ESOP Association Leadership

From The ESOP Association’s national headquarters in Washington, DC, James Bonham serves as President and CEO, leading The Association and its 18 state and regional chapters throughout the nation. Bonham also serves as President of the Employee Ownership Foundation, whose mission is to educate and expand employee ownership throughout the United States.

Bonham is a recognized expert in public policy, government advocacy, and executive leadership. He brings more than 25 years of experience as a high level government official, advisor, and business leader with expertise in the fields of taxes, labor, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and government contracting.

Before joining The Association, Bonham was Chairman for nearly eight years of the highly regarded Public Policy and Government Relations practice at Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP, a nationally recognized law and business consulting firm. In this role, Bonham led teams of lawyers, policy experts, and advocates representing clients as diverse as New York Life, The Recording Academy (Grammy’s), StarKist, and the American Land Title Association.

During a decade of public service, Bonham held multiple senior staff positions, including Chief of Staff in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, where he was frequently cited in the media as one of the 50 most influential aides of either political party.

His passion for shared capitalism springs from a family commitment to employee ownership: His grandfather had a personal and professional relationship with James Cash (J.C.) Penney, based partly on a shared business philosophy. One of their beliefs was granting a form of ownership to employees in the small mercantile businesses they ran. Bonham is proud to carry on today his family tradition of expanding employee ownership.

Gary Shorman is President and CEO of Eagle Communications, which established an ESOP in 1998 and became 100 percent ESOP in 2012.

Gary has worked at Eagle since 1985, and has completed the University of Pennsylvania ESOP Executive Leadership Development Program.

He has extensive experience as a volunteer leader of non-profit entities, having served as Director of the National Telecommunications Association, National Cable Television Cooperative, and the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.

He is a recipient of the KAB Distinguished Service Award, and was named to its Hall of Fame.

He has actively participated in the Heart of America ESOP Association Chapter, and has presented at both Chapter and National seminars and conferences.

Eagle is a two-time recipient of the Heart of America Chapter’s ESOP Company of the Year Award, and is a five-time recipient of the national Annual Award for Communication Excellence.