From the Boston Globe:
he news: The Massachusetts Office of Business Development last month hired two consultants, ICA Group and Working Wealth, to revive the Massachusetts Office for Employee Involvement and Ownership. ICA and Working Wealth will be paid $150,000 to travel the state and preach the gospel of employee ownership — at events and in meetings with potential candidates and their advisers. The target audience: ICA estimates some 28,000 Massachusetts firms with between 10 and 100 employees could be up for sale through 2025 as their owners approach retirement age. The “EIO” office was once a small but important gear in the state’s economic development machinery. State funding was zeroed out in a recession-related round of budget cuts more than a decade ago. Representative Paul Mark tried repeatedly over the years to restore its funds, to no avail. Then he found two crucial allies: Senators Julian Cyr and Karen Spilka. Cyr championed the issue in the Senate. Spilka, then the ways and means chair and now Senate president, made sure the funding made it into the budget.
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