We have some exciting news to share. Two members of the I-COM team have been shortlisted for the Employee Ownership Association Awards 2026, and we are incredibly proud of both of them.
Kate Smith, our director of client services and employee trustee, has been shortlisted for EO Leader of the Year. Chloe Richards, our email marketing strategist and fellow trustee, has been shortlisted for Employee Owner of the Year.
The EOA Awards recognise the people and businesses who are genuinely moving the needle on employee ownership in the UK. Being shortlisted is not something that happens by accident. It reflects real, consistent effort over a sustained period of time, and we think both nominations say a lot about the kind of EO business I-COM has worked hard to become.
Here, we explore their EO journeys in a bit more detail.
Kate Smith: EO Leader of the Year
I have been part of I-COM for just over 13 years, which means I have lived through a lot of the business's most significant moments. The transition to employee ownership in 2019 was one of them. I was a senior leader at the time, and I threw myself into understanding the model properly, learning from EO peers, attending events, and working out what it needed to look like at I-COM specifically. That experience is a big part of why I care so much about it now. When you have seen first-hand how transformative it can be for a business and its people, it is hard not to want to champion it.
In my day-to-day role as director of client services, I lead a team of client services managers and manage a portfolio of key accounts. But alongside that, becoming an EO trustee gave me a different kind of responsibility, one that sits across the whole business rather than within a single function. When the agency committed to a deeper focus on employee ownership around 18 months ago, I was instrumental in that reset, including advocating for the appointment of an additional trust representative, which turned out to be a really significant moment for how we operate.
From a trustee perspective, a lot of my focus has gone into helping colleagues understand the business they own. I co-developed and delivered a financial literacy workshop for the whole agency, designed to give people a real window into how I-COM operates and how their individual contributions connect to the bigger picture. That programme is now part of ongoing training so new joiners start with the same level of understanding. I also lead our six-monthly employee-owner surveys, which track how colleagues feel about EO, their ability to influence decisions, and their sense of where the business is heading. The results are shared openly and fed directly into trustee priorities and board agendas.
Outside of I-COM, I wanted to create something that gave the wider EO community a consistent space to connect. That thinking led to the Employee Ownership Community Catalyst event series, which we launched in partnership with Still We Grow. Since then I have spoken at a Business Desk roundtable on building resilient businesses, contributed to panels at the EOA conference, and taken part in Pro-Manchester events covering succession planning and EO culture. These are conversations I genuinely look forward to, because the more openly we talk about what employee ownership looks like in practice, the more it grows.
"There's a definite EO difference in how the team handles our account. Because everyone we deal with is an owner, there's a level of personal accountability and commitment to our success that you just don't see in a standard corporate structure. It doesn't feel like a customer and supplier relationship. We feel like we're all on the same side."
Gill Sherwin, Co-Founder of Best of British Beer and one of Kate's clients for 13 years
“To be shortlisted for EO Leader of the Year is a proud moment for me - from navigating our initial transition in 2019 to now advocating for employee ownership on a national stage. I am incredibly passionate about employee ownership and seeing that impact recognised, both within I-COM and across the industry, is a huge privilege. This shortlisting isn't just a personal milestone; it’s a testament to the collective hard work of our employee-owners and the growing strength of the wider EO community. I truly believe that when people understand the business they own, there is no limit to what they can achieve.”
Kate Smith
Chloe Richards: Employee Owner of the Year
I joined I-COM in January 2022 as a content marketing executive, and from pretty early on it felt like more than just a job. I came into a business that already had a strong sense of shared purpose, and I wanted to be part of building on that. Over time I grew my skills within the business, and started transitioning to a focus on email marketing, built our email marketing offering from the ground up, and found myself becoming more and more invested in what I-COM was as a business, not just what I did within it.
When a company-wide workshop reignited I-COM's focus on employee ownership and the trust board mentioned they were looking for another employee trustee, something clicked. I had always been involved in the social and cultural side of the agency, but this felt like a chance to do something more meaningful with that energy. So I ran a full internal election campaign, made promises to my colleagues about what I would do in the role, and won the vote. That accountability has shaped everything since.
As a trustee, the work has been varied and genuinely stretching. I host monthly drop-in sessions so colleagues have a clear, low-pressure route to raise ideas or concerns. After every board meeting, I share a written summary so the wider team understands what was discussed and why. I also introduced a visual tracker showing progress on repaying employee ownership shares, because I wanted people to be able to see in a concrete way how the business is moving forward. The business literacy side of things was a big learning curve for me. I came into the role from a content and email marketing background, so financial governance was not my comfort zone. But starting from scratch actually helped me communicate it more clearly to others who were in the same position.
Beyond the internal work, the Employee Ownership Community Catalyst event series has been one of the most rewarding parts of the past year. The series was Kate's idea, launched in partnership with Still We Grow, and I have been involved from the very beginning, speaking on the panel at our inaugural event and handling all of the communications and marketing for the series. Having honest conversations with EO-curious businesses about what the model actually looks like in practice is something I find genuinely energising, and every event sends me back to I-COM with new ideas and new connections.
"Chloe was always the natural choice for the EO representative role. She is proactive, determined and driven, with a force of personality that lets her break through barriers and get things done in a way that others can't match. Since taking on the role, she has unquestionably exceeded expectations, being a visible driver in the successful effort to make employee ownership an absolutely central part of I-COM's business identity. We've made massive progress in turning the promise of employee ownership into reality over the last couple of years, and I really don't think we'd have been able to do so without Chloe."
Jehan Ranasinghe, head of content at I-COM
"Being shortlisted for Employee Owner of the Year is something I genuinely couldn't have imagined when I first put my hand up to become a trustee. It means a lot to know that the work we've been doing to make EO feel real and relevant for our colleagues has been noticed. I-COM is such a special place to work, and I feel really proud to be representing it."
Chloe Richards
What It Means for I-COM
Having two names on the EOA shortlist in the same year is not something we take for granted. It reflects the work that has gone into making employee ownership a living, breathing part of how this agency operates, not just something that sits in the background.
The past 18 months in particular have seen a real shift at I-COM. Conversations about EO are more open, more informed, and more connected to everyday decisions than they have ever been. That does not happen by itself. It happens because people like Chloe and Kate show up for it, consistently, and bring others along with them.
We are proud of both of them, and we are proud of the business they are helping to build.
The EOA Awards take place in June, so watch this space!
