Esop's Tales
The Foundation Of The Esop Centre
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The Employee Share Ownership Centre, Esop Centre, is a non-profit, subscription-based organisation which draws from over 30 years of experience to inform, lobby and research in the interest of developing all forms of broad-based employee share ownership plans in the UK and Europe. The Centre works with governments, the European Commission, businesses and employee organisations to build widespread support for employee share ownership and spread the wages of capital.
The first employee share ownership plan in the United Kingdom was launched in 1987 at Unity, the trade union bank. Esop Centre Life President, Malcolm Hurlston CBE, was inspired by a visit to the United States where he studied the use of employee stock ownership plans in American airline companies. He was instrumental in bringing about the first UK employee share plan. Drawing on these experiences, he formed the Employee Share Ownership Centre in 1988.
Speaker: Malcolm Hurlston CBE. Malcolm is the epitome of a social entrepreneur and Life President of the Employee Share Ownership Centre, Esop Centre. He conceived the trades union bank Unity in 1980, and founded the Registry Trust in 1985, the Employee Share Ownership Centre in 1987, and the charitable Foundation for Credit Counselling in 1992. Malcolm designed the Employee Share Ownership Centre to bring leveraged employee share ownership to Europe. Educated at Cambridge, he trained as a Russian interrogator during national service. He then worked as a journalist, television trainer and lobbyist. He is visiting professor at the University of Westminster. He is also President of the Foundation for Credit Counselling (now t/a StepChange) which he founded in 1992. His work in financial services was recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2013 when he was awarded a CBE.
