Will Flynn (BFA ’81) has transformed his business, Franklin Street Marketing, into an employee-owned company when he retires.
Faced with winding down his 30-plus-year career with the company he founded, Will Flynn thought briefly about trying to sell the business.
His company, Chesterfield County-based Franklin Street Marketing, has a solid reputation in the health care marketing and branding realm.
Flynn said he and the company’s leadership team evaluated their options.
“Our leadership did not want to sell to any outside buyer. They did not want to go to a bank necessarily and borrow money,” Flynn said.
What did appeal to them was establishing an ESOP, short for employee stock ownership plan.
Flynn’s majority interest in the company, 67 percent, is now in a retirement trust that the company will contribute to and that benefits the company’s 22 employees.
Read the full article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Photo: “The employees of an ESOP don’t merely work for a wage but gain ownership over time and share in the success of the company,” said Charlie Arnold, Franklin Street Marketing’s controller. Credit via Mark Gormus for Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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