Employee Ownership Trusts: A Modern Succession Alternative, with Brian Heaton and Sonya Seeder

January 22, 2026

By: Brian M. Heaton and George C. Lepeniotis

Last November, the architecture and engineering firm Guidon – a Krieg DeVault client – became partially employee-owned through an Employee Ownership Trust, or EOT. Guidon’s general counsel, Sonya Seeder, joins Brian Heaton, a longtime Krieg DeVault partner who helps middle- and lower-middle market corporate clients solve problems, to explore this emerging alternative to ESOPs. As they explain to host George Lepeniotis, EOTs operate through an employee ownership trust agreement, as opposed to an ESOP, which is governed by ERISA. Tune in as Brian and Sonya detail implications of the EOT mechanism, post-implementation employee education strategies, and ways that a firm like Krieg DeVault helps companies navigate the EOT process.

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