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As many of you know, the Wood-Mizer
company was founded and owned by Don Laskowski and his partner,
Dan Tekulve when it started in 1979. In 2004, both of the company founders
sold their stock to the employees through an ESOP, which is a qualified
retirement trust that benefits the retirement of the Wood-Mizer employees.
The trust borrowed money to buy Don and Dan's shares and that loan is now
paid so that over 54% of the company is in the ESOP. That isn't the most
significant milestone. The most significant milestone is that the ESOP will have purchased the balance of the shares in the
company so that Wood-Mizer is now 100% owned by the ESOP.
Will you see any difference in how the company is run, now that it is
100% employee owned? Will you see a shift in how we treat our customers?
Will we change the Biblical foundations on which the company was founded?
The company will continue
firmly down the path established by the founders. If anything, now that the
success of the company impacts the retirement of each and every employee
of the business, I think you will see an even stronger commitment to you as a
customer, to our products, and to our commitment to the Christian heritage
that has been key to our continued success. You will still interact with the same
people, but each of them will now have an even greater stake in the success of
the company...because they own it.
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