Mary Ann Beyster, Robert Craig, and I attended the NCEO/Beyster Institute conference last week. The two day conference was devoted to matters of employee ownership. Both technical topics on operating an ESOP and on direct ownership were discussed. Over 700 people attended the event. It turned out to be a very productive and rewarding experience. You can find out more at the Beyster Institute web site.

Many of the new pictures posted on the blog were taken at the book reception and signing, where John Tishler introduced me. John is my personal attorney, from Sheppard Mullin, and has worked with me diligently since I left SAIC. Sheppard Mullin helped with the book project and has an ESOP practice. Ray Smilor introduced John. There were several hundreds at the reception. A sell out crowd.

The Beyster Institute is conducting a two week session on entrepreneurship here in San Diego as part of the Middle East Entrepreneur Training (MEET) program. You can find many of the MEET visitors in the reception photos.

All in all it was a wonderful experience for us all. I hope you get a sense of the high energy at the event. A number of people were volunteers to help with the book signing. Special thanks got to Nancy Buriss, Diane Fries, Susan Pernia, Wai-Lean Roos, Barbara Schmidt, and Ralph Callaway.

More to come next week as we head to Washington D.C.

- Bob