VHV COMPANY
Year Founded: 1949
Years of Employee Ownership: 100% ESOP since 2017
Headquarters: Winooski, VT
Number of Employees: 170+
Line of Business: HVAC, plumbing, and refrigeration services
After being a privately held company since 1949, VHV (Vermont Heating and Ventilating Company) became a 100% employee-owned company in early 2017 with the establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Today, VHV's employee-owners contribute to the progress and plan for the company together at its Annual Employee-Owner Meeting.
“This transaction will give employees a financial interest in the future success of the business,” VHV President David Brown said following the ownership succession in 2017. “After 20 years of ownership, I decided it was time to sell all my stock to the people who I trust and value the most: the employees. People are the core of our business and it is extremely important to reward them for their passion, loyalty, and most importantly, their competence. I’m excited to take our already strong culture to the next level by instilling an ownership mentality that connects employees’ everyday work to a higher purpose. I hope my grandfather, who started the business in 1949, is looking down and smiling.”
Brown's grandfather Nathan Brown started VHV in 1949 out of his garage in Burlington.
Today, VHV's team comprises more than 170 employee owners, from dedicated technicians to estimators, installers, and field operators.
In 2019, VHV provided conditioning installation services for The Alchemist Brewery facility in Stowe.
Dick Wilcox, VHV vice president, said "reflecting back on this project, VHV's involvement was a great asset to the whole team to get experience in the brewhouse process, and to get experience in the HVAC."
John Kimmich, co-owner and head brewer of The Alchemist, said the brewery has "a lot of special needs ... with a building of this size, with the nature of our business where we're boiling and creating steam and using a lot of energy." Noting the risks involved under those conditions, Kimmich added: "We have to have a properly controlled climate in here."
In 2021, VHV provided conditioning services for Darn Tough's 50,000 square-foot sock manufacturing plant--featured below--in Waterbury, VT.
