KOR moves to employee ownership
KOR moves to employee ownership
After 20 years of growth as the leading communications consultants to Britain's landed estates, KOR Communications is embarking on a new chapter as it becomes employee owned.
The milestone comes in KOR's 20th anniversary year, with all employees becoming owners on 31 July 2026.
Since Annette Richman and Guy Newman founded the business in 2006, KOR has advised clients through a media and political landscape transformed by the rise of social media, self-publishing and now artificial intelligence.
The move to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) is the result of four years of careful succession planning, designed to secure a sustainable long-term future for the business, the team and KOR's continued commitment to its clients.
To coincide with this new chapter, KOR is strengthening its leadership team, with the appointment of Grace Gladding and Jake Newman as directors. Grace becomes Managing Director Designate and will work closely with Annette before taking on the role in Summer 2027.
Annette and Guy will remain integral to the business, which will be overseen by a Board of Trustees including two members of staff and an independent trustee.
Speaking of the announcement, Managing Director Annette Richman said:
"When Guy and I founded KOR in 2006, we set out to build a consultancy based on trust, specialist knowledge and long-term relationships. Twenty years on, those principles are shared by every member of the team, so passing ownership to the people who live them every day felt like the natural next step.
Many of our clients are custodians of land and businesses that have passed through generations, and they understand better than anyone the value of planning for the long term. Employee ownership secures KOR's independence, rewards the people who have built the business and gives our clients confidence that the team they trust will be advising them for decades to come."
The team came together on 31 July to mark the moment, captured in the photographs below.
