{"id":3677,"date":"2018-12-01T13:47:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T18:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/?post_type=transaction&p=3677"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:50:22","slug":"pennoni-associates","status":"publish","type":"transaction","link":"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/outcome\/pennoni-associates\/","title":{"rendered":"A Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership<\/h1>\n

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, Pennoni<\/a> is a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm that serves clients worldwide from 36 U.S. offices. Priding itself on honesty, integrity and service, the firm was founded more than five decades ago and employs 1,200+ employees. In 1994, the company established an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to transfer ownership from its founder, C.R. \u201cChuck\u201d Pennoni, to the employees.<\/p>\n

Situation<\/strong><\/p>\n

A long-time client of SES ESOP Strategies, Pennoni was prepared for a final stage ESOP transaction. At the time of the final transaction, the ESOP\u2019s ownership share had increased to 81%. In addition, Pennoni would elect to be treated as an S Corporation for federal income tax purposes.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working in tandem with the firm\u2019s in-house counsels, attorneys from SES ESOP Strategies\u2019 affiliated law firm negotiated the term sheet for Pennoni\u2019s transaction and assisted in the diligence process prior to the transaction. The transaction was structured as a redemption and stock purchase, with certain selling shareholders electing 1042 treatment for tax purposes and others choosing a stock redemption in the form of promissory notes. Now a 100% ESOP-owned S Corporation, Pennoni and its sole shareholder, its ESOP, enjoy the benefits of flow through taxation to a tax-exempt entity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaintaining our culture of Pennoni, which is defined by honesty, integrity and service, was imperative as we worked through this transition,\u201d said Mark Celoni, PE, Regional Vice President of Pennoni\u2019s Greater Philadelphia Region. \u201cWe are grateful for the help SES ESOP Strategies has provided over the years and in this final ESOP transaction and we look forward to continued success as a 100% ESOP-owned company.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on this transaction, please contact\u00a0Jim Steiker<\/a>, president and CEO, at 215.508.5643 or\u00a0Sean-Tamba Matthew<\/a>\u00a0at 215.508.7705.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3677","transaction","type-transaction","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership - SES ESOP Strategies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\" \/>\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\/outcome\/pennoni-associates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership - SES ESOP Strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/outcome\/pennoni-associates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SES ESOP Strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T14:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/pennoni-associates\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/pennoni-associates\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership - SES ESOP Strategies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-01T18:47:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-31T14:50:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/pennoni-associates\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/pennoni-associates\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/pennoni-associates\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Transactions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/transaction\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"A Thriving Workplace Culture With 100% Employee Ownership\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/\",\"name\":\"Griffin Financial Group\",\"description\":\"TAILORED ESOP SOLUTIONS. 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