Join us in Chicago! EO Capital Roadmap Roadshow Breakfast

Building on last year’s well-attended SOCAP breakfast where we unveiled the inaugural 2025 Employee Ownership Capital Roadmap, this Chicago gathering marks the next stop on our national roadshow to move more capital into employee ownership, city by city. This stop is hosted at The Metropolitan Club in Chicago, conveniently located in Willis Tower. Illinois stands on the threshold of a historic policy breakthrough. Proposed state legislation (IL HB4955, the Employee Ownership Development Act) could direct up to 5% of Illinois' state investment portfolio into employee ownership funds—making it the first state in the nation to enact a capital allocation of this scale. In parallel, momentum is building at the federal level with AORA (the American Ownership and Resilience Act), which aims to offer low-cost, long duration debt capital to unlock private capital for employee-owned businesses nationwide. Policy authorizes capital, but it doesn't deploy it on its own. This moment calls for a robust ecosystem to deploy capital effectively. Co-hosted by Ownership Capital Lab, Lafayette Square Institute and Impact Engine, this breakfast gathering brings together local and national fund managers, impact investors, policy pioneers and field builders to leverage this pivotal moment. Together, we will examine how Illinois' groundbreaking momentum can set a scalable playbook for the rest of the country—and what infrastructure, deal pipelines and fund readiness are required to turn policy potential into real economic mobility. This breakfast will precede SOCAP26. Formal programming will end by 9:15 AM, timed to end before the first SOCAP session opens. There will be time for networking for those who want to stick around. 7:45–8:15: Arrival, breakfast, networking 8:15–9:15: Formal program (timed to end before first SOCAP session opens) 9:15–10:30: Networking continues Location: The Metropolitan. Located in Willis Tower, 67th Floor - East Room. Thank you to our local advisor: Illinois Center for Employee Ownership