Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos Launches Succession Planning Task Force
Published on Monday, March 24, 2025
CRANSTON, RI – Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos today launched the RI Business Enterprise Succession Task Force, a group of local entrepreneurs, business support professionals, chambers of commerce, and employee-ownership experts who will conduct outreach to Rhode Island’s legacy business owners, develop policy suggestions on how to increase the number of employee-owned businesses, and ensure more Rhode Island businesses continue to serve their communities after their current owners retire. As part of today’s launch, the Task Force released a Business Succession Survey to gather information about the needs of Rhode Island business owners considering a succession plan.
“Our small business culture is endangered. Every day, Rhode Island loses another beloved institution because its owners are ready to retire but do not have the support they need to develop a succession plan,” said Lieutenant Governor Matos. “We are losing important parts of our culture because these businesses are either shuttering permanently or being rolled up into an investment portfolio and stripped of what makes them special. The Business Enterprise Succession Task Force will support our business owners as they plan for retirement and help our state keep small businesses in the hands of the people who truly love them.”
Succession planning is the strategic process of creating a financial, legal, and logistical plan for a transition in business ownership. A 2018 Small Business Administration analysis found that retirement was the fastest-growing reason that businesses in the United States closed. In Rhode Island, over half of the business in the state are currently owned by a person over the age of 55; these nearly 12,000 businesses employ just under 115,000 Rhode Islanders. A study conducted by the Exit Planning Institute found that 32% of owners have never sought advice in developing a succession strategy for their small business. Without greater awareness of succession planning broadly and employee-ownership in particular, more businesses may close before their vision for the future can be realized.
At the launch event, the Task Force released a Small Business Succession Survey, which will help the Task Force to determine the scope of need for succession planning in Rhode Island and target its efforts. Rhode Island business owners can take the survey at bit.ly/ribusiness. Lieutenant Governor Matos encourages all business owners, even those who are not currently planning for retirement, to complete the survey and share their feedback.
Encouraging employee-ownership models, such as cooperative ownership, employee stock ownership plans, and employee-owned trusts, will be a significant area of focus for the Task Force. A study based on longitudinal research by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that worker-owners enjoyed both 33% higher income from wages and 92% higher median household wealth than their peers, regardless of their economic or demographic background. Additionally, research has shown that employee-owned firms have greater retention rates and a study from University of Rhode Island professor and Task Force member Dr. Jegoo Lee even shows that employee-owned firms are more sustainable.