Buxton got his start in business at a very young age, taking over his fathers struggling Neon Sign business in Long Beach, California and building it into a viable small company. However, local economic conditions and insufficient working capital led to a radical downsizing of this business and an eventual liquidation to pay employees and creditors.
After military service, to get the GI Bill and determine a different career direction, Buxton worked his way through college marketing business life insurance to small companies. This led to a position in management with a major life insurance company and then the creation of three financial planning organizations in Oregon and Northern California. He recruited, trained and mentored hundreds of estate, compensation, investment and financial planners.
In 1973 a board membership relationship with the creator of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan concept, Louis O. Kelso, ultimately led to Private Capital Corporation, a company co founded by Buxton and a partner in 1976, acquiring the Kelso Company in 1978.
Four years later Kelso & Co had offices in five cities, a private equity fund and a need for more working capital. Buxton sold his interest in the Kelso Company in 1982 to new investors. He then concentrated on building Private Capital Corporation into a national organization specializing in comprehensive perpetuation, exit strategy planning and funding. Buxton and a partner formed a private equity group in 1987, MBR Investment Associates.
Associates and Affiliates of Private Capital Corporation have designed and installed over 1,000 Employee/Management Stock Ownership Plans in the past 30 years. They are among the nations most experienced professionals in this unique field.
In 1978, Buxton co-founded the ESOP Association of America, which currently has 2,600 members employing millions of people who are beneficiaries of Employee Stock Ownership Plans. He is on the Advisory Board of Student?s Rising Above and Pro.Attudes, a division of The Center For Attitudinal Healing. He is also active with the Institute of Noetic Sciences, The American College and Society of Financial Service Professionals.
He maintains client relationships with a number of PCC client companies and has authored numerous articles on broadened ownership. He has also written two books, "You've Built a Successful Business, Now What? - A guide to perpetuation planning" and, "Lessons in Leadership and Life - Secrets of Eleven Wise Men".
These books describe how stockholders of private companies can get personal liquidity; increase company working capital; perpetuate their companies and create a partnering culture.
Academy Articles by Dickson Buxton:
• ESOP: A Four-Letter Word? Liquidity and Perpetuation: Pros and Cons
• Paul N. Temple, part 1
• Paul N. Temple, part 2