Home » BREAKING: Kentucky’s largest architectural and engineering firm becomes 100 percent employee-owned

BREAKING: Kentucky’s largest architectural and engineering firm becomes 100 percent employee-owned

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 9, 2012) — Luckett & Farley, Kentucky’s largest and oldest architecture and engineering firm, announces today that it has become a one hundred percent, employee-owned ESOP company.

Today, during Luckett & Farley’s regularly-schedule monthly Staff Meeting, the firm’s President and CEO, Ed Jerdonek, made the announcement to the packed meeting room which included the consultants who assisted Jerdonek and the firm’s two other Principals, Gail Miller and Rob Diamond, in advising the firm. Planning for the ESOP transition has been in motion since early 2011.

The transaction is funded internally without the use of any external debt capital.
Luckett & Farley originally started its ESOP in January 2000 when the previous owners of the firm each sold equal shares of their stock to total just over 26% of the Company’s equity. Over the years, the ESOP has continued to grow as a result of employee retirements and redemptions to a high of just over 61% of the Company’s total equity. As a result, the ESOP became the largest shareholder at Luckett & Farley.

According to Jerdonek, moving to a 100 percent employee-owned Company is “a logical extension of Luckett & Farley’s commitment to being the best employer in the region”. Since Jerdonek, Diamond and Miller assumed the leadership of the firm some seven years ago, the Company has remained focused on creating the best environment, culture and reward structure in the business.

Jerdonek adds, “by providing a way for Luckett & Farley’s employee-owners to create real wealth for themselves and their families, we’re confident that all of our folks will continue to provide the best service and technical solutions to our clients, ensuring the continued long term success of what is now their Company, too”. Taking Jerdonek’s remarks further, the Company’s COO, Rob Diamond explained that, “we’ve succeeded in creating a culture of ownership here and it’s demonstrated throughout the Company on a daily basis in the way our employee-owners interact with our clients and each other”.

Working closely with ESOP experts from local accounting firm, Harding & Shymanski, representatives from Prairie Capital Advisors, and an independent ESOP Trustee, Luckett & Farley’s jump to becoming a 100 percent ESOP Company actually became official on January 1, 2012, even though the announcement is being made today. This allows the Company to take full advantage of the ESOP tax benefits beginning immediately.

Luckett & Farley is a Louisville-based multi-disciplinary architectural, engineering, interior design, program management and construction management organization. The firm also has an office in New Albany, Ind. The firm has practiced in Louisville since 1853, representing one of the longest continuing practices in the nation. The firm’s staff includes architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, civil and structural engineers, space planners, interior designers, program managers, construction managers, Commissioning and Special Inspections. The firm serves clients in the public and private sectors, and has completed work in the healthcare, education, recreation, automotive, industrial, commercial and military fields.

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Ed Jerdonek, at (502) 585-4181 or email at [email protected].