Chief Executive Officer

About Employee Ownership Canada

Our client, Employee Ownership Canada, is the national advocate for broad-based employee ownership. Known since the 1990s as ESOP Association Canada and now EOC following a 2023 merger, it is the central hub for employee ownership in Canada, representing a growing community of employee-owned businesses, service providers, and supporters. EOC exists to grow awareness, adoption, and support for ownership models that keep businesses locally rooted, preserve jobs, and share wealth more broadly with workers and communities.

Canada is in the middle of a major business succession wave, and recent legislative progress, including permanent tax treatment for Employee Ownership Trusts, has created real momentum for employee ownership. With that foundation now in place, EOC is ready to move from holding the ground to building for the long term: growing its membership, raising the national profile of the model, and putting the organization on a durable financial footing.

The opportunity.

EOC is hiring its next leader to take the organization through this stage of growth into a strong national industry association. This is a builder role for someone energized by working at both the strategic and the practical level. The leader inherits a solid foundation, including a clear 2026 plan, a working website, membership lists, and a database, and is responsible for finalizing the plan with the board, executing against it, and shaping where the organization goes next.

The through-line of the role is entrepreneurial drive: taking the foundation that has been laid and turning it into a self-sustaining, revenue-generating organization, with a deep belief in the mission.

This position reports to the board of directors and is full-time remote from anywhere in Canada.

Responsibilities.

Strategy and execution

• Finalize EOC’s existing strategic and annual operating plan in consultation with the board, then execute against it, bringing the judgment to adjust and add to it as conditions change.
• Shape the longer-term plan, likely on a three-to-five-year horizon, so the organization has clear direction beyond the current runway.
• Translate board direction into priorities, budgets, workplans, and clear measures of progress, and keep the back end running: website, membership database, systems, and reporting.

Membership, community, and revenue

• Define the membership value proposition and the commercial model around it: structure, tiers, pricing, and the benefits that make membership worth paying for.
• Grow and steward a national community across business owners, employee-owned companies, service providers, advisors, and supporters, recognizing that service providers have a distinct reason to belong.
• Build sustainable revenue over the next few years through membership growth, the annual conference, and partnership opportunities, so the organization stands on its own as the current foundational funding is drawn down.

Awareness and field building

• Raise the national profile of employee ownership and of EOC, getting the story of permanency in front of business owners, advisors, and the broader market.
• Build and orchestrate a national network of volunteers and ambassadors who carry the message across the country, so awareness does not rest on one person, and keep that community feeling valued for the work they do.
• Find EOC’s niche in a field with other active players, and take a convening, collaborative role rather than duplicating education and programming others already offer.
• Act as a credible spokesperson for the organization through speaking, panels, webinars, and sector events.

Advocacy

• Hold oversight of EOC’s advocacy work, making sure the advocacy committee exists, meets regularly, and stays active.
• Take ownership of the process over time: keep a priority list, gather input from the community, and bring in contractors to carry the work where needed.
• Coordinate the effort alongside the board and the existing partners who lead much of the advocacy itself, keeping a pulse on it rather than doing all of it directly.

Programs and events

• Lead the planning and delivery of the annual conference and other convening activities, keeping them mission-aligned, high quality, and financially responsible.
• Build programming that supports learning, community, and member value.

Financial management and operations

• Own the organizational budget and forecasting in partnership with the treasurer and the board, with sound financial management and clear reporting on the income statement and balance sheet.
• Oversee contracts, vendors, and external partners, and ensure compliance with relevant nonprofit, governance, and privacy requirements.
• Build the foundation for sustainable growth, including the staffing and contractor model over time.

Working with the board and partners

• Support the board with clear materials, recommendations, and regular updates, and bring revenue and growth decisions to the board for direction.

Team

• Build a small team over time and orchestrate the existing network of contractors and volunteers.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, entrepreneurial, and mission-driven culture across a distributed group.

Qualifications.

• Entrepreneurial drive. A track record of taking an early-stage or founder-stage organization and building it into something durable and self-funding.
• Belief in the cause. Genuine alignment with employee ownership and the credibility to be its public face.
• Membership and revenue building. Experience defining a value proposition, setting pricing, growing a base, and turning programming and events into sustainable revenue.
• Comfort building in a lean, distributed organization. Has worked through contractors and volunteers, and is comfortable shaping priorities as well as executing them.
• Financial literacy. Comfortable owning a budget and working with a treasurer and board.
• Connector and convener. Builds relationships and orchestrates a national network so the message carries beyond the leader.
• A clear, credible communicator who can move between big-picture strategy and day-to-day execution and is comfortable with ambiguity and change.

Considered an asset.

• Knowledge of employee ownership models, business succession, or related policy and market issues
• Senior leadership experience in a membership organization, industry association, nonprofit, or social-purpose organization.
• Experience in a national organization with members or stakeholders across multiple provinces.
• Familiarity with nonprofit governance and working with a volunteer board.

The details.

• Location: Remote, from anywhere in Canada. Candidates outside major centres are welcome.
• Travel: Roughly 5 to 15 percent across Canada for conferences and meetings.
• Schedule: Full-time, Monday to Friday, with occasional weekend work around travel.
• Compensation: $120,000 to $150,000 base, plus a performance bonus, vacation, and health and dental benefits.