Fall is an exciting season for AE2S, a 100% employee-owned consulting engineering firm with offices across the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain region. AE2S, along with other employee-owned companies around the world, celebrate “EO Month” in October and the transformative potential of employee ownership to be a stable economic engine for communities.

AE2S Turns 31

The firm is also celebrating the 31st anniversary of AE2S being founded in Grand Forks, North Dakota in October. Since 1991, AE2S has expanded its footprint to include 20 offices across Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Utah.

“We are grateful for our clients who entrust us with exciting projects for our Employee-Owners to work on each day. It is easy to be passionate about your career when you see amazing infrastructure projects come together for the betterment of the communities where we live and work,” says Grant Meyer, AE2S CEO. “October is meaningful to us as a 100% employee-owned firm and also because it is a reminder to appreciate AE2S’ history and our shared success. Our staff and clients have worked together on many truly incredible projects over the past 31 years.”

Celebrating Employee Ownership

One of the major benefits of employee ownership is the potential for being a wealth building tool that brings economic security for our Employee-Owners, as evidenced by a Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit-Sharing study. In addition, employee-owned companies are also more resilient than other types of business ownership models. During previous economic recessions, employee-owned firms outlasted their peers and were 50% less likely to lay off employees according to National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).

There is much to celebrate in 2022, as AE2S Employee-Owners who were present when the firm’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) was adopted in 2017 became 100% vested. People hired after 2017 become fully vested after five years of employment.

“Being an Employee-Owner gives me a sense of value that my actions impact more than just myself and the projects I work on,” says Keeley Barry, Great Falls Operations Manager. “I know that producing great results can affect all of AE2S, which adds yet another level of motivation!”

AE2S Named Best Place to Work

This fall, AE2S Employee-Owners have a third reason to celebrate as the firm was named to the Prairie Business 50 Best Places to Work list for the sixth year in a row. The magazine received nearly 1,700 nominations for businesses throughout the region in 2022. Prairie Business reviews nominations from employees based on workplace culture, opportunities for professional growth, teamwork, and employee morale to select the top 50 employers each year.