GT Distributors is pleased to announce that effective January 26th, 2018, 55% of the company’s stock has been sold to its employee’s retirement plan, through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The Texas-based public safety equipment and uniform distributor’s 100+ employees will become beneficial owners through the ESOP.
This transaction gives employees a financial interest in the success of the business, making the positive bonds between G T Distributors teammates even stronger than they are today. It also rewards those who have played a critical role in G T’s success since the beginning.
Jim Orr, celebrating 35 years with GT, plans to remain President for the long-term and the executive management team at GT will continue in its current form. “It has always been my desire for GT to continue being privately owned and managed, and the ESOP will help us achieve this goal, “said Orr, “The ESOP will enable the continuity of leadership and transition the company from family owned to employee owned. The management team is confident that the ESOP will make us an even stronger company.”
“Seeing the consolidation over the past few years in the public safety equipment and uniform space through mergers and acquisitions, we looked for other avenues of transitioning GT from a family business to something longer term that kept existing management in place and ensured our employees and their families continued job security. So often customer service suffers after an acquisition and faithful employees lose their jobs as they are duplicated elsewhere in the acquiring entity. We feel our existing management and staff know our customers best and understand the company’s future direction.”
Today G T Distributors employs more than 100 employees based in Austin TX, Dallas TX, Jacksonville FL, and Rossville GA. G T Distributors core purpose is supplying Public Safety personnel with the equipment it takes to keep our communities safe and allow them to return home safely at the end of their shift. G T was established in 1972 by Bill and Charlotte Orr in Rossville GA and we believe they would be proud to know of the company’s transition to employee ownership. For more information, please visit www.GTDist.com
