Earlier this month Jimmie Gipson, 78, announced he would be retiring as of March 31st, 2020 from Houchens Industries, where he has worked for 55 years, the last 27 as CEO. Houchens, which began over 100 years ago with a single grocery store in Barren County, KY, has grown to encompass multiple retail grocery chains, and a host of other business ranging from pharmacies to trucking to recycling. Houchens has been proudly ESOP for over thirty years.
Jimmie Gipson is retiring after 55 years at ESOP-owned Houchens
Menke & Associates assisted Houchens with their transition to employee ownership back in 1988, including designing the plan, raising the financing, and negotiating the purchase from the French corporation that owned the company at the time. Since that time, Houchens has grown to over 400 locations in 16 states, more than 16,000 employees, and $3 billion in annual revenue, making it one of the largest employee-owned companies on the planet.
In an interview with The Bowling Green Daily News, Gipson was effusive about seeing the effects the ESOP had on his employees. “Becoming an ESOP is very gratifying,” he said. “Years ago, we had a lady who worked in a Houchens store for 40 years. She had more than $480,000 in her retirement account. That’s life-changing for common people.”
Stories of retirements drastically improved by the Houchens ESOP are common in Bowling Green, where the company is a job creator. Houchens employed over 5,500 people in the 10-county area Barren River region as of 2018.
“You can’t overstate the amazing things Houchens has done in our community,” Bunch said. “From the economic impact to the philanthropy, we’re all indebted to Jimmie for his leadership,” said Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ron Bunch.
Like many of the CEOs we work with every day, Gipson was in no rush to retire, even knowing that he had a highly capable team in place to run operations once he left. “I’ve never been excited about retiring because I’m excited about what I do,” he said. “I plan to be here every day until it’s time to go.”
Gipson will be succeeded by Dion Houchins, who has served as executive vice president for the past 11 years.
For all of us at Menke & Associates, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing a business that we helped to become employee-owned grow, thrive, and change lives in their community. Few have done that more than Houchens under the leadership of Jimmie Gipson.
Congratulations to Jimmie on his well-earned retirement. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Houchens Industries.
Whether or not you are ready to retire, if you are curious to learn how an ESOP can transform your business, contact us today.
Menke & Associates, Inc. has helped over 3,500 companies successfully transition to employee ownership. Our holistic ESOP approach enables a positive outcome for the company, its employees and its shareholders. We believe ownership is powerful.
