. And while share price gets all the attention, Chris...

Meet Dennis Casey, Manufacturing Engineer at Firstar Precision . In his journey from Navy Man to machinist to engineer, he has lived the power of mentorship and the fun of continuous learning. From starting out on 1940s manual machines to teaching the next generation of machinists, Dennis explains what it takes to master precision grinding and why patience is the key to great teaching. He also ope...

Dan McGowan is a modern-day Renaissance man: content manager at TVF , co-host of the Textile Nerd podcast , broadcaster, roller derby enthusiast, and employee owner. He joins us to answer how he transitioned from a career in broadcasting to the world of textiles, and why joining an ESOP company became a game-changer for his financial future. He shares what makes employee ownership culture so speci...

The past fiscal year has been huge at Empowered Ventures—two acquisitions, two new team members, and a growing community of employee owners. With so much change, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what’s happened and what’s next. In this episode, Chris Fredericks sits down with Emily Bopp , EV’s Chief of Staff, to recap the past year. They talk about welcoming Benoure Plumbing, Heating and Air Co...

Employee ownership is at its best when everyone has a voice. And at EV, we love when we get a chance to hear directly from EVers. At this year’s Employee Ownership Summit, EVers from across our companies (except our newest business, Whitney Brothers) came together to share ideas, learn from each other, and strengthen the connections that make us unique. In this episode, Chris Fredericks sits down...

For many, healthcare is something best simply avoided. It’s complicated, confusing, and frustrating. But at Empowered Ventures, we believe there’s a better way. We launched Healthcare for Us in the fall of 2024 to help employee-owners take a more active role in their benefits. A few months later, it’s time for an update. In this episode, Chris Fredericks sits down with Emily Bopp , Chief of Staff...

Every business has a story. But only some businesses hold people at the heart of the story. For Brad Benoure, President of Benoure Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning , the decision to join Empowered Ventures was deeply rooted in his commitment to the employees who helped build his family business. In this episode, host Chris Fredericks , CEO of Empowered Ventures, talks with Brad about the j...

As the famous quote goes, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.”It’s been less than a year since Luke Orszag , President of Firstar Precision , appeared on Empowered Owners, but it’s been an eventful stretch. In this episode, host Chris Fredericks , CEO of Empowered Ventures, reconnects with Luke to discuss Firstar’s first acquisition, the importance o...

Tough times tend to bring out people’s true colors. The same goes for tough markets and companies, where some wither and others survive or thrive. In this episode, host Chris Fredericks, CEO of Empowered Ventures , talks with Curtis Elliott , President of Paramount Plastics , to reflect on the company's journey through three years of employee ownership. Curtis shares how the transition to employee...

Change is hard . Especially when it’s brought about by new systems. For organizations in existence for a half century, change brings about a list of challenges and opportunities. In this episode, host Chris Fredericks , CEO of Empowered Ventures, reconnects with Tad Calahan , President of TVF , to explore how TVF has evolved after 50 successful years in business. They discuss TVF's recent CRM and...

Very few topics impact both our personal and professional lives. Healthcare is one of the few. Yet, for so many, it feels like a burden rather than a benefit. In this episode, host Chris Fredericks is joined by Emily Bopp , Chief of Staff at EV, and Kim Dinwiddie , VP of Human Resources at EV, to unpack the realities of healthcare today and how Empowered Ventures is tackling these challenges head-...