On the heels of Twisthink announcing a move to Grand Rapids and expanding its services to include digital strategy and tech scouting in the past year, Twisthink’s leadership team today revealed yet another strategic decision for the company’s future.
“We have been making great strides and creating greater impact in the last few years, despite working in the most challenging business environment in our history,” said Robert Niemiec, Twisthink Managing Partner. “This doesn’t happen without the efforts of an incredible team, and it is why we are transitioning ownership of the company from the principal founders to the team. They’ve earned it and deserve this opportunity.”
The change in ownership is implemented through a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which gives team members ownership interests based on their wage and years of service with the company.
“After 20+ years, a change in ownership is a natural progression. We carefully considered many different options. There were pro’s and con’s to each, but the ESOP was the clear choice for this team,“ said Kurt Dykema, Twisthink Chief Technology Officer. “With the creation of our ESOP, there is great enthusiasm regarding what the future holds for all of us – including our clients who will continue to receive the best from our team-owners every day.”
“We believe an ESOP was not only the right decision to maintain the culture we have built, it is also the right financial decision for Twisthink,” said Steve Honderd, Twisthink Financial Director. “The ESOP not only gives everyone on the team ownership interests but also makes us a tax-efficient company, enabling us to reinvest back into our people and the growth of our business.”
As part of the ESOP transition, Twisthink has established a board of directors, which will continue to grow overtime. Niemiec and Dykema will serve on this board while maintaining their current leadership positions. The third board member is Bruno Biasiotta, an experienced CEO across multiple industries and a long-time Twisthink advocate.
By fostering an ownership mentality, Twisthink will share in the value it creates and continue cultivating a workplace that attracts and retains top talent. This further strengthens Twisthink’s position to provide the critical digital transformation strategies and solutions that businesses need to survive and thrive in a digital economy.
“We’ve experienced a lot of exciting changes recently and knew we wanted to plan ahead and do this on our terms in a way that benefits our entire team,” said Niemiec. “This is the new path for our future – and the real excitement comes as we travel it together.”
“We believe the team is core to everything we do,” said Taryn Kutches, Director of Marketing and Customer Experience. “The opportunity to own a stake in Twisthink through the ESOP is a strong demonstration of living out this belief. This is something that many privately held companies don’t offer to their people, and it gives us even more motivation to realize our full potential as a team.”
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About Twisthink
Twisthink is a professional services firm that that partners with companies to develop digital strategies and solutions that create impact. As companies move along the digital transformation continuum, Twisthink can help at the front end of creating an organization’s digital strategy all the way to the full design and development of smart solutions. With skills in innovation and growth strategy, product strategy, user experience design, hardware + software development, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence; Twisthink can take you from concept to completion.