Employee-ownership can prevent job losses and closures when North Country business owners retire

Standing outside Ward Lumber in the Adirondack town of Jay, you could
easily confuse the company’s namesake, Jay Ward, for a small-town mayor.

Over the course of a 30-minute, Ward repeatedly pauses to greet an incoming
customer by name, complete with inquiries about family members and life
over the past year.

“If I stand here long enough, we are gonna get interrupted the whole time
because it’s a community that we’ve been a part of,” Ward remarked, with
more than a touch of pride.