Successful exit planning, transfer of ownership, divestment, or asset/share sale depends on collaboration, specialized expertise, and advisors who understand the full lifecycle of a business. In this member spotlight, Jaco Grobbelaar, CEO of BroadVision Marketing and XPX NorCal Communications & Marketing Committee Chair, spoke with Trevor Gilmore, CEO of Menke, about ESOPs, legacy, and employee ownership.
Rethinking the Exit Conversation
When people talk about exit planning, the conversation usually starts with numbers.
What’s the business worth? Who’s the ideal buyer? How can the owner maximize value? What’s the most tax-efficient way to structure the deal?
Those are all important questions. But after sitting down with Trevor Gilmore, CEO of The Menke Group, for our latest XPX Member Spotlight interview, I was reminded that the best exit-planning conversations often begin elsewhere entirely.
They begin with questions like:
- What happens to my employees?
- Will the business still look and feel the same in ten years?
- Can I step away without losing everything I’ve spent decades building?
Those questions don’t always have straightforward answers. They sit at the intersection of finance, leadership, family, culture, and personal values. And that’s exactly where Trevor has spent his career.
As CEO of The Menke Group, one of the country’s oldest and largest ESOP advisory firms, Trevor works with business owners exploring Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) as part of their succession strategy. The firm helps owners adopt ESOPs, execute ESOP-owned company acquisitions, raise financing, and provide long-term ESOP administration. Interestingly, Menke itself is majority ESOP-owned, so the team isn’t just advising clients on employee ownership; they’re living it every day.
Throughout our conversation, one thing became clear: Trevor doesn’t see ESOPs as a niche solution. He sees them as one of several legitimate paths business owners should evaluate before deciding what comes next.
More Than a Tax Strategy
One of Trevor’s first observations challenged a common misconception.
He described ESOPs as “a thinking person’s exit option.”
It’s an interesting way to frame it because ESOPs aren’t simply retirement plans or tax strategies. They’re complex transactions that bring together finance, valuation, legal considerations, governance, leadership, and, perhaps most importantly, people.
In Trevor’s experience, modern ESOP transactions should be viewed much like any other M&A transaction. Depending on the deal, that can mean coordinating with sell-side advisors, trustees, valuation professionals, attorneys, lenders, CPAs, wealth advisors, quality-of-earnings teams, shareholder advisors, and company counsel.
It’s no small undertaking.
One of Menke’s roles is often to quarterback that process, helping all of those specialists stay aligned around a transaction that works for the selling shareholders, the company, and the ESOP trust.
That perspective stood out to me because it reinforces what we see across the exit planning profession: successful transitions rarely happen because a single advisor has all the answers. They happen when the right experts collaborate around the owner’s goals.
One Simple Question That Changes the Conversation
As our discussion continued, Trevor shared a question he often asks owners:
“Is this business better off independent, or does it need to be part of a larger player?”
It’s a deceptively simple question, but it cuts through a surprising amount of complexity.
Some businesses genuinely benefit from becoming part of a larger organization. They may need greater scale, access to capital, expanded technology, or strategic resources that another company can provide.
Others already have what they need to succeed independently. They have strong leadership, loyal customers, healthy cash flow, and a culture that’s become one of their biggest competitive advantages.
In those situations, Trevor explained, an ESOP can provide liquidity for shareholders while allowing the company to remain independent.
That’s an important distinction. For many owners, selling isn’t just about receiving a check. It’s about deciding what kind of future they want for the company they’ve spent years, sometimes decades, building.
Legacy Isn’t Just a Buzzword
The word legacy gets used a lot in exit planning, but during our conversation, Trevor gave it much more substance.
He shared that for many of Menke’s clients, legacy is the primary driver in exploring an ESOP.
Sometimes that legacy is deeply personal.
It might be a founder who wants the company name to remain on the building long after they’ve retired. It might be a second- or third-generation family business that’s become woven into the fabric of its community. Or it might simply be an owner who wants to know that the people who helped build the business will have opportunities to benefit from its future success.
That’s where employee ownership becomes especially compelling.
Trevor spoke passionately about the wealth-creation opportunities ESOPs can provide for employees over time. Rather than seeing the company change hands and move on without them, employees become participants in the company’s future growth.
For owners who care deeply about the people behind the business, that can completely change the nature of the exit conversation.
Of course, preserving independence doesn’t mean preserving everything forever. Markets evolve, leadership changes, and every company must continue adapting. But compared with many third-party sales, an ESOP can offer greater continuity in culture, leadership, and identity.
The Best Candidates Offer More Than Strong Financials
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was hearing Trevor describe how Menke evaluates whether an ESOP is even the right fit.
The process begins with what they call “ESOP Fit.”
Naturally, the financial fundamentals matter. Cash flow, valuation, shareholder objectives, management depth, and organizational structure all play a role.
But Trevor was quick to point out that numbers only tell part of the story.
He wants to understand the business behind the balance sheet.
- Who’s going to lead the company in the future?
- Is there too much reliance on one key person?
- How engaged is the leadership team?
- Would employee ownership strengthen the business, or simply add complexity?
One observation really stuck with me: Trevor mentioned that he can often learn a great deal simply by walking into a company. How employees interact. Whether people seem proud of where they work. Whether the business feels well cared for.
Those aren’t metrics you’ll find in a financial model, but they’re often powerful indicators of whether an employee-owned culture can thrive.
As someone who spends much of my time helping businesses communicate their value to customers, I found that particularly interesting. The strongest brands are almost always built from the inside out. Culture isn’t something you create with marketing; it’s something marketing reveals.
Dispelling Some Common Myths
Like many specialized succession strategies, ESOPs have accumulated their fair share of misconceptions.
Trevor hears them regularly. Owners worry they won’t receive fair value. They assume ESOPs are prohibitively complicated. Some believe the trustee will suddenly begin running the company. Others imagine employees taking over board meetings and making operational decisions.
Trevor’s response was refreshingly straightforward. A well-designed ESOP is built around continuity.
The board continues to oversee management. Management continues running the business. The company’s identity doesn’t suddenly disappear because ownership has changed.
That doesn’t mean ESOPs are simple. They require thoughtful planning, experienced advisors, and the right circumstances.
But complexity alone shouldn’t prevent owners from understanding whether the option deserves consideration.
Why Timing Matters
Another trend Trevor has noticed is that more owners are beginning these conversations earlier.
Rather than waiting until retirement is around the corner, many Gen X and even younger business owners are exploring succession strategies years in advance.
That gives them something incredibly valuable: options.
They have time to compare employee ownership with private equity, strategic buyers, mergers, family succession, management buyouts, or other alternatives without the pressure of an impending exit.
It’s a reminder that good exit planning isn’t something that happens six months before a transaction. It’s a process that often starts years earlier, while owners still have flexibility and leverage.
Why Communities Like XPX Matter
Toward the end of our conversation, we talked about advisor collaboration and why organizations like XPX exist in the first place.
Trevor described exit planning as a team effort, and ESOP transactions are no exception.
Attorneys, CPAs, lenders, M&A advisors, valuation professionals, wealth advisors, consultants, and ESOP specialists each bring a different perspective to the table.
No single advisor sees the entire picture.
That’s one of the things I value most about the XPX community. It brings together professionals with different areas of expertise who are united by a common goal: helping business owners make better decisions.
Trevor also made an observation that resonates well beyond ESOPs. The best referral partners aren’t the ones who try to solve every problem themselves. They’re the ones who recognize when another specialist should be part of the conversation.
That mindset ultimately serves clients better.
Looking Beyond the Transaction
One of the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Trevor wasn’t that every business should consider an ESOP. Every business owner deserves to understand all of their options before making one of the biggest decisions of their life.
For some, an ESOP will be exactly the right fit. For others, another succession path will better align with their goals.
The important thing is asking the right questions early enough to make an informed decision.
Because when owners begin talking about preserving independence, rewarding loyal employees, protecting company culture, or leaving a lasting legacy, the conversation has already moved beyond valuation.
It’s about defining what success looks like after the exit.
And that’s exactly the kind of conversation Trevor Gilmore has been helping business owners navigate for years.
Trevor was interviewed by Jaco Grobbelaar, CEO of BroadVision Marketing and XPX NorCal Communications & Marketing Committee Chair. If you’d like to be interviewed, please reach out to Jaco.
