{"id":3730,"date":"2020-07-02T09:58:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T13:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/?p=3730"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:59:23","slug":"kenneth-j-wanko-joins-ses-esop-strategies-as-managing-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/news\/kenneth-j-wanko-joins-ses-esop-strategies-as-managing-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenneth J. Wanko Joins SES ESOP Strategies as Managing Director"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Firm expands into the Western United States<\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>BALA CYNWYD, PA, July 2, 2020 <\/strong>\u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/professional\/kenneth-j-wanko\/\">Kenneth J. Wanko<\/a> has joined SES ESOP Strategies as Managing Director, and will be based in Colorado, expanding the firm\u2019s footprint and allowing SES to better serve clients in the Western United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201dKen brings a proven track record of strategy development, corporate transactions and a depth of knowledge of employee ownership, and we\u2019re very excited to have him join the team at SES,\u201d said James G. Steiker, Chairman of SES ESOP Strategies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKen is a resourceful, driven leader,\u201d said Edward C. Renenger, President and CEO. \u201cHe has years of impressive experience with ESOPs, and I look forward to working with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to joining SES ESOP Strategies, Mr. Wanko was CEO and Chairman of Alliance Holdings, Inc., an ESOP-owned holding company, where he delivered positive economic results, implemented a new corporate governance structure and drove growth through acquisitions. He also held the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Director of Acquisitions at Alliance before become CEO and Chairman. In his role as Director of Acquisitions, he led the national deal sourcing and execution efforts, including management of the entire M&amp;A process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before he joined Alliance in 2005, Mr. Wanko was a founding member of the ESOP corporate finance group in the investment banking group of Houlihan Lokey, where he advised on some of the largest and most innovative employee buyouts in history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has an MBA from Duke University\u2019s Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Firm expands into the Western United States BALA CYNWYD, PA,<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kenneth J. Wanko Joins SES ESOP Strategies as Managing Director - SES ESOP Strategies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/news\/kenneth-j-wanko-joins-ses-esop-strategies-as-managing-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenneth J. 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