As of 2014, NRS is 100% employee owned, announced the company. NRS associates have assumed full ownership of the company after purchasing all outstanding stock from its independent shareholders.
Since founding NRS in 1972, Bill Parks, a former business professor, has led the company according to his progressive values. Moving to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) helps ensure Parks’ legacy as he nears his 8oth birthday, said NRS.
“When I started NRS, I wanted to build the kind of company that treated its customers and employees they way I wanted to be treated,” says Parks. “Moving toward employee ownership is the best way for us to ensure that NRS retains that culture now and into the future.”
In addition to preserving NRS as an equitable and rewarding workplace, the move toward employee ownership also allows the company to be more competitive as the paddling industry continues to evolve, say NRS executives.
“ESOPs are an uncommon business model. But for NRS, with its history of long-term employees, close family-like atmosphere, high work standards and strong sense of professional integrity, this structure is a natural fit,” says NRS Vice President Bryan Dingel. “This is the logical next step toward ensuring our company’s continued growth.”
The move caps a busy year for NRS during which it announced plans to open a European distribution center, expanded its operations in Canada, launched a revamped Web site, and acquired the helmet manufacturer WRSI.
