If you don’t know, an ESOP is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and that is precisely what Hagen and Sloan had in mind. For ten years, Hagen researched the idea in an effort to plan for his own retirement and the future of B-K employees. In 2016, unbeknownst to dedicated employees, the Lite Star ESOP was set up and every eligible employee was dealt a piece of the pie.

"It’s unbelievable," one employee said. “I thought this was a pretty generous company before, but it’s truly surreal that this is happening. Has happened, I should say. Makes me want to stay forever.”

And that’s the goal. Designed for long-term employees to benefit from the success of the company, employee-owners have more of a stake in the company’s longevity. This type of retirement plan helps to minimize turnover, and keep our knowledge and experience in house. For those who commit larger chunks of their careers to B-K Lighting + TEKA Illumination, it means a bigger pot of gold at the end of the retirement rainbow.

So what does that mean for you, the specifiers and reps we know and love?

It means more of the same, of course. The same great product, the same great service and the same great pride and care we’ve taken in manufacturing our landscape and architectural lighting fixtures for the last 34 years.

As we continue to produce the line of products you rely on for quality and dependability, we’ll add a new-found sense of ownership from the bottom up. We’ll continue to answer your call for more and better, and while we’ll commit to deliver the same, at the same time we’ll develop, enhance, expand, evolve and grow B-K Lighting + TEKA Illumination in the selfless family atmosphere to which we’re accustomed, and use technology to pioneer a fresh new face for manufacturing in the lighting industry going forward. Well, about 100 new faces, that is.