Meet the Candidates

The Co-op Board of Directors is made up of 12 volunteer Co-op members, including up to two employees.

This year we have five open seats (four 3-year seats and one 2-year seat) on the Co-op Board of Directors, and six* Co-op members who are seeking their opportunity to serve in those positions. There is only one seat available for an employee.*.

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
The impact the Co-op has on the broader community and on other cooperatives, and the impact the board has on safeguarding the Co-op's well being, including employee well being.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
Thetford Selectboard (Chair) and the Co-opts Board of Directors (President).

As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?
Through member linkage and by being a "community expert."

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?
Food price inflation. We can prepare for this impact through business diversification and a focus on a strong local economy.

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
I am very interested in learning more about Cooperatives and how they can grow to provide for the ever changing needs of its members and community.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
I have served on school, church and community boards to benefit the communities in which I lived for many years. I give my organizational skills, creativity and leadership skills to benefit community members.

As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?
As a board member you need to keep an open mind to many ways of thinking about how to accomplish things. Understanding a community’s demographics and values is important to be able to reach each of its members. I will listen with openness to all ideas to help form and guide the needs of the community.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?
Communication seems to be a hurdle for most organizations; both communication out to the members and coming from the members. As our world changes and governmental policies change we need to communicate to our members. Being clear with policies to benefit our members and communicate them effectively will help push our Coop forward in the changing world.

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
The Co-op Board is an opportunity to support our amazing Co-op with its governance and strategic vision. I have served on the Board for the last three years and my appreciation for our governance role and cooperative partnership with members and Coop staff has strengthened my commitment to Co-op principles and values. Joining the Co-op Board in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to really understand how our Co-op's 300+ employees were able to navigate all the changes required of them to keep our stores and service center open for business.

Co-op employees showed up and continued in their roles, day in and day out, with deep respect and kindness for members and shoppers. And their smiles which you could see with their eyes and welcoming presence was so helpful during this time of isolation. Their commitment and integrity as employees of the Co-op was and continues to be inspiring.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
I currently serve as a Co-op Board Member and would be honored to serve for another term. As a nonprofit executive director, most recently with WISE for the past 19 years, and serving on nonprofit boards, I understand and appreciate the role of Boards in supporting organizations with their short and long-term plans and ensuring effective governance and fiduciary oversight. I am a strategic thinker that embraces bold goals and initiatives through clear and pragmatic implementation.

My style is cooperative and encouraging. I value the unique ways people bring their strengths and lived experiences together so we can be an effective board and in service to our Coop and its goals and vision. I also understand how policy governance works having used it the last two years on the Coop board as well as with another nonprofit board. Policy governance is a specific style of governance that defines the roles and relationships between members, the Board of Directors and our Co-op General Manager.As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?

As a board member, my responsibility is to keep informed of the viewpoints of members, shoppers, employees, farmers, producers and the larger community in which our stores and services centers operate. As a Board member, I will remain curious and educated on the wants and needs are of our vibrant members and partners. Staying informed requires active interest and curiosity and a willingness to hear and read viewpoints wherever they are and whatever they are.

Through member comments and presentations at Board meetings, input from member linkage activities, reports from Co-op management and of course listening to people in the community as I go about my daily business. I will continue to listen and value the viewpoints and perspectives of my fellow board members that have unique perspectives as well. The Co-op Board continues to explore new ways to connect with Co-op employees while continuing to respect and honor policy governance expectations of our roles.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?
I continue to see the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years as continuing to well-compensate and appreciate employees to work for our Co-op. This means continuously understanding what employees want and need to work for the Co-op.

The second challenge is maintaining the Co-op's unique place and its cooperative business approach in our community. We are a successful and stable Co-op and maintaining and deepening our success is as critical as ever. We work differently than traditional for-profit grocery chains—this is our strength—and as it becomes even cooler to live and work in our Upper Valley, the more likelihood that larger regional and national for profit chains will want to establish themselves in our community.

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
As a local resident and Co-op customer, I feel strongly about supporting our local businesses. The ability to work with the other board members, GM, and employees to help ensure a strong future for the Co-op resonates with me. The continued influx of national franchises or big box retailers has a profound impact on our community, its culture, and our resident business owners. I would like to be a part of future growth and innovation at the Co-op.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
As a military spouse, I served on numerous boards, chaired many committees, and created or led many new initiatives in the military, youth, and educational sectors. My work included marketing, events and event planning, fundraising, capital campaigns, strategic planning, creation and execution of a new school, and a lengthy list of leadership positions in non-profit work.

My current role at Tuck focuses on supporting MBA candidates explore entrepreneurship, start and develop new ventures, and create impactful experiential learning opportunities.

I initiated a task force which looked at operational challenges and was a lead for one of the sub-committees. All recommendations to the deans were approved.

As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?
As a representative for our members, I believe listening is a first step. My role is not to translate my own ideas or suggestions into new policy. Rather, much like in our entrepreneurship teaching, we should start with customer discover. In order to represent, we need to speak, and listen, to our members. Our community is made up of long-time residents, students, recent "re-locaters" -- all of whom come from different backgrounds culturally and economically. How do we best serve our community across this spectrum?

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?
There is an obvious concern about inflation and increasing food prices. I would like to discover what are some of the additional challenges that we do not see from the customer side? Are there operational improvements which could reduce costs? If Dartmouth does indeed succeed in the massive growth in its undergraduate population, how will the Co-op manage that growing customer demographic? This could impact both the Hanover and Lyme Road locations. Do we have any strategic planning happening now? It appears there has been a divide amongst customers from the various COVID protocols. Has this impacted revenue or customer growth? How do bridge a divide? Do we need different or better ways of communicating with our members to reduce or close informational gaps?

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
I'm interested in serving on the Co-ops' Board of Directors to bring my skills and talent with operations, project management, finance and passion for food - particularly the Vermont and regional food supply chain to this Board. I'd be able to leverage my connection to a rich network of partners within that supply chain in order to assist with advancing the goals of the Co-op Food stores, regionally and nationally. I was thrilled to get an email relaying interest in my perspective and knowledge.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
I currently serve on The Intervale Center Board, and the University of Vermont College of Life Science and Agriculture's Advisory Board. I've served on a variety of different Boards, including NOFA-VT, Nordic Soccer, the VT YWCA chapter, Vermont Women's Fund Council, the Vermont Land Trust, and the Real Organic Project. In my professional career, I supported the governing Board for the Working Lands Enterprise Fund for four years. I focus on process systems improvements and governance ecosystems in my Board work.

As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?
I have enjoyed a professional career that includes over (25) years of grocery retail, 4 years in public sector/government and most recently the non-profit sector. My part-time career is within higher education: l also work as a part-time Dance Lecturer at the University of Vermont. Teaching, coaching and learning are at the center of how I approach my volunteer time. Sharing knowledge and information is critical as is the tenacity I employ to learn about different systems.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?

The Co-op Food stores have scaled and are a marvelous example of coop retail excellence. In order to keep capacity and be a support to the community, it’s important to address the workforce and business viability issues that persist for food and farm producers who are vendors and customers to the Co-ops. We also know the pandemic has shifted the ways eaters shop and that the shopping experience augments of wider aisles, sanitation practices and curbside pick-up likely will not go away. What are the emerging innovations to come in the next 5-10 years for brick and mortar? The Co-op will need to be nimble with preserving its decade long magic and leaning into persisting change and trends; including online aisles to compete with. Sharing best practices with coops of all sizes, ensuring the Board has diverse perspective, talent & skills, listening/responding to your membership and investing in the professional development and mental well-being of the staff are just a few ways to prepare.

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CANDIDATE Q&A

What interests you about serving on the Co-op's Board of Directors?
I have so much faith in the Co-op and how the organization is run. There is so much good that goes on with the Co-op and I truly believe that having an employee on the board would be a huge asset because it would be someone who knows the day to day workings.

Please describe any experience or skills you may have serving on a board, committee or community group.
I have spent my time as a lifelong Girl Scout. I have helped work with people of all different backgrounds because of the organization and truly believe that these connections and experiences have been influence in the person I am today. I have also spent the past 6 years involved in high education, working on my bachelor’s degree as well as part of a masters.

As a board member, how will you represent the diverse viewpoints of the membership in determining the future of the Co-op?
I believe that my time as a girl scout was able to provide me with prospective on other viewpoints. I worked with people of diverse background who came from communities outside of my own. I yew up in a very small community in Connecticut that was predominantly upper middle class. When I joined the Girl Scouts it allowed me to meet people who were not upper middle class, but who also did not have the same background. This continued thru my education at college, where I made friends from rural middle America, as we as those who were from Vermont. I since have fallen in love with the area and the people who inhabit them.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Co-op in the coming years and how can we prepare for them?
I believe that an aging work force is going to be a large issue for the Co-op. This area of Vermont and New Hampshire has had an large population growth, however many of these people are working for the larger organizations like Dartmouth, even though the Co-op is a comparable employee in the way of wages and offers much better benefits. I think that we are going to have to start looking at other ways to encourage young people to come to the Upper Valley and work for the Co-op.

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Additional Links

Voting Info
About Our Board
Board Meetings
Annual Meeting


*NOTES: Two candidates ( David McNally and Cathleen Dennison) have withdrawn their candidacy since the voting postcard was mailed. We now have six members running. The HCCS Board of Directors has two employee seats and one is already occupied by Lindsay Smith, Employee.