RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesBonnie Stewart, a longtime ISC employee, shortly after finding out about her payout. KKR
Workers at ISC got a big payout when KKR sold the company, with one worker receiving $413,000.
The payouts are part of a broader KKR initiative to spread employee ownership across private equity.
We spoke to three workers about the experience and how they were spending their windfall.
In his 12 years on the job, Justin Berk, a 44-year-old product manager at an insurance-tech company, had seen his employer get bought and sold twice. All he had received in return was a "pat on the back" at a company meeting.
"A pat on the back is nice, but it doesn't pay the bills," he said.
When KKR sold his company, Integrated Specialty Coverages, to Onex Partners, the company meeting was much more significant: Berk received 30 months of his salary as a cash bonus as part of a KKR initiative to share its private equity profits with workers at its portfolio companies.
Berk and other long-tenured employees, like Bonnie Stewart, the director of operations for ISC subsidiary Gaslamp Insurance Services, received 30 months of their salaries. The payouts were announced at a September 18 meeting in San Diego's iconic Hotel Del Coronado, following a Champagne toast in celebration of the sale, in which KKR said it delivered a 2.5 return.
Stewart said that if she could "bottle up the feeling" of receiving that windfall, she "wouldn't sell it." The change in mindset that came with the program, starting at the foundational level of renaming "employees" as "owners," and the hard work that led to the profitable sale, were worth even more.
"I don't think Travis Kelce would sell the feeling of winning a Super Bowl," Stewart said. "He earned that. His team earned that."
ISC employees celebrate their payout at the Hotel Del Coronado. KKR
In total, KKR paid nearly 400 ISC employees between 3 and 30 months of their salary after closing the sale. Payouts were based on when workers joined the company, and ranged from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum payout of more than $413,000. The average payout for workers who joined in 2025 was $24,500.
It is part of a KKR initiative that's helped profit-sharing gain steam across the industry . KKR has exited 15 of the 91 companies it has programs with, delivering $2 billion to more than 40,000 employees.
These employees don't receive actual shares when KKR buys a company; instead, a portion of the company's equity is earmarked for them. Their potential payout, just like KKR's, is based on the return it gets on that initial investment.
We spoke to three ISC employees, who told us that the money was life-changing, allowing two to save up for a down payment in a pricey Southern California housing market.
Justin Berk and his wife went on vacation in Laguna Beach shortly after his big payday. Justin Berk
Berk took his two daughters, 12 and 10, to Maui, Hawaii, for the first time last year, a vacation that wasn't possible before. He's also no longer wincing at fees for club sports.
"It's easier now to say yes to more meaningful family choices," Berk said.
The cash
Payouts were made when the deal closed on November 24 of last year, and were based on the employee's current salary and tenure at the company.
Stewart, who started at the company 19 years ago, was among the employees who received the highest monthly payout. She has two younger kids and said the money is "very impactful" on her family, allowing her to think about creating wealth for her children . It's expensive to live in Southern California, and it can be hard to save.
"It gave us that new opportunity to look at investments that we might not necessarily know of before," Stewart said. KKR provided free financial advisors to employee owners as part of the deal. Stewart and her colleagues even asked executives how they managed their money to learn how to handle their coming windfall.
Year they joined ISC Payout 2025 Greater of 3 months or $10,000 2024 Greater of 6 months or $25,000 2023 Greater of 9 months or $35,000 2022 Greater of 12 months or $45,000 Sept 2015 - 2021 Greater of 15 months or $70,000 Before September 2015 (More than 10 years of tenure) Greater of 30 months or $115,000 Trevor Sybert, a 49-year-old underwriter who joined the company in 2020, had scheduled a work trip to South Carolina, so he watched the meeting over Zoom in an airport alongside another executive. He was "bummed" to miss the event live, but most importantly, he was going to get 15 months' pay.
Right now, he said, the money is sitting in a high-yield savings account, but he plans to use it as a down payment on a condo, as he and his wife divorced and sold their house.
Trevor Sybert is saving up for a down payment on a condo. Trevor Sybert
He's feeling real "financial freedom," he said, and plans to be conservative with his spending. Sybert said his financial advisor also helped him set up his financial future following his divorce. The first step was growing the size of his emergency fund.
For Berk, the money means that he can do more things with his family. But most importantly, it means that his family can have a home of their own.
"Saving up for a down payment out here is almost impossible unless you're an executive at a company," Berk said. "Now, I have a nice cushion that will become a down payment on a house."
The change
When KKR bought the company in 2021, Sybert instantly saw the appeal of the ownership program: "We are going to make some money if the business does well," he said.
Sybert said he learned more about business than ever before — "This is the first time I've ever heard of EBITDA," he said — attending quarterly owners' meetings that got deep into the details on ISC's performance.
KKR has built and iterated on an in-house playbook for these investments, which it has now helped export to other industry leaders, such as Apollo, through the nonprofit Ownership Works. Blackstone, which is not part of the initiative but h...
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