Building Wealth, and a Stronger Community, Via Employee Ownership

I graduated from high school in 1984, which was right in the middle of the farm crisis in the Midwest. There weren’t a lot of jobs here in Iowa. I remember applying to every restaurant in town—McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Perkins—you name it, I went for it.

It took a while, but I finally got hired at a manufacturer in Mason City that built service trucks. If you’d have told me at the time that, 39 years later, I’d still be in the same job, I wouldn’t have believed it.

But here I am, at 59 years old, four kids and seven grandchildren later, one year away from my 40-year anniversary.

Here’s why I stayed so long. In 1993, seven years after I started, the company was bought by Garner-based Stellar Industries, the first U.S. company to design and manufacture a domestic hydraulic hooklift hoist.

From the moment we were acquired, things were just different. One of Stellar’s owners, Francis Zrostlik, took me under his wing. I’ll never forget when the company instituted a 401(k), he walked by and thumped his fist on my desk and said, “I want you to start putting 10% of your check in.”

I went home and talked to my wife about it. We had four little children, and she was like, “10% of what? We don't have 10%.”

But Francis kept after me. And finally, he said, “well, at least put in 6% because we'll match you to 6%. At least do that.” And I talked with my wife again and came back and said, I'm sorry, I don't have it.” And he looked me square in the eyes and said, “stop going out to eat for lunch every day and bring something from home.”

And I thought, there's $5 a day right there. I can do that. He didn't give up on me. And pushed me through it and helped me see the math: “Don't go out to eat, put it over here instead.”

And that was just one example of the culture of the place. And how invested the leaders were in everyone who worked there. A few years after that, Stellar established an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, a retirement plan that allows companies to share ownership with employees. Stellar’s employees, including me, owned 52% of the company.

As owners, we grew even more invested in the company. At first, we were a small startup, and it took a while for folks to really understand the value of the ESOP. The balances in our accounts were small, but as they started growing, people were like, “holy smokes, this is the real deal.”

Attitudes began to change, with people looking at it as, “this is my company. I own this, we own this together. If I'm successful, you're successful, all our coworkers are successful.” And you could really see that resonate not only through the company, but within the community. Garner is a small, tight-knit town—we only have one stop light—and what Stellar was doing in creating hundreds of employee owners really started to resonate in Northern Iowa.

Over the years, Stellar kept growing, acquiring new companies and expanding our reach beyond Iowa. In 2023, an already life-changing benefit got even better, when Stellar transitioned to being 100% employee owned.

It’s impossible to overstate what that means for me and my family. I’m building wealth that extends not just to me, but to my kids and grandkids. I never had a chance to go to college, but my ESOP account means I won’t have to work forever. I can think about retiring in a few years, without worry, and it’s comforting.

I traveled for work and was away from home a lot when my kids were young and look forward to spending time with my grandkids in the years to come. I’m also excited to having the time to coach one of the area high school’s trap shooting teams. And I recently joined the board of directors of the Garner Chamber of Commerce. Garner is already a great place to live and work, and I look forward to helping to make it even better.

Knowing the ESOP is there for us allows me and my wife to contribute more to our community. We donated generously to the new baseball/softball diamond and to the new clubhouse at the Ventura Gun Club. We give away four $1,000 college scholarships to Garner graduates each year. If there’s a donation drive, I can write a check for a few hundred dollars instead of worrying if I put away enough for retirement.

We feel so grateful that we can do that.

One of the most exciting things is the momentum Stellar’s ESOP is helping to build for employee ownership. Despite the benefits I’ve seen personally and that are well documented, including building worker wealth and increasing employee engagement, it’s still not nearly widespread enough. There are only 147 ESOPs in Iowa, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership.

Stellar’s story has inspired others to adopt or consider the model. A longtime customer of mine, a tire dealer, was approaching his 80s and was thinking about the future of his company. We sat down and talked about the ESOP and how it builds worker wealth and creates stronger companies, and he was sold. “I'm going to do this,” he said.

Several other customers are now visiting with me and other leaders at Stellar about the benefits of going ESOP. It feels great to spread the word, and I was excited to hear recently about a new national coalition, Expanding ESOPs, which is working to dramatically expand employee ownership in Iowa and beyond. I hope sharing my story will help propel their efforts.

I love my job and am not going anywhere yet—I’m excited to hit the 40-year mark next year. But it’s an incredible feeling to know that when the time comes, I’ll be able to retire, worry free. Until then, I’ll do all I can to make my employee ownership story one that every Iowan, and American, can live for themselves. 

Travis Glidden is a regional sales manager at 100% employee-owned Stellar Industries, based in Garner.