Blog
Published August 2026
Reflections from NextGen impactful leaders: Gratitude & appreciation for our 2026 Summer Associate team
Thank you, 2026 Summer Associates!
This summer, our work at the Lab was strengthened and accelerated by the talents of three extraordinary Summer Associates. From researching financing barriers in employee ownership transitions, to synthesizing market intelligence from fund managers and capital providers, to building the case for connecting donor-advised fund capital to employee ownership, their efforts moved forward some of our most important initiatives. Each Associate brought fresh perspective and expertise, helping us build momentum toward our mission to mobilize capital to scale employee ownership, transforming our economy to support everyday workers.
In their own words, Jaeho, Samantha, and Micaela share reflections about what they worked on, what they learned, and their hopes for the future of employee ownership.
Let’s hear from: Jaeho Kwon, MBA candidate, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
“This summer at Ownership Capital Lab, I focused on a persistent financing barrier in employee ownership transitions: personal guarantees. I researched how CDFIs, community banks, public guarantee programs, and pooled guarantee structures assess and mitigate credit risk, and helped develop a pilot concept that could enable lenders to finance employee ownership transitions without requiring one individual to personally guarantee the full loan. I also prepared lender interview materials and translated our research into a practical facility framework covering eligibility, lender risk retention, claims, administration, technical assistance, and data collection. Having spent much of my pre-MBA career in investment banking and real estate finance in Korea, I was drawn to this role because it brought together structured finance, small-business succession, and the opportunity to expand ownership for workers.
One of my biggest lessons was that the financing gap is not simply a lack of capital or investor interest. In many cases, employee ownership transactions do not fit the assumptions and infrastructure of conventional small-business lending, even when the underlying business is established and creditworthy. Specialized employee ownership lenders have demonstrated that these transactions can perform, but broader participation will require structures that allow CDFIs and, eventually, smaller and regional banks to manage risk with confidence. I am excited by the potential to test a guarantee facility through a focused pilot, build evidence from actual transactions, and use that data to attract more mainstream capital to the field. I also see broader relevance beyond the United States, particularly in countries such as Korea that are facing significant business succession challenges. I hope to carry these lessons into my future work by designing investment structures that are both financially rigorous and responsive to gaps that traditional capital markets have not yet solved.”
Let’s hear from: Samantha Elizondo, MBA Candidate, Yale School of Management
“This summer, I joined Ownership Capital Lab as an Innovation Lab Associate for EO Market Intelligence, spending ten weeks embedded in the rapidly growing employee ownership investing market. My work centered on direct field engagement: I interviewed fund managers, independent sponsors and capital providers to synthesize market intelligence into analysis that captured the field’s constant innovation and expansion. Hearing directly from funds and CDFIs about the opportunities and headwinds facing employee ownership transitions gave a ground-level view of where capital flows get stuck, why deals fall through and what it would take to make EO genuinely competitive with conventional private equity. I learned that while the opportunities currently exceed available capital, the gap between where this market is and where it could go has less to do with mission and more to do with infrastructure, legibility and capital access.
I also had the opportunity to work on field-level AI advancement efforts: Ownership Capital Lab’s internal AI policy, which maps specific use cases to the organization’s strategic priorities, and a formal AI benchmarking study the Lab is developing to capture current AI investments and impact. As funds and other capital sponsors develop stronger data infrastructure, I truly believe it will help reframe EO as a mainstream strategy capable of attracting institutional capital at scale.”
Let’s hear from: Micaela Duffy, Master of Public Administration candidate, (Social Impact concentration), London School of Economics
“This summer, I worked on the Lab’s effort to connect donor-advised fund (DAF) capital to employee ownership. My focus was building out the case for financial advisors—the people closest to DAF holders and their giving and investing decisions—to see employee ownership as a compelling category for their clients. That meant building an advisor-facing deck that segments DAF holders into psychographic profiles, so advisors can recognize which of their clients might actually be receptive to an EO pitch, and developing outreach to firms who already have some exposure to the space. What drew me to this role was the chance to work on the “how” of moving capital, not just the “why” of employee ownership as an idea. I’d been drawn to impact investing already, but this summer let me get much closer to the mechanics: how philanthropic and investment capital actually get influenced, usually through trusted intermediaries like financial advisors and specific, credible framing, rather than mission alone. That connects directly to what I want to do career-wise: work at the intersection of capital markets and economic equity. It’s given me a much sharper sense of what that actually looks like day-to-day.
The biggest lesson for me was how much message-market fit matters: testing what resonates with advisors and the public in parallel, rather than waiting to identify DAF holders one by one, will be a much faster way to learn what actually lands. Going forward, I’m excited about employee ownership becoming a mainstream allocation category. The sector has grown fast, and I think there’s real momentum building around treating EO as a legitimate investment strategy with its own track record and return profile. Being able to watch that shift happen in real time, and contribute to the tools that help make the case for it, is what makes this field feel exciting to keep working in, and I plan to carry this way of working forward into whatever I do next.”
This fall, the momentum that our Summer Associates helped to cultivate continues. We’re designing a pilot for a new guarantee facility to unlock small business lending for employee ownership transitions, deepening our market intelligence work across the field and expanding our reach to financial advisors managing donor-advised fund capital. We’re also bringing the EO Capital Roadmap Roadshow to several cities across the U.S., launching the EO Fund Accelerator with our first cohort of emerging fund managers, and rolling out the EO Investment Explorer to help investors navigate the field.
Please join us in celebrating and thanking Jaeho, Samantha and Micaela, and connect with them on LinkedIn to learn more about their inspiring visions for the future!