Company Transitions from Privately Owned to Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)


CHICAGO, Aug. 18, 2023 - Today Chicago-based EA Collective, a group of creative agencies, announces its transition from private ownership to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company. EA Collective's agencies include Agency EA, Studio Sage, and Storyhorse. The transition to an ESOP protects the employees and gives them the opportunity to grow their stakes in the future growth of the business.

As of August 8, EA Collective employees own 100% of the company stock. As the company grows, the value of their shares will increase and the employees will be able to sell them or use them to retire. Moving to an ESOP does not require additional buy-in from employees, and it provides them with an additional benefit.

"From 1999 we've always put a focus on our employees, and we believe this ESOP transition will maintain the integrity of our culture and ensure a bright future for our employees, while allowing the company to continue to grow and attract the best talent," says co-founder Fergus Rooney.

Co-founder Gabrielle Martinez adds, "Our team is one of the main reasons we grew from a small 10-person agency to three agencies with over 100 full-time employees. While Fergus and I are ready to move on to other endeavors, the rest of the EA Collective is eager to continue growing the organization into its next iteration."

As part of the transition, Rooney and Martinez will transition to serving on the Board of Directors for EA Collective. Current leaders will move into new roles, and EA Collective will announce those changes at a later date.

Founded in 1999, EA Collective started as Event Architects (EA) with two clients. By 2006, EA was producing events on three continents, and in 2011 they rebranded as Agency EA, currently serving notable brands and organizations such as Hilton Worldwide, Hubspot, Zoom, HARPO Studios, the Obama Foundation, Samsung and Google. In 2020, EA Collective was introduced, to serve as the parent company to Agency EA. That year Agency EA also launched two new agencies, Storyhorse (branding) and Studio Sage (video content).

EA Collective has received many workplace accolades, including "Coolest Office in Chicago" (Crain's Chicago Business), "Best Place to Work in Events" (Event Marketer), and "Best Place to Work in Chicago" (Crain's Chicago Business).

For more information on EA Collective, visit ThisIsEACollective.com.

About EA Collective:
EA Collective is a group of connection experts who create brand identities (Storyhorse), content (Studio Sage), and experiences (Agency EA) for the world's top brands, creators, and innovators. Based in Chicago, find EA Collective on LinkedIn.

Lauren Aquino
VP of Marketing, EA Collective
laquino@thisiseacollective.com

SOURCE EA Collective