This week, Scipi celebrates two milestones: 67 years in business and 51 years of employee ownership.
Every anniversary is an opportunity to look back, but this one is especially meaningful. It gives us the chance to reflect not only on where we’ve been, but on the decisions that shaped who we are today.
Few decisions have had a greater impact than the one made in 1975.
The Foundation
SCIPI’s story began in 1959 when Ken Gross and Earl Buttweiler each invested $500 to start St. Cloud Industrial Products, Inc. Together, they built a company grounded in hard work, strong relationships and a commitment to serving customers throughout Central Minnesota.
Over the next 16 years, the business continued to evolve. New opportunities emerged, the company diversified, and a strong foundation was established for future growth. What began as a small business was becoming something worth preserving.
A Defining Decision
In 1975, that future faced an important turning point.
As shareholder Irv Lund prepared to retire, company leadership needed to determine what came next. Rather than selling the business outside the organization, Scipi established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to finance the ownership transition. The decision allowed the company to remain independent while creating an opportunity for employees to share in the future they would help build.
The timing was significant.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) had established the legal framework for ESOPs less than one year earlier, making SCIPI one of Minnesota’s earliest companies to adopt employee ownership. While few organizations had embraced the model, Scipi saw its potential—not as a financial transaction, but as a way to preserve the company for the long term.
Retired Scipi CEO, Don Schiffler, who documented much of Scipi’s history, perhaps said it best:
“Irv’s trust and Ken’s foresight created our future as an on-going entity.”
The ESOP provided a path for ownership to change hands without changing the company’s direction. Fifty years later, that decision continues to shape SCIPI and the opportunities shared by every employee-owner.
More Than a Business Structure
An ESOP is often described as an employee benefit or retirement plan. At Scipi, it has become much more than that.
Employee ownership reinforces the idea that every employee-owner contributes to something larger than their individual role. It encourages long-term thinking, shared accountability and a commitment to making decisions that strengthen the company for future generations.
Our mission—Making a difference in the lives we touch—takes on even greater meaning through employee ownership. The success we create isn’t measured only by the customers we serve or the communities we support. It’s also reflected in the opportunities we create for one another as employee-owners.
Growing Together
The years following 1975 have brought tremendous growth.
Scipi expanded into new industries, welcomed new companies into the family and continued investing in the future. In 2014, the company became 100 percent employee-owned, further strengthening the ownership philosophy that had guided it for nearly four decades.
In 2025, the organization rebranded as Scipi Companies, reflecting the evolution from a single business into an employee-owned family of companies that today includes North Central Bus, North Central Upfitting, Sunburst Memorials, Parts Midwest Inc. and Vehicle Personalization of Canada.
Through every chapter, one thing has remained consistent: the belief that the company’s greatest strength has always been its people.
Looking Ahead
When Ken Gross and Earl Buttweiler started the company in 1959, they couldn’t have imagined everything that would follow. Likewise, the leaders who established the ESOP in 1975 couldn’t have known exactly what the next 51 years would bring. What they did know was that they wanted to build something that would last.
Today, every employee-owner is part of that legacy.
As we celebrate 67 years of business and 51 years of employee ownership, we also celebrate the thousands of decisions—large and small—that have brought us here. The work we do today continues a story that began in 1959, was forever changed in 1975, and is still being written by every employee-owner across Scipi Companies.
