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Maas Companies: Sharing Ownership to Power a Legacy
By Emily Meyertholen, Beyster Institute Staff
If you’ve ever been involved with or even followed news coverage about a school or city which is planning for growth, you know what a complex process it can be. To build a building within a set budget which serves all needs and meets all regulations is a challenge, and determining how it fits into the institution’s long-term vision and demographics is yet another. It’s a team effort involving the organization’s leaders, outside architects and contractors, government agencies, and often the community at large. And it requires a clear view of the big picture.
Dr. Michael Maas knows how to think big. Nearly 20 years ago he founded a company that streamlines and manages the master planning and facilities development processes while keeping the public informed. Since its founding, Maas Companies, Inc. has planned, developed and managed over $3.5 billion in capital construction projects, written over 83 educational and facility master plans and developed 18 new education centers and campuses. Expanding to meet the market’s needs, the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary EISPro develops software for the facilities development industry. Along the way, Maas Companies has earned the respect of educational and governmental institutions across California and has expanded from its headquarters near Fresno to offices up and down the state.
Dr. Maas is proud of the work the company has done over the years, especially for the state’s educational system. But last year, he realized that the time had come for him to design a “master plan” for his own retirement and the future of the company.
As is often the case, the company was introduced to employee ownership by a respected colleague who had previously been part of an employee-owned company and had become an advocate of that corporate structure. In this case it was Richard Wycoff, who had served earlier in his career as the vice president of internal audit for SAIC, a highly successful technology company founded by Dr. J. Robert Beyster, who later founded the Beyster Institute. Richard joined Maas Companies at a critical time in its development. The company was growing rapidly and Dr. Maas was looking for a way to ease himself out while ensuring the continued success of the company, the ongoing support of clients, and the financial well-being of employees.
“Both Dr. Maas and I had vaguely encountered employee ownership but had not given it much attention until we began working with Richard,” said Ann Kennedy, Maas Companies vice president of finance and administration. “He felt it could be a powerful fit with our existing company culture.”
Much like planning and building a new public facility, designing an employee ownership program requires research, collaboration, and a big-picture viewpoint. As with school or city leaders, company leadership needs to determine its vision and goals and oversee the project’s execution. Like community members, employees want to know how the program will affect them and how each aspect of the plan will play out in the long run. Like government agencies, attorneys help set up the arrangement and make certain that regulations are met. And like Maas Companies, the Beyster Institute is there to offer guidance throughout the process.
“Martin Staubus and the Beyster Institute were very much a part of our planning process,” said Ann. “Their guidance has been key at every step along the way, from our early conversations about feasibility through the selection of our legal and administrative consultants all the way through the adoption of the plan and our first company-wide meeting as employee-owners.”
Maas Companies is implementing a broad-based plan in which each employee is a participant in the ESOP, ultimately leading to 100 percent employee ownership. The motivation is to provide Dr. Maas with an effective way to liquidate his ownership for retirement while rewarding all of those who helped to build Maas Companies, and to inspire employee-owners to move the growing company into its second generation.
“Dr. Maas would like Maas Companies to be his legacy,” said Ann. "He believes in his staff and their commitment to education and integrity in business. He sees the ESOP as a vehicle for helping us all achieve our short- and long-term goals in this regard.”
Before adopting the ESOP in December of 2006, an all-hands meeting was held to discuss the option of employee ownership. The idea was met with great enthusiasm. Several months later, at the completion of the ESOP’s implementation, the company employees convened once again for an employee ownership kick-off celebration, where Dr. Maas shared his vision for the future of the company and his reasons for choosing employee ownership. Recognizing that employee-owner communications are crucial to the success of the plan, the first “state of the company” financial report informed employees of what to expect in the coming year.
“We invited Martin from the Beyster Institute and Wendy Walter-Lankes from RK Schaff and Associates to speak to our employees at the kick-off celebration,” said Ann. “Their involvement gave everyone an opportunity to hear the plan clearly explained and provided a forum for the employee-owners to have their questions about the plan answered. It was a positive start.”
Dr. Maas' offer of company ownership to each employee sends a strong message of his trust in the staff to carry on his vision. Paired with careful development of the company culture to ensure that the potential of employee ownership is fully communicated, there's no telling what this company of owners can accomplish.
©2007 The Beyster Institute and its authors and their entities. All rights reserved.
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