Founded by Dr. Terry Brewer in 1981, Brewer Science has made a name for itself for both its developments as well as its community-based approach.

Led by Dr. Brewer, Brewer Science is a worldwide leader in creating advanced materials and equipment for smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, televisions, LED lighting and printed electronics; Dr. Brewer’s discovery of anti-reflective coatings is credited with changing the global microelectronics industry, leading the way to today’s electronic devices.

But there is another side to Brewer Science. Dr. Brewer is a strong believer in community. For example, Brewer Science hosts local concerts, art exhibits and more. 

That attitude is also found in the workplace; the company is a recipient of Top Workplace honors from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, receiving that prestigious honor in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

With an eye on the company’s future, Dr. Brewer wants to keep the company private. The Brewer family took a major step by gifting Brewer Science employees 33% of the shares in the holding company that owns Brewer Science.

Alan Gerson, chief legal officer of Brewer Science, has been with the company for 11 years and was its outside counsel for 25 years before that. He noted that Brewer Science is a unique company, with Dr. Brewer as its leader.

“Terry is a very unique entrepreneur who is more concerned with making our world a better place to live,” Gerson noted. “His goal has always been to create a disruptive technology that will make the world a better place to live in. He created anti-reflective coating, materials that go on computer chips but don’t stay on them, enabling them to function smoother, faster and cheaper. A large part of the semiconductor and devices industries owe Terry a great debt. It’s a very special company to be a part of.”

Gerson added that even after the transaction, Dr. Brewer continues to lead his company.

“Terry is the still the CEO,” Gerson said. “He is very active in the company, and he has no intention of retiring.”

Over the years, Dr. Brewer has turned down numerous offers to sell Brewer Science Creating an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), which went into effect Jan. 1, 2020, is a significant move to keep Brewer Science private. ESOPs are only for US-based employees, but Brewer Science is working on a mirror plan so that its employees outside the US will receive a similar benefit.

“Terry was looking for a way to keep the company private,” said Gerson. “He has had many offers to sell the company. He felt one of the ways that would keep it private moving forward was to give the employees part of the ownership of the company – that was the rationale behind the ESOP we created earlier this year. He and members of his family still own a majority of the company.”

“Unlike other ESOPs where the founder sells the company to the ESOP, the company is not being paid anything,” Gerson said. “It is a gift from the Brewer family. That’s the kind of person Terry Brewer is.”