Kristie Mark Named First Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Foundation
Mark will continue as Chief Operating Officer of The ESOP Association while leading the Foundation’s next phase of
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The Employee Ownership Foundation today named Kristie Mark its first Executive Director, creating a dedicated leadership role to guide the Foundation’s growth and expand its work to help more individuals become employee owners. Mark will also continue serving as Chief Operating Officer of The ESOP Association, with which the Foundation is affiliated.
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Kristie Mark Named First Executive Director of the Employee Ownership Foundation.
“Kristie has nearly three decades of experience in Washington building high-performing teams and leading complex organizations to maximize their potential,” said James Bonham, President and CEO of The ESOP Association and President of the Employee Ownership Foundation. “This role is an investment in the Foundation’s future, and Kristie combines strategic vision with the ability to turn ambitious goals into results. She is the natural choice to lead the Foundation into our next chapter.”
Over the last seven years, the Employee Ownership Foundation has undergone a major transformation from a largely grantmaking organization for ESOP research to its current form as a multi-million-dollar operation with its own substantive programs both domestically and abroad. In revamping the Foundation’s bylaws in 2025, the Board of Trustees adopted the new position of Executive Director in recognition of these new programs and complexities. In her new role as Executive Director, Mark will be responsible for the day-to-day operations and programs of the Foundation, a role she is well suited to fulfill.
Before joining The ESOP Association as COO in 2019, Mark served as Chief Administrative Officer in the Executive Office of the President during the Obama administration, from 2014 to 2017. She led the delivery of administrative and business services supporting an organization of roughly 4,000 staff, work that required coordinating across offices with distinct responsibilities and ensuring they had the resources and operational support to carry out their missions.
“Kristie has been instrumental in expanding the Foundation’s programming and helping fulfill our mission,” said Peter Ney, Chair of the Employee Ownership Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “As Executive Director, she will build on that progress, helping us reach more people and turn the generosity of our supporters into lasting opportunities for future employee owners.”
“Kristie is an exceptional leader who has guided The ESOP Association through some of our most demanding challenges while always looking to our future,” said Derrick Vick, Chair of The ESOP Association’s Board of Directors. “She has earned the Board’s trust through her dedication, commitment, and results, and we are confident she will bring that same leadership to the Foundation.”
Mark grew up in Maine and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a BA in Political Science. She lives in Washington, DC, with her daughter, Aquinnah.
About the Employee Ownership Foundation
The Employee Ownership Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with The ESOP Association. Since its founding in 1991 the Foundation has operated in pursuit of a single overarching goal: to help more individuals experience the transformational power of employee ownership. The Foundation has raised and donated millions of dollars to fund academic research into employee ownership, raise awareness of employee ownership among thought leaders, business owners, and the general public, and scholarship programs.
About The ESOP Association
The ESOP Association is the largest organization in the world supporting employee-owned companies, the more than 10 million U.S. employees who participate in an ESOP, and the professionals who provide services to them. Headquartered at the International Employee Ownership Center in Washington, DC and operating as a 501(c)6 organization with the affiliated Employee Ownership Foundation, The ESOP Association conducts and funds academic research, provides more than 160 annual conferences and events attended by nearly 15,000 individuals, and advocates on behalf of employee owners and their businesses to federal and state lawmakers.
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