ESOP History

Employee ownership at cfm had its official start in 2001. However, the roots go back much farther. cfm's founders, Amos Roberts and Bruce Huffman encouraged cfm staff to behave like entrepreneurs. cfm staff was taught to look at every situation from the customer's point of view, and make it right for them. There aren't rules at cfm about squeezing every nickel out of a sale. Rather, cfm employees were empowered to do what is right to take care of the customer whenever possible.
This was just the right culture for the first major recession of 1981. When the economy slowed, companies began layoffs that continued for several years. At cfm, the employees were brought in to solve the problem together. There were two choices; layoffs or pay cuts. cfm employees voted to take pay cuts for everyone from top to bottom in order to save people's jobs. Within a year, the economy had begun to heal, and hard-working cfm employees had earned enough to pay themselves back the pay cuts they had offered to take, and normal pay was restored.

ESOP Difference

We learned a valuable lesson then - that by working together to overcome adversity we could do good works together. That same principle helped in the recession of 1991-1992, the slowdown following the tragic events of 9/11, and the recent slowdown in the economy as the financial system was severely stressed. The culture that was born of hard times evolved naturally into the employee ownership culture that was born in 2001. cfm employees began their ownership experience following the retirement of Bruce Huffman in 2001.

ESOP Employee-Owners

The cfm Distributors, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan has given cfm employees a chance to take their entrepreneurial behavior to a new level as they now talk to each customer like an owner - since they are! cfm is now 100% employee-owned. Chances are the next time you talk to cfm, you'll be talking to an owner! Thanks to our customers for making our ownership experience possible.

Integrity - We do what is right... even when it is hard.

Teamwork - We are one team. We help co-owners and customers in need regardless of job description.

Transparency - We openly share information and experiences, successes and failures, good news and bad news. It makes us all stronger.

Intentional Communication - We listen, understand, empathize and build trust; with two sided clear and proactive communication done more often than we think we should.

Continuous Improvement - Every cfm owner is dedicated to improving their skills and creating tools for personal and team development.

Innovation - We are forward thinkers that focus on simplicity, process improvements and implementation of creative big ideas that better serve our team and customers.

Giving Back - We share our successes by giving back to our teammates, to our industry, to the community around us.