Employee Ownership Australia (EOA) welcomes Graeme Nuttall OBE as its Official Ambassador
Graeme has joined Employee Ownership Australia (EOA) as ‘Ambassador’. In this role, Graeme will have a focus on developing and promoting best practices for employee ownership in Australia.
Image: Graeme Nuttall OBE (credit: Fieldfisher)
Graeme has had a long association with Employee Ownership Australia as a sector thought-leader. He presented to our second National Conference in Sydney in 2013 when he did a tour of key political institutions and press agencies on our behalf.
Graeme is best known for his foundational work in creating the UK’s employee ownership policy framework, the success of which over the last decade is having a global impact.
In this regard, Graeme’s work is influencing employee ownership policy not only in America and Canada, but now also in Australia, Ireland and elsewhere, especially through his advocacy for the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) model. Graeme is a key member of our EOT Working Group and has worked closely to establish Australia’s first EOT at Meld Studios. He has contributed to our on-line materials on EOTs
Graeme also co-organises the annual Oxford Symposium on Employee Ownership with the Centre on Business and Poverty and the Employee Ownership Foundation. Employee Ownership Australia participates in this global gathering of leaders, stakeholders, and government decision-makers to exchange insights about great employee ownership practice and opportunity.
A career promoting employee ownership
Graeme holds office as chair of several EOTs, including Meld Studios and was an employee ownership practitioner for over 40 years at European law firm Fieldfisher, where he was a partner from 1988 to 2024.
He is a former head of Fieldfisher’s Tax and Structuring Group and established its leading Employee Ownership Solutions practice.
Throughout his career at Fieldfisher, Graeme has championed employee ownership. Together with the firm’s then managing partner, John Nelson-Jones, he co-wrote the UK’s first book on the ‘Legal & Tax Aspects of Employee Ownership’ and, most notably as the UK Government’s Independent Adviser on Employee Ownership, he authored the highly influential ‘Nuttall Review of Employee Ownership’.
He was awarded an OBE in June 2014 in recognition of his public service to employee ownership, employee share ownership, and public service mutuals.
Making waves in international EO
Andrew Clements, Chair of Employee Ownership Australia says “We are delighted that Graeme is bringing his extensive expertise, insight, and connections to the role of ambassador helping us to become thought leaders in the employee ownership community not only in Australia, but internationally.
“It makes official the closely aligned goals and working relationship we have with Graeme and will further increase the reach he helps us achieve.
“Employee Ownership Australia has much to offer policymakers across our nation and we can learn from Graeme’s knowledge and experiences to evolve and increase the impacts of employee ownership for ‘people, planet and place’ in Australia.”
Graeme Nuttall OBE states in relation to the appointment “I am delighted to become an Ambassador for Employee Ownership Australia at this exciting time for employee ownership, with the nation’s first EOT’s coming into place. “The recent ‘People Powered Growth’ report from the Employee Ownership Association in the UK highlights the wide-ranging beneficial impacts of employee ownership on businesses, employees, the wider community and economy.
“There is an imperative for policymakers to ensure these positive effects are achieved at scale in all national economies. The report represents an excellent opportunity for Australia to follow the UK’s lead in these developments.
“Gathering and sharing insights from across the globe will help more employees have a significant stake and a say in the place where they work.”
Employee Ownership Australia (EOA) welcomes Jon Shell as an Official Ambassador
Jon Shell has joined Employee Ownership Australia (EOA) as an ‘Ambassador’. In this role, Jon will assist in developing strategies for advocating for strong employee ownership policy with Australian governments. Jon was one of the leaders in advocating for employee ownership in Canada, which led to recent policies to create Canadian Employee Ownership Trusts, with significant tax incentives.
Jon is Chair of Social Capital Partners (SCP) in Canada.
SCP is an independently funded non-profit founded in 2001, whose mission is to build a more resilient economy through broad-based ownership and quality employment. SCP has led the advocacy for Employee Ownership Trusts in Canada and led the financing of the sale of Taylor Guitars to its 1,400 workers in the US.
Jon was co-founder and a member of the steering committee of the Canadian Employee Ownership Coalition (CEOC) and is a Board member of Employee Ownership Canada (EOC) and the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. SCP and the CEOC’s advocacy led to the introduction of Employee Ownership Trusts in Canada, along with a $10M capital gains tax incentive for companies that sell to an EOT. These laws passed in late June, 2024 after a four year campaign that started with SCP’s white paper: Building an Employee Owned Economy.
Jon co-founded Save Small Business in 2020 to fight for commercial rent relief in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Jon, Bill Young and the team at SCP started The Ownership Fund in 2020 to invest in promising, scalable start-ups working on a broader distribution of ownership in the economy.
Prior to joining SCP, Jon co-founded the largest veterinary service providers in both Canada and Australia. He has a BA from Queen’s University and an MBA from Western University.
Jon also did a webinar with us (EOA) – An Update on Canada’s New Employee Ownership Legislation – in March 2024.
EOA Ambassadors at the Oxford Employee Ownership Symposium with EOA Board member, Prof. Andrew Pendleton (University of NSW)
