Turning over ownership to his employees helps entrepreneur drive business, culture forward

For federal contractor St. Michael’s, ESOP proves path for growth and paying it forward.

Vanessa Roberts

September 18, 2024 2:15 pm

4 min read

Now that Todd Brymer is in the second half of his career — as he likes to say — he puts emphasis on helping others with their career trajectory. And one of the ways he’s done that is through establishing an employee stock ownership plan for the company that he started with his wife in 2006.

“What still gets me out of bed at this point — and keeps me coming in — is the people and the opportunity to really influence people in a positive way and help them,” said Brymer, president and founder of St. Michael’s, which provides back office and financial management support to defense, intelligence and homeland security organizations.

When he and his wife launched the business, after Brymer had spent the early part of his career in the Army and then with a large Defense contractor, St. Michael’s was designated a service-disabled veteran-owned small business.

It still has that designation, but in 2016, St. Michael’s turned over 20% of the business to its employees, Brymer shared during an interview for the Society of Defense Financial Management’s The Business of Defense podcast on Federal News Network.

“It certainly differentiates us in the war for talent that’s out there,” he said. It also helps encourage people to make their career at the company, Brymer added. “The chance to own some of this company down the road and to take that into retirement, it’s really appealing to people.”

ESOP: Slow but steady growth

The employee stock ownership plan paired with creating a culture at St. Michael’s that favors employee growth and comradery over competition is critical, Brymer said.

An ESOP is a retirement plan, he pointed out — a second retirement plan on top of the St Michael’s 401K. But it’s a long-term proposition. “I tell people, ‘It’s not fast food. It’s a crock pot.’ You’ve got to have patience with it,” he said

Even so, Brymer has found that the ESOP creates a desire among St. Michael’s employees to drive change and continually improve the business. In recent meetings with employees, he recounted, “you could really see there are people that completely understand it, and they’re starting to think, act and feel like the owners that they are. They’re into the crock pot. They understand the long-term value.”

Although he still retains 80% ownership, Brymer expects that he will continue to expand the ESOP over time. St. Michael’s anticipates making a “second ESOP transaction, but it’s too early for me to know where that’s going to take us,” he said.

Being adaptable proves a strength for St. Michael’s

Relationships with employees and clients are critical but so too is adaptability, Brymer said. It’s often necessary to pivot or rethink plans when starting and when growing a business, he said.

Brymer considers his early years in the Army’s Green Beret Special Forces as helping instill adaptability as a core skill and teaching him the value of teamwork.

“We had to figure a lot of things out. We were not always given a very detailed, five-paragraph operations order. A lot of times we were just given a task and purpose, and we had our values, which guided what we would and would not do,” he said. “We also did a lot of living by our wits and figuring things out. And really in that world, it’s entirely about relationships, and that was a very key skill — problem solving, working with people. That really helped to build the person that I have become and put me in a great position to start a business from scratch.”

3 must-do tips for govcon start-up entrepreneurs

St. Michael’s President Todd Brymer shared three lessons learned from launching and making his financial management business a success:

Keep that Day 1 mindset: “We never want to be complacent, so we’re only as sustainable tomorrow as what we’re doing today.” That was essential in helping St. Michael’s survive its fourth year, when its main prime contract ended, and agencies faced budget cuts.
Get on the General Service Administration’s Multiple Award Schedule: “I would tell any business that’s starting out that is working in the federal space, you absolutely want to be on the GSA schedule.” He also encouraged businesses to take part in other agency multicontract vehicles because federal buyers know the vendors on these programs are prevetted, which encourages them to work with a young business.
Remember to think beyond your current clients: Brymer acknowledged that he was the “guy going down to the client site every day or most days.” But once he stopped that practice, it had a big impact on revenue because “it freed me up to go and see what else was out there.”

To listen to the full discussion between Todd Brymer, president and founder of St. Michael’s, and Rich Brady, CEO of SDFM, click the podcast play button below:

Discover more stories about how to thrive as a federal contractor. Find all episodes of The Business of Defense podcast.

Vanessa Roberts

Vanessa Roberts crafts content for custom programs at Federal News Network and WTOP. She’s been finding and telling B2B, government and technology stories in the nation’s capital since the era of the “sneakernet.” Vanessa has a master’s from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.