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The Southwest Chapter of the ESOP Association, a regional organization of companies in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico in which employees are owners through Employee Stock Ownership Plans, selected Acadian Companies for the third time as its Company of the Year. Acadian previously received Company of the Year in 2005 and 2012.

The award was presented at the Southwest Chapter Awards Banquet on March 27, 2014 in Grapevine, Texas. Acadian also took home an award for Communications Excellence for their company intranet, Acadian Central. Laura Logan accepted the honor and is delighted to have won the awards in her first year as chairman of the ESOP Committee.

“We were so pleased as a committee to accept these awards on behalf of our amazing Acadian team,” said Logan. “It is a reflection of the hard work that all of our employee-owners do every day, and the guidance of a forward-thinking board of directors. It takes every division and every employee-owner of Acadian to make awards like this a reality.”

Also in attendance were Acadian ESOP Committee members Harry Murphy, Brigid Guillory, Amanda Lyons, Jeff Vidacovich, and Phillip Brocato, as well as Vice Chair Brian Meadows and Secretary Billy Vincent.

CFO David Kelly is Acadian’s principal officer regarding direction for their ESOP and is chair of the National ESOP Association. “Our employee-owners are the reason that Acadian continues to grow and succeed,” said Kelly. “They take a pride and interest in the company that is inspirational, truly epitomizing what it means to be an employee-owner.”

Acadian has won numerous other awards from the ESOP Association in prior years including: Best ESOP Communications, Most Effective ESOP Committee, and the Employee Ownership Month Poster Contest. As the Southwest Chapter Company of the Year winner, Acadian will be submitted as a nomination for the ESOP Association’s prestigious National Company of the Year, to be awarded at a May conference in Washington, DC.

Acadian ranks among the top 100 employee-owned companies in the United States, according to a list compiled by the National Center for Employee Ownership. The men and women of Acadian became employee-owners of the largest privately owned ambulance service in the U.S. in 1993, with the adoption of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Under the plan, 80%of the company’s stock is held in trust for the benefit of the employees, with such stock redeemable in cash at the time of each employee’s retirement.

Since 1971, Acadian Companies has been committed to providing the highest level of emergency medical care and transportation possible. In the past decade they have expanded to include a diverse suite of services designed to offer the very best support and education in health, safety, and transportation. Acadian’s six divisions are Acadian Ambulance Service, Acadian Monitoring Services, Air Med, Executive Aircraft Charter Service, National EMS Academy and Safety Management Systems.