Local Legacy Conference

A free, full-day gathering for business owners, advisors, and community leaders focused on building and preserving community wealth through practical succession strategies that keep our businesses locally owned, with a focus on employee ownership.

This conference was funded as part of the city of Birmingham’s BOLD grant initiative, run by the department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, and was organized by a team of community residents that have been canvassing local businesses since January.

The conference doesn’t just bring outside experts to discuss business retention; it brings actual local business owners as honorary co-sponsors to tell their stories and speak on the importance of legacy (we can provide a list of local co-sponsors if helpful)

It supplements their stories with local and national resources in succession planning and employee ownership including Project Equity, the National Center for Employee Ownership, Transworld Business Advisors, and the Birmingham Business Alliance

Attendees will see a documentary screening on Alatrade Foods, the largest employee-owned company based in Alabama, and hear from Recovery Hardware founder Gina Schaefer on her own business’ transition.

This conference is part of our Local Legacy Campaign launch, which has mobilized more than $100M from national impact investors to purchase legacy businesses from retiring owners and transition them to employee ownership — usually at little or no cost to employees.

The conference runs 8:30am – 3:00pm with a networking happy hour until 4:00. Breakfast and lunch are included. It’s free and open to all.