Employee stock ownership plans have long been an exit strategy for companies, but they are still misunderstood. Kelly Finnell shares his passion and expertise with ESOPs from his 40 years of specializing in them. Beyond the definition of an ESOP, Kelly offers his insights into the history of ESOPs, the tax benefits they present to owners and employees, what metrics a company should have for an ESOP, what companies would be poor candidates for an ESOP, and stories of the successes and challenges involved with an ESOP.
ERISA – the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
SARs – stock appreciation rights
Meet Our Guest
Kelly O. Finnell
Premier ESOP Consultant | Memphis, Tennessee
Kelly O. Finnell is one of the nation’s premier ESOP consultants, having spent more than 40 years helping business owners design and execute ESOPs. His firm, Executive Financial Services, is a national ESOP consulting firm established in 1981, with a very narrow focus on the use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in Ownership Succession Planning. They have implemented transactions in 38 cities across 19 states.
Kelly is one of the most sought-after speakers about ESOPs, with experience presenting at more than 300 conferences and meetings throughout the U.S. and abroad in London and Sydney. An accomplished writer, Kelly wrote the preeminent ESOP book, The ESOP Coach: Using ESOPS in Ownership Succession Planning, in 2010, and this work remains the most comprehensive guide to ESOPs today. Kelly has also published dozens of articles on the use of ESOPs in Ownership Succession Planning.
Kelly graduated magna cum laude from the University of Memphis and from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary- professional designation, awarded by the Center for Fiduciary Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.