ESOP Conference at Pinehurst

The conference was held at The Carolina at Pinehurst Resort

 I went to an ESOP Association conference at Pinehurst last week. Big G Express is 100% employee owned through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and I have been given the task of communicating the ESOP with the employees and serve as chair of the ESOP Communications Committee (that I created in September of last year). I have been fortunate to attend several of the ESOP Association conferences - in Louisville last September and Atlanta in October. I have enjoyed learning from other employee owned companies and finding out new and fun ways to communicate and build and ownership culture. This was a Tri-Chapter Conference that included the Carolinas, Mid Atlantic and New South Chapters.

I was awarded Employee Owner of the Year for the New South Chapter (thanks to the ESOP Communications Committee for a great nomination letter). I was very surprised to receive the award since they had told my boss, but he decided to keep it a secret! Now I am in the running for the national award and my conference registration is paid for the ESOP Conference in DC in May.

You can check out the ESOP blog I started (with Alli's design help) at www.biggesop.com if you want to find out more:)

The famous 18th hole on Pinehurst No. 2

No. 2 is $400 a round and you have to have a caddy...notice the white jump suits

Just realized I didn't even get the pose right! 

I played in a golf outing to benefit the Employee Ownership Foundation. We played our own ball and I shot a 99 (pretty good for me considering I hadn't played since last June in a scramble) and beat one of the guys in my foursome by 6 strokes:) It was a beautiful day - mid 60's and sunny. We played on Pinehurst  No. 5. It was a great experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to play. 

After the golf round, I headed back to Raleigh and met up with Belle (friend and sorority sister from Vandy) for dinner. She lives about 15 minutes from the airport so it worked out perfectly that I got to see her while I was in town. I had the first flight out in the morning and got back to Nashville by 7:20 am so it was a long day at work waiting to see the kids!