Redefining Succession Planning for Canada’s Business Landscape
Employee Ownership Research Initiative
A multi-disciplinary network of research and professional development that brings together academia, the private sector and government to shape a ‘Made in Canada’ approach to employee ownership policies and programs in Canada.
Housed within Smith’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact, the initiative will fill the gap in relevant data, expertise and business-oriented resources and solutions to support employee ownership activities in Canada, and share best practices internationally.
Powered by Donor Funding
The Employee Ownership Research Initiative at Smith was launched in 2025 thanks to a generous two-year funding contribution from Queen's University alumnus and prominent employee ownership advocate Jon Shell.
The Canadian Opportunity
With three out of four small business owners in Canada expecting to exit their business within the next ten years, transferring majority ownership to their employees is a powerful succession option that can be leveraged by founders navigating succession challenges.
Employee Ownership Trusts, in particular, are a tool gaining traction internationally for their positive impact on businesses, employees and economies—and offer Canada a promising opportunity to do the same.
Our Focus
The Employee Ownership Research Initiative will focus on broad-based, majority employee-owned Canadian enterprises and government policies to support employee ownership in Canada, specifically companies owned indirectly through a trust, or through the purchase of shares over time. The following core pillars are vital to advancing the understanding and implementation of employee ownership in Canada.
Research
Taking the pulse of employee ownership activities in Canada and generating new knowledge.
Collaboration
Serving as a nexus for cross-collaboration between academia, government, practitioners and business.
Education
Providing educational opportunities and resources to support policy makers, professionals and businesses.
Engagement
Growing awareness and support for employee ownership through advocacy and ecosystem events.
Our Team
The work and impact of the Employee Ownership Research Initiative is guided by global experts in the field.
Research Team
Elspeth Murray
Elspeth Murray is the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact and an associate professor and CIBC Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Smith School of Business. She is an in expert in strategy, the management of change and entrepreneurship, and is a co-author of the bestselling book Fast Forward: Organizational Change in 100 Days. Elspeth’s academic interests span change management, competitive dynamics, entrepreneurship, governance, social impact and sustainability, strategic management, strategy and innovation and employee ownership.
Lorin Busaan
Lorin Busaan is a PhD candidate at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria. His research investigates employee-owned companies, focusing on employee well-being and organizational performance. He also examines how the interplay of employee ownership and participation in these companies drives social and environmental outcomes. His interdisciplinary work integrates insights from strategic management, organizational behaviour and democratic theory.
Simon Pek
Simon Pek is an associate professor of business and society at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. His research interests include alternative forms of organizing, employee ownership, sustainability-oriented culture change and workplace democracy. He is particularly interested in exploring how organizations can achieve their social and environmental objectives using democratic innovations.
Advisory Board
Joseph Blasi
Joseph Blasi is the J. Robert Beyster Distinguished Professor and Director Emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. An economic sociologist, his work focuses on broad-based employee stock ownership, profit and gain sharing in corporations. He's written over a dozen books, and recently served as an official with the U.S. Department of the Treasury as their advisor on employee share ownership from 2022-2025.
Mike Fotheringham
Mike is the CEO of Taproot Community Support Services, an employee-owned B-Corp that provides personalized support services to children, youth, adults and families that are rooted in cultural support. He leads a diverse team of over 800 staff across BC, AB and ON, and has over 20 years of governance, policy and business experience, with a focus on First Nations communities, economic development and social service delivery.
John Hoffmire
John Hoffmire is the founder of the Center on Business and Poverty, a U.S.–and UK-based non-profit focused on alleviating poverty through financial literacy, employee ownership and participatory capitalism, entrepreneurship and job creation. He is also a research associate at the Centre for Mutual and Co-owned Business at the University of Oxford’s Kellogg College, where his main areas of expertise are employee ownership, impact investing, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, crowdfunding, ownership and wealth.
Melissa Hoover
Melissa Hoover is a senior fellow and senior director of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. She is also managing director of ownership culture at Apis & Heritage Capital Partners. A leader in the worker ownership movement for more than 20 years, Melissa served as the founding executive director of the Democracy at Work Institute, a think-and-do tank focused on worker cooperative development.
Jon Shell
Jon Shell is an entrepreneur and advocate for a more fair and balanced economy. He is the Chair of Social Capital Partners, a Canadian non-profit organization focused on broadening access to wealth and ownership. He is a long-term proponent for more employee ownership in Canada, and a Director of both Employee Ownership Canada and the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project.
News & Insights
Explore expert perspectives, research insights and trending news in the employee ownership space.
Smith School of Business Launches New Employee Ownership Research Initiative
With three in four Canadian owners set to exit their business within the next decade, Smith School of Business has launched a new research initiative focused on deepening Canada’s knowledge and understanding of a powerful succession model that can enhance outcomes for owners, employees and communities: Employee ownership
What Happens When Employees Become Owners?
Changes to federal income tax laws are expected to create a new era of employee ownership in Canada. That’s a good thing
Interested in more?
For more information about the Employee Ownership Research Initiative or to get involved, please contact the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact.
Contact CEISI