The architectures of shared ownership, shared governance, and shared upside
A one-day gathering in New York for founders, operators, investors, policymakers, technologists, researchers, and institutional builders working on the next generation of ownership models in North America.
Ownership is becoming an organizing principle, not just a cap-table question
The ownership economy is bigger than startup equity and founder exits. It now spans mission-preserving transitions, employee ownership, onchain governance, community energy, land stewardship, policy innovation, community-controlled finance, and ownership-lens investing across multiple asset classes. This gathering is designed to connect those worlds in one room and turn them into practical relationships, strategies, and next steps.
Move beyond extractive defaults
Explore how organizations are redesigning control, succession, and accountability so value creation can be shared more broadly and governed more durably.
Look at the rails beneath the models
From industrial standards to stablecoins to community land structures, the day focuses on the infrastructures that make collective ownership workable at scale.
Build real follow-up, not just ideas
With two long networking breaks, hosted lunch tables, a startup pitch showcase, and a late-day reception, the event is built for high-signal introductions, deal flow, policy coordination, and founder follow-up.
Agenda at a glance
Each session block below now carries its own description and draft invited / target speaker slate, and the day now opens with a shared plenary on AI, labor markets, and policy solutions before the working sessions split into two rooms.
Registration, coffee, and curated networking
An arrival experience built for warm introductions across founders, allocators, policymakers, technologists, researchers, and operators.
AI, labor markets, and policy solutions
A flagship opening conversation on how AI is likely to reshape bargaining power, productivity, wages, job quality, and market concentration—and which policy responses could push that transition toward better jobs and broader ownership rather than deeper precarity.
Morning networking break
A full 30-minute break designed for cross-room conversations, investor sidebars, and follow-up from the opening plenary before the first working sessions begin.
Mission-preserving exits, steward ownership, and ownership transitions
A working conversation on how founders, boards, investors, and legal architects are redesigning succession so mission, worker voice, and long-term stewardship can survive capital raising, founder transition, and growth.
Federated industry data, shared rails, and trusted infrastructure
A look at how manufacturing, mobility, identity, and privacy-preserving data infrastructure are building new forms of coordination without platform capture. The focus is on trusted rails, open standards, and shared governance.
Federating health without platform capture
A panel on interoperable, patient-centered health systems that treat data, care, and research as shared infrastructure. Expect a practical conversation about standards, trust, incentives, and governance.
Money as shared infrastructure
This session widens the money conversation beyond community banking to include stablecoins, digital-dollar rails, decentralized credit, mutual credit, and community-controlled finance. The question is what changes when money is designed as infrastructure, not just a product.
Ownership-lens investing across asset classes
A practical investor-facing session on how to underwrite ownership design across public equities, private markets, housing, donor-advised assets, community finance, and catalytic capital.
Policy for the ownership economy
A policy session focused on the levers that move ownership into the mainstream: procurement, tax design, public finance, technical assistance, state offices, city strategies, and ecosystem-building institutions.
- Hilary Abell, Chief, Division of Employee Ownership, U.S. Department of Labor
- Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative, U.S. House of Representatives
- Chris Rabb, State Representative, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
- Marjorie Kelly, Distinguished Senior Fellow, The Democracy Collaborative
- Libby Lukens, Employee Ownership Program Manager, Colorado Employee Ownership Office
Hosted lunch tables
An extended lunch with curated table themes spanning founder transitions, stablecoins and mutualism, policy asks, AI and labor, ownership-lens investing, energy ownership, and land and housing.
Who owns the energy transition?
A conversation about how clean energy, grid infrastructure, and climate resilience can be owned by communities, tribes, ratepayers, and local institutions rather than only by large incumbents.
Onchain coordination, programmable ownership, and internet-native governance
A deeper look at the legal, technical, and operating architectures behind shared ownership online: public-goods funding, DAO infrastructure, protocol governance, legal wrappers, token systems, and internet-native institutions.
Startup pitch showcase
A fast-moving showcase of companies building new ownership, governance, financing, and infrastructure models, followed by quick reactions from investors and operators.
Afternoon networking break
A second full networking block for follow-up meetings, founder-investor conversations, and curated introductions.
Industrial democracy at scale
A practice-focused session on ESOPs, worker co-ops, trust-owned firms, succession planning, and the operating structures that make employee ownership durable.
Housing commons, community ownership, and land stewardship
A session on community land trusts, resident-owned communities, permanent affordability, and the governance models that keep land and housing in community-serving hands.
- Tony Pickett, Chief Executive Officer, Grounded Solutions Network
- Emily Thaden, Chief Executive Officer, ROC USA
- Noni Session, Executive Director, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative
- Sheila Foster, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University
- Michael Monte, Chief Executive Officer, Champlain Housing Trust
Closing synthesis: what a North American ownership agenda should do next
A closing conversation on partnerships, policy asks, field-building priorities, and follow-up work.
Closing reception and hosted introductions
A reception designed for founder follow-up, allocator conversations, and high-signal introductions before everyone leaves.
Builders across sectors
- Founders and operators redesigning ownership, governance, or institutional structure
- Investors, family offices, and foundations exploring ownership-lens strategies across asset classes
- Public and civic leaders interested in shared prosperity, industrial policy, and local resilience
- Technologists and researchers working on shared rails, data governance, and internet-native institutions
Signals, relationships, and next steps
- A sharper view of which ownership models travel across sectors and asset classes
- New relationships across finance, policy, energy, health, housing, manufacturing, and onchain systems
- Practical follow-up opportunities in capital formation, policy design, pilot projects, and founder support
- A shared map of where the North American ownership ecosystem is heading next
Join the New York gathering
This is a curated day for people actively building new ownership and governance models. The room is intentionally designed for real conversations, investor-founder contact, and practical follow-up rather than passive conference consumption.