Lightspeed Becomes 100% Employee-Owned, Emphasizing Growth Through Shared Values
TUALATIN, ORE. – JANUARY 20, 2022
Lightspeed, a leading provider of powerful instructional audio solutions, announces the company has become 100% employee-owned under an employee stock ownership plan, also known as an ESOP.
Lightspeed’s transition to an ESOP places the future of the company in the hands of its employees, giving each employee an ownership interest in Lightspeed and a voice in shaping the company’s future. An ESOP provides continuity to end-users, which in Lightspeed’s case, are educators and students.
“We take pride in ownership, which starts with ensuring educators are satisfied with our products and service,” said David Solomon, CEO at Lightspeed. “This transition has been part of a long-term strategy going back to Lightspeed’s founders and our core values and mission. We’re in it for the long run with our customers and employees.”
This transition demonstrates Lightspeed’s belief that how you do something is as important as what you do and ensures the company’s values remain at the core of its 30-year culture of integrity, respect, innovation, stewardship and humility. In addition, the change in ownership ensures educators and their students continue to be the focus of Lightspeed’s mission.
“For more than a decade, our board has looked to provide all investors—many of whom were with us from the beginning—a strong liquidity exit and to fulfill our founder’s goal of becoming 100% employee owned,” said Dan Meub, Chairman of the Lightspeed Board of Directors. “We were able to provide strong returns for all investors and become completely employee owned, while preserving a healthy balance sheet for future growth. This will help preserve Lightspeed’s special culture and legacy for decades to come.”
Since 1990, educators around the nation have relied on Lightspeed’s instructional audio solutions. Lightspeed’s solutions inspire communication and collaboration between educators and students by delivering crystal-clear, low-volume and highly intelligible sound—no matter the environment. In the past five years alone, more than 3,500 schools and districts and over 3.5 million students across the nation have used Lightspeed’s instructional audio solutions.
“Throughout my 20 years with the company, Lightspeed has excelled at focusing on customers, employees and culture,” said Melissa Williams, the bid and contract manager at Lightspeed. “We’re passionate about the meaningful work that we do, and I look forward to having a greater voice in the company’s future as we provide innovative products for educators and students for years to come.”
To learn more about Lightspeed, please visit https://www.lightspeed-tek.com/.
About Lightspeed
Lightspeed is on a mission to help every student hear every word. To that end, the company has brought powerful instructional audio solutions to K–12 institutions around the globe for more than 30 years. Each product inspires communication and collaboration by delivering crystal-clear, low-volume and highly intelligible sound. Lightspeed offers solutions for several learning environments, including whole- and small-group, distance and hybrid instruction. Passionate about its culture of service, Lightspeed remains dedicated to improving the lives of educators and students through its products, research and partnerships. To learn more, visit https://www.lightspeed-tek.com/.