O’Neil & Associates becomes employee-owned

Miamisburg-based O’Neil & Associates Inc. has become a 100 percent employee-owned company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, company officials announced Friday.

Founded in 1947 as a mechanical design engineering company, O’Neil supplies electronic, web-based and traditional paper technical training manuals for commercial and government markets.

In 2004, O’Neil implemented a multi-phased plan to become an ESOP company, officials said.

“Becoming 100-percent employee-owned was the next logical step in our business development. Our employees’ dedication to serving our customers has always driven our success. They’ve always owned their work; now everyone actually owns the company, too,” said Bob Heilman, O’Neil’s president and chief executive, in a statement.

Headquartered in Miamisburg, O’Neil also has facilities in Wisconsin, Michigan and Texas.

O'Neil is the second area company to become employee-owned in recent months. In December, Eaton-based Henny Penny announced it had become employee-owned through an ESOP.

An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that provides workers with an ownership interest in a company. There are about 10,000 ESOPs in place in the U.S., covering 10.3 million employees, according to the Washington D.C.-based ESOP Association.

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