Ownership Month Ends. Ownership Doesn’t.
Lynchburg, VA – October is Employee Ownership Month at Scott Insurance. As we look at wrap up the month, what stood out most wasn’t one activity or announcement, but how ownership showed up in our people.
Why ownership matters
Scott has been employee-owned since 1975, when we became one of the first companies in the nation, and the first in Virginia, to establish an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). More than 50 years later, the reason it matters hasn’t changed.
CEO Hutch Mauck describes employee ownership as part of the “magic” of Scott. “It allows us to remain independent, take a long-term view and make decisions that benefit our clients, our colleagues and future generations of Scott employee owners.”
President Nathan Kerr says he has come to appreciate it more with each year at Scott. When he joined in 2000, he saw that “success was shared because ownership was shared.” Today, he says, ownership shows up when people take responsibility, think long-term, care for our clients and support one another.
Our employee owners see it the same way.
- Maria Santarsiero, Commercial Account Manager, says ownership means “a deeper sense of accountability for the work I do and the impact it has on those around me.”
- Matt Hill, Branch Leader in Knoxville, says, “We need to do everything we can to raise up the next generation and help those who need it.”
- And Greg Myers, Commercial Account Executive, puts it simply: “Being an employee-owner is a mindset.”
A month of learning, history and celebration
Each week has had its own theme. We started with ESOP 101 and a vocabulary challenge, looked back on our story with Scott history trivia, busted a few ESOP myths in Week 3, and wrapped up with ownership shout-outs. Branch Captains in every office rallied their teammates, and a little friendly competition between offices kept the energy going.
We also celebrated 31 employee owners who reached an important milestone this year: becoming fully vested in our ESOP.
Ownership is part of how we work
An ownership culture shows up in how we serve clients and each other. Scott has a 97% employee retention rate and is the only agency in the U.S. to earn the Best Practices Agency designation for 33 consecutive years.
As COO/CFO Keith Mann put it to our team this month, “What I have appreciated most is seeing our ownership culture come to life.”
Employee Ownership Month may be over, but ownership carries forward every day. It’s in how we serve our clients, support our teammates, take responsibility for our work and care for the company we share.
