Keeping Local Businesses Local
- Jessica Lee
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
Ethan brings more than two decades of experience in finance, strategy, and investment, with a career that has included roles in private equity, agriculture, real assets, and corporate development. Today, as a Senior Vice President with SES ESOP Strategies, he focuses on helping business owners design ownership transitions that are financially sound, strategically thoughtful, and beneficial to the people who helped build the company.
That focus aligns naturally with Rotary’s core values of Service Above Self, integrity, leadership, and growing strong local economies. Ethan’s work is not only about deals on paper. It is about preserving jobs, honoring the legacy of founders, and giving employees a real stake in the success of the businesses that anchor our communities. His message fits squarely within Rotary’s Four Way Test, asking whether our actions are truthful, fair, and beneficial to all concerned, and whether they build goodwill and better friendships in the communities we serve.
SES ESOP Strategies is a national advisory firm dedicated to helping companies design, implement, and sustain Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and other employee ownership solutions. The firm works at the intersection of finance, law, tax, and organizational strategy, guiding owners through complex succession decisions while balancing the needs of owners, managers, employees, and the business itself.
The company’s mission to promote sustainable employee ownership aligns with Rotary’s commitment to ethical leadership, service in business, and growing local economies. By helping companies stay locally rooted, preserve high quality jobs, and share long term value creation with employees, SES ESOP Strategies advances many of the same goals Rotarians pursue in their projects and professional lives. For our club, that makes Ethan not just a technical expert, but a partner in our shared mission to strengthen the economic and social fabric of the Raleigh region.
ESOPs, Succession Planning, and Rotary Values in Practice
Ethan framed his talk around a powerful local reality. In Wake County, over 9,000 businesses are owned by individuals who are 55 years or older. These companies employ nearly 100,000 workers, pay roughly 4 billion dollars in payroll, and generate an estimated 19 billion dollars in revenue. As these owners approach retirement, the future of many of these businesses is not guaranteed.
He invited Rotarians to look at this transition through the lens of Rotary’s values and the Four Way Test. Some key connections:
Truth and clear vision
Many owners are so busy running their companies that they delay serious succession planning. Ethan encouraged honest conversations about retirement timelines, business readiness, and the risks of “doing nothing.”
Facing the truth early gives owners, employees, and communities more options and better outcomes.
Fairness to all concerned
Traditional exit paths can be uneven. A sale to a distant buyer may reward the owner but leave employees and the local community vulnerable.
ESOPs can offer a way to reward the owner fairly for the value they created while sharing future growth with employees and preserving local jobs.
This reflects Rotary’s commitment to fairness in business and community life.
Goodwill and better friendships in the community
When a local business closes or relocates after an ownership change, the impact ripples through suppliers, customers, neighborhoods, and civic organizations.
Employee ownership structures can help keep decision making local, preserving the relationships and trust that have been built over decades.
Rotarians, as community connectors, are well positioned to encourage positive, relationship centered succession choices.
Beneficial to all concerned
An ESOP done well can benefit multiple stakeholders:
Owners receive liquidity and can plan their retirement or next chapter.
Employees gain an ownership stake, a stronger sense of purpose, and a more direct link between their work and the company’s success.
Communities benefit from stable employers that continue to support local charities, service projects, and civic life.
This multistakeholder benefit is a practical expression of Rotary’s ideal of service in business.
Growing local economies in a values driven way
Ethan stressed that succession planning is not only a financial or legal topic. It is a community development issue.
By keeping profitable, well run companies in local hands, ESOPs help sustain the tax base, preserve middle income jobs, and support long term economic resilience in Wake County and beyond.
This aligns with Rotary’s focus on growing local economies through ethical enterprise and strong partnerships.
A practical resource for Rotarians
Rotary Club members can translate Ethan’s insights into action by:
Identifying local business owners in their networks who are approaching retirement and may not yet have a succession plan.
Encouraging early conversations with qualified advisors about options, including ESOPs.
Sharing the idea that ownership transitions can be handled in a way that honors employees, respects community roots, and sustains the business legacy.
Supporting organizations in our region that promote employee ownership and responsible succession planning.
Considering how their own businesses, clients, or employers might benefit from employee ownership models.
With these points, Ethan’s presentation offered not only information, but a practical roadmap that Rotarians can use as a resource in their businesses, professions, and community leadership roles.
Why We Serve
For many of us, Rotary begins with a simple desire. We want to give back. We want to know our neighbors. We want to help build a community where families can work, learn, and thrive. Ethan’s presentation reminded us that the health of our local economy is deeply tied to the people who own and operate our hometown businesses. Their decisions about succession are not abstract financial events. They are turning points that shape the future of real people and real neighborhoods.
When a long standing local business transitions thoughtfully, employees keep their jobs, customers keep a trusted partner, and the community keeps a key part of its story. When that same business closes or is moved elsewhere, the loss is felt at the kitchen table, on the shop floor, and in the halls of our schools and nonprofits. In that sense, helping business owners find succession paths that honor their employees and their communities is very much “Service Above Self” in action. It is another way Rotarians can live out our calling to place people and principle ahead of short term gain.
Here in the Raleigh region, we have a unique opportunity. We sit in a growing, dynamic metro area with a strong base of privately held companies. By connecting owners with resources like SES ESOP Strategies, by encouraging conversations about ESOPs and other responsible ownership models, and by modeling ethical leadership in our own professions, we help ensure that the prosperity we see today will be shared and sustained tomorrow. We serve because we care about that future. We serve because we believe that businesses, like people, can be guided by truth, fairness, goodwill, and a commitment to benefit all who are involved.
Want to Join Us?
If you are reading this and are not yet a member of the Rotary Club, we would love to meet you. You might be a business owner thinking about succession, a professional looking for a deeper way to engage in the community, or simply a neighbor who keeps finding themselves saying, “Someone should do something about that.” Rotary is full of people who had that same thought and finally decided to be the “someone.”
We meet early, we laugh often, and yes, we drink a fair amount of coffee while we wrestle with serious topics. Mornings like the one we shared with Ethan P. Stambler prove that you can learn about complex ideas like ESOPs and business transitions in a room that is warm, welcoming. If you enjoy good conversations, meaningful service projects, and a chance to put your skills to work for something bigger than yourself, you will fit right in.
So consider this your gentle invitation. Come join us for breakfast. See what Rotary looks like in real life, here in Raleigh. Ask questions, share your story, and discover how your talents and passions might connect with our projects and our people. You might arrive as a guest, but you may find, as many of us have, that you have found your community.
