We’re excited to share the speakers for our 2021 Union Co-op Symposium, scheduled for Nov. 12 and 13. Below is the full list (in alphabetical order) with bios.
Ana Aguirre is a co-founder and worker owner at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop, cooperative development Lead at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop, Vice President for Europe in the ICA Youth Network and Committee, and Chief Operating Officer of the Platform Cooperatives NOW! Course by The New School and Mondragon Unibertsitatea.
Kenya Baker was born in Detroit, Michigan and moved to Dayton during her childhood. She worked as a teacher in Dayton public schools for fifteen years. Kenya is also a serial entrepreneur and author of several children’s books. In 2017, she was inspired by the Gem City Market project to join the cooperative movement. She believes in the power of community and worker ownership to transform Dayton’s neighborhoods and residents’ lives, and she works to get people involved in Unified Power, a real estate investment cooperative and community land trust by and for West Dayton. Kenya received her Master’s of Education from the University of Dayton and her BS from Wilberforce University.
Kristen Barker is a social entrepreneur, the President and Co-Founder of Co-op Cincy, and a Co-Founder of 1worker1vote. She designs and leads participatory education events with English- and Spanish-speaking co-op workers, and helps worker-owners make their businesses more successful. Kristen also helps Co-op Cincy’s design team determine the feasibility of potential co-op businesses, helps retiring business owners determine whether they can sell their business to their employees, and helps viable co-ops access the capital they need to leverage their ideas. Kristen has done groundbreaking work in adopting the Mondragon model to the US context and hosts delegations from around the country, including the participants in Co-op Cincy’s biennial Union Co-op Symposium. Kristen is a 2016-2018 Business Alliance for Local and Living Economies Fellow. Before becoming Co-op Cincy’s Executive Director, Kristen worked for 12 years fostering partnerships between people of faith, union members, and community members of diverse backgrounds. Kristen is a graduate of Xavier University and a lifelong Cincinnati resident—except for two years in El Salvador! She is a single mother of a resilient daughter with special needs.
Christopher Bennett is an entrepreneur focused on creating transformational wealth and change through business equity and acquisitions. He currently serves as the Business Legacy Fund Acquisition Program Manager for Co-op Cincy and is responsible for the strategic development, management, and execution of the program. Prior to joining Co-op Cincy, Chris created value across numerous for-profit and non-profit roles spanning marketing, sales, business development, curriculum development, corporate strategy, and internal audits. Chris has an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College (a HBCU) as well as Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Management Information Systems degrees from the University of Alabama.
Alex Birchall is a Founding Member of Union Co-ops UK.
Alex Bird is a freelance co-operative researcher and policy adviser, and a founder member of the consultancy.coop. He is a Member of the Institute of Economic Development and works on their Code of Practice. He started his working life as a nuclear power engineer, and his experience since then is wide-ranging, covering nationalized industry, the public sector, the third sector, and the co-op movement. He is an experienced and committed worker co-operator, having founded three worker co-ops and earned his living through them for almost 30 years, and he has led a practitioner study group to look at credit unions in Ireland. He has been a Board Member of many co-op development agencies, including Wales Cooperative Centre, Cardiff & Vale CDA, Co-operatives UK, Social Firms UK, Social Firms Wales, the UK Cooperative Forum, and the Welsh Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Social Enterprise. He was the founder and Secretariat of the Welsh Assembly’s Cross-Party Group on Cooperatives from 2009 to 2015 and was a founder and subsequently Chair of Cooperatives and Mutuals Wales (the affiliate of Co-operatives UK in Wales). During this time, he twice brought together the Co-operative Cross-Party Groups in the UK’s three devolved Parliaments. He has co-authored a number of research papers, including “Not Alone” and “Working Together,” published by Co-operatives UK and the Co-operative College, and “Organising Precarious Workers” for the TUC. He is also a co-author of the “Manifesto for Decent Work” published by unioncoops:uk. Alex is currently the Chair of Banc Cambria, which is developing a co-operative bank for Wales with the support of the Welsh Government, Community Savings Bank Association, and the RSA; and he sits on the Members Panel of Glas Cymru, the not-for-profit mutual that supplies Welsh Water.
Eric Britton is a Partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. Eric has more than 30 years’ experience handling all aspects of employee benefits, executive compensation, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and tax compliance for both large and small clients.
Christina Clamp is a professor of sociology at Southern New Hampshire University and is the Director of the Center for Cooperatives and Community Economic Development. Dr. Clamp serves as Chair of the Board of the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, Vice-Chair of the Board of the Food Cooperative Initiative, and Board Member of the ICA Group and Fund for Jobs Worth Owning. She is a member of the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission on Social and Cooperative Economy. Dr. Clamp has served as a consultant to various clients including the National Cooperative Bank, US Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Greater New Orleans Foundation, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations, and Mondragon University in Spain. She has provided training, research and consulting in the areas of (a) community economic development and capacity building and (b) cooperative education and development. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Friends World College and her Master of Arts in Sociology and Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from Boston College, where she studied worker cooperatives and employee ownership, conducting research on the Mondragon Cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. She is Co-Author of Shared Services Cooperatives: A Qualitative Study: Exploring Applications, Benefits & Potential with Eklou Romaric Amendah and Carol Coren, and Honoring the Circle: Ongoing Learning from American Indians on Politics and Society, Volume III with Stephen M. Sachs, Donna K. Dial, Amy Fatzinger, and Phyllis M. Gagnier.
Pat Conaty is a Founding Member of Union Co-ops UK and a Fellow of New Economics Foundation and has worked with NEF since 1987. He is also a research associate of Co-operatives UK. He specializes in action research, education, and development that focuses on successful methods of social economic innovation. During the 1990s, he led work at NEF to introduce Community Development Finance and other forms of co-operative and mutual banking to the UK. From 2000 to 2010 as a research associate of Community Finance Solutions at the University of Salford, he played a leading role in researching and developing Community Land Trusts nationally. This led to the successful development of the Community Land Trust Fund and the National CLT Network trade body.
Chris Cooper is the Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) at Kent State University. In his 20-plus years at the OEOC, he has done almost everything at one point or another, but he now focuses primarily on ownership culture education and coordinating Ohio’s Employee-Owned Network; working with business owners on succession planning and sales to employees; and business development and employee-owned start-ups. He was formerly a contributor on the COSE Mindspring website (an online resource for small businesses in NE Ohio), the Small Business Advocacy Blog of the Small Business Advocacy Council in Chicago, and Slate.com’s BizBox small business blog. In 2010, Chris was designated a Certified Exit Planning Advisor by the Exit Planning Institute. Chris is also active in various training programs on employee ownership, including annual Employee Owner Retreats and the annual Ohio Employee Ownership Conference, and has been a featured speaker at conferences and programs across the US as well as Bermuda, Canada, and Wales. He has conducted numerous in-company training programs, and has been involved in creating and improving OEOC training programs and materials. He oversees the OEOC's efforts in new media and technology, including video, podcasting, social media, and the OEOC website. Prior to joining the Center, he spent over 15 years working in various capacities in small, family-owned, and closely-held businesses in the hospitality and foodservice industries. He was a substitute teacher with the Kent City Schools. He worked at SEIU Local 47 in Cleveland, Ohio. And he is a graduate of Kent State’s Political Science program.
Brian Corbin is Executive Vice President, Member Services at Catholic Charities USA.
Ra Criscitiello, Esq. is Deputy Director of Research at SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West in Oakland, California, a labor union of nearly 100,000 healthcare workers. SEIU-UHW members are frontline caregivers (including respiratory care practitioners and dietary, environmental services, and nursing staff) who aim to improve the healthcare system by providing quality care for all patients; expanding access to excellent, affordable healthcare for all Californians; and improving living standards for all workers. Ra’s work focuses on the intersection of organized labor and worker cooperatives, and she has built several innovative employment models that collectivize the employment status of unionized healthcare workers on scale. Ra’s work developing unionized platform cooperatives for healthcare workers demonstrates the possibility of a post-pandemic economic recovery that centers workers and allows flexibility without compromising traditional union values or worker control.
Joseph Cureton is the Chief Coordinating Officer at the Obran Cooperative (the first worker-owned conglomerate), where his work focuses on bringing new worker directed enterprises to life. He is a serial entrepreneur and founding member of Core Staffing, Bmore Black Techies, and Tribe Works, all projects that fight to overcome the challenges faced by modern workers. He is also a software engineer (Drexel University) and classically trained chef (Johnson and Wales) by trade.
Matthew Currie is a Managing Attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, a non-profit regional law firm that provides high-quality legal assistance in civil matters to help eligible low-income individuals and groups in western Ohio achieve self-reliance, equal justice and economic opportunity. He oversees the firm’s Housing and Community Economic Development practice. Matthew’s practice has focused on representing tenants and tenant associations in a variety of housing matters, including fair housing, equal access, evictions, subsidy terminations, and conditions issues. More recently, his practice focuses on supporting Dayton neighborhood revitalization and community resilience. He is a co-founder and Board president of Co-op Dayton, which develops worker-owned cooperatives that leverage community assets and contribute to an economy that works for all. Matthew advises neighborhood associations and community organizations on environmental matters, such as source water drinking protections, impacts of industrial contamination, and the EPA's Superfund program. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law, where he teaches the Social Justice Law Capstone, a course he developed. Matthew has litigated cases in the U.S District Court for the Southern and Northern Districts of Ohio, and he has argued an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Matthew is a frequent presenter, including as faculty for the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law Community Lawyering Training.
Gopal Dayaneni is a Board Member of Seed Commons.
Elizabeth Garlow is a Co-Founder of Francesco Collaborative.
Lauren Grattan is Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer of Mission Driven Finance Lauren's background in nonprofit development made her eager to activate more capital for social change, leading her to co-found Mission Driven Finance, an impact investment firm and Certified B Corporation that develops strategies to close financial gaps that will close opportunity gaps. As Chief Community Officer, she leads the design of community-driven strategy, providing a frame for both internal culture & partner relationships. Lauren's blended heritage—Irish, Chinese, and Native Hawaiian—informs her approach to reconnecting capital and community. Prior to building Mission Driven Finance, she spent nearly 10 years fundraising for a wide variety of nonprofits—from large universities to small, volunteer-run initiatives. Lauren proudly serves on the steering committee of the Inclusive Capital Collective and on the board of Business for Good San Diego. She is a 2019 Social Venture Circle Innovation Entrepreneur and an active member of many philanthropic initiatives. Lauren is an alumna of Punahou School in Honolulu and Columbia University in the City of New York.
Katy Heins is a Senior Organizer at Community Change as part of the Housing Justice team, lending organizing expertise to local and state campaigns. Katy’s main role is to organize with state partners to develop statewide power organizations that fight for housing justice. Previously she worked on Community Change’s national health care, immigrant rights, and jobs campaigns, as well as being instrumental in developing the Community Change state partner, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. Before joining Community Change, Katy was the Executive Director of the Contact Center in Cincinnati, whose mission is to empower low-income people, primarily women, to organize for power in their communities and their lives. Katy also was the lead organizer for Let Justice Roll, which was the faith and volunteer component of the successful effort to raise Ohio’s minimum wage and the national minimum wage. Katy has been organizing for thirty years and is based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rosemarie Rieger is the Co-founder and Co-director of the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development in Nashville, Tennessee. Rosemarie is a community organizer, author, and lecturer. She has been involved with worker rights advocacy as the Community Engagement Coordinator with the Dallas AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and Director of Texas New ERA Center/Jobs with Justice. Before working in nonprofit and cooperative development, Rosemarie worked in biotech research for many years and was a Montessori educator. She holds an M.S. degree from Eberhard Karls University (Germany) and an M.Ed. degree from Loyola University Maryland.
John Holdsclaw IV serves as Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the National Cooperative Bank (NCB). John is charged with establishing NCB as a thought leader in community development finance and in cooperative expansion that leads to business development and solutions. In addition, John manages the Bank’s philanthropic outreach and government relations program. NCB’s mission is to support and be an advocate for America’s cooperatives and their members, especially in low-income communities, by providing innovative financial and related services. He currently serves on the boards of the Community Development Financial Institution Coalition, Self Help Venture Fund, Climb Fund, Global Communities, Groundswell, Partner for Common Good, American Bankers Association (ABA) Stonier Graduate School of Banking, and ABA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group. He holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from North Carolina A&T State University, a M.S. in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University, a Diploma from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, a Wharton Leadership Certificate from the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at The Wharton School, and a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. In 2019, John received NCB's Stanley W. Dreyer Spirit of Cooperation Award, bestowed annually to those who live and work with the spirit of the cooperative principles. In addition, John is an active member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.
Tim Huet is a Founder of the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives, a cooperative composed of nine member businesses: six bakeries, a landscape design-build cooperative, a general contractor, and a technical support collective. As part of the Association’s Development & Support Cooperative, he participates in everything from writing business plans to training workers in the daily details of democratic business management. He also serves as in-house legal counsel. He lives in a housing cooperative in Oakland, California. His father was a member of Iron Workers Local 1. There are mostly Teamsters on his mother's side (his maternal grandmother was a steel worker, following in Rosie's footsteps).
Chandra Irvin is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace and Spiritual Renewal at Spalding University. There, she leads the University and external organizations in developing and applying restorative and spiritual practices that promote racial equity and healing in individual and community relations. As a minister, facilitator, strategist, and master consultant in Polarity Management, she cultivates understanding and respect for shared humanity, deep listening, and collective action towards peace and justice. For over 20 years, Chandra has served as President of Irvin, Goforth & Irvin LLC, helping individuals and organizations across the U.S. and abroad to clarify their purpose, surmount chronic difficulties, resolve conflicts, and build meaningful relations across diverse groups. As a Fielding Lewis Walker Fellow, her life and work frequently draw on the transformative and timeless wisdom of mystic, theologian, prophet and community builder Howard Thurman. She is an ICF-certified life coach who has written and contributed to several books and articles related to peace, human relations, and leveraging polarities for greater good. Chandra is the co-author of Do You See What I See? A Diversity Tale for Retaining People of Color. She is the author of Finding PEACE in Life, Work and Love: Listening to the Voice Within and a chapter in Lessons in Leadership called, “Do Something! Committing to Wholeness in Human Relations.” Her most recent publication (2021) is a chapter in And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume 2 called, “Contributing to a Just and Equitable World: Why is it So Hard?”
Babbie Jacobs is Community Capital Working Group Chair of Social Venture Circle.
Mona M. Jenkins is an educator and organizer who graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where she studied Educational Foundations for Social Change. She actively works with community members to address neighborhood-specific issues related to health, gender, housing, and education. In collaborating with leaders and individuals in their neighborhoods, Mona seeks to build engagement, empowerment, and sustainable community solutions. As the Cooperative Food Justice Coordinator for Co-op Cincy, Mona works with residents to address food insecurity in their neighborhoods through equitable, community-centered approaches. Mona is also the Co-Founder of Queen Mother’s Market Cooperative, a worker and community-owned grocery store that will be opening in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Walnut Hills. Mona enjoys gardening, traveling, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.
Robert Killins is Director of Special Initiatives at Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF), where he attracts and stewards donors. He also supports GCF’s Private Foundations work. Robert manages GCF’s Impact Investment program, which has invested more than $25 million locally in nonprofits in the last decade. He currently leads GCF’s Affordable Housing initiatives and the Foundation’s efforts to attract more Black donors. He has 23 years of foundation experience including corporate, private, and community foundation work. He joined GCF in January 2010 after a 24-year career at The Procter & Gamble Company. Robert has significant non-profit experience as a volunteer, founder, board member, and board chair of several Cincinnati-based nonprofit organizations. He has an Economic Development Finance Professional Certification from the National Development Council and Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation from The American College of Financial Services. He is a graduate of Leadership Cincinnati (Class XXIII in 2000) and of Grambling State University (Louisiana) with a B.A. in French. While at Grambling, Robert twice studied in France. Robert will graduate with an MBA from Xavier University. He is married and has three adult children. He resides in the West End community in Cincinnati.
Lela Klein is Co-Executive Director at Co-op Dayton. A native Daytonian, Lela’s career has been dedicated to fighting for economic justice for working people. Prior to co-founding Co-op Dayton, she served as General Counsel to the IUE-CWA, a 45,000-member manufacturing union, where she led major strategic projects, advocated on behalf of workers, and created a mentorship program to foster leadership among young manufacturing employees. Lela was also an organizer, and later an atorney, with the Service Employees International Union. After witnessing the devastating impacts of the global recession on blue collar communities like her own, Lela returned to Dayton in 2012 to use her legal and organizing training to support community economic development and worker empowerment in her hometown. Lela received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA from Cornell University.
Joe Logan is President of Ohio Farmers Union.
Rebecca Lurie is currently on faculty with the Urban Studies Department and the founder of the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the City University of NY School for Labor and Urban Studies. She was a founding member of the worker-owned cooperative, New Deal Home Improvement Company and City Roots Contractors Guild. She began her working career as a union carpenter and transitioned into worker education through the union’s apprenticeship program and the construction industry. Using a sector approach for understanding industries and businesses and their employment needs, she has remained dedicated to inclusive community economic development. Rebecca has collaborated on numerous initiatives in NYC, including pre-apprenticeship programs, a Bronx green jobs network, a kitchen business incubator and the design of Best for NYC. She serves on the Boards of the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative and Democracy at Work Institute and the Executive Committee of the Union Coop Council/US Federation of Worker Coops. She is Trustee Emerita with the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. She holds a Master’s in Organizational Change Management from The New School and a certificate in Adult Occupational Education from CUNY, and is certified in Permaculture Urban Design. She is a native New Yorker raised with the spirit and passion of dedication to social justice.
Dr. Anita Mangan is Senior Lecturer in Organization Studies in the School of Management, University of Bristol, UK. An interest in social justice and mutual self-help drives her research, which focuses on co-operatives, credit unions, and union co-ops. One of her key concerns is the invisibility of co-operatives – in the media, in business education and in policy debates. To this end, she has recently developed a new postgraduate module for business students called Alternative Work and Organizations that focuses on co-operative development. She is a member of the University and College Union and a founder member of Union-Coops UK, as well as being an active member of her local credit union and several co-operatives.
Julian Manley is a researcher at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. He has many years of contact with the co-operatives in Mondragon in the Basque Country, where he has carried out research and offered consultancy and training. In Preston, he is a founder member of the Preston Cooperative Development Network and a founder member and Director of the Preston Cooperative Education Centre, the UK’s first union-coop. He has presented talks and seminars on the Preston Model nationally and internationally, and has published widely, including co-editing, with Phil Whyman, the first academic book publication on the Preston Model: The Preston Model and Community Wealth Building. Creating a Socio-Economic Democracy for the Future (Routledge 2021).
Dave McLean is Sub District Director of United Steelworkers and a Board Member of Co-op Cincy.
Rebecca Moix is the VP of Finance at Intrust IT, a leading information technology support & security company in Cincinnati that is partially owned by their ESOP. In addition to accounting, finance and human resource functions, she is also the ESOP administrator and leads the ongoing Financial Literacy program to continually educate all employees on how the business and financials work. She led the implementation of the Great Game of Business open-book management methodology in 2016, resulting in significant improvement in profitability and employee engagement. In 2019, the company established the Intrust IT ESOP and began the employee ownership journey. The company is currently 30% ESOP-owned, with plans for 100% in the future.
Oscar Muguerza is Head of Business Banking at Laboral Kutxa, a co-operative bank based in Northern Spain that is part of Mondragon Group, one of the largest industrial groups in Spain. He has worked at Laboral Kutxa for 20 years, in various positions. In his current position, he is responsible for product development, marketing, pricing, commercial policy, and international development for business clients, including entrepreneurship and microfinance. He is also responsible for intermediary programs of the European Investment Found, such as Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) and InnovFin. In addition, he is Vice President and Coordinator of Gaztenpresa Foundation, created 25 years ago to foster the creation and consolidation of jobs through business creation.
South Central resident Niglmoro (Niki) Okuk founded Rco Tires in 2012. Rco has since recycled more than 300 million pounds of rubber, diverting 70 million gallons of oil from landfills with 16 employees, making it one of southern California's largest sustainability plants. Rco creates alternative uses for trash tires, turning them into new products. Because of Okuk's progressive hiring and management practices, Rco provides stable jobs for local Black and Latino residents who struggle to find employment because of past criminal convictions or legal status. Okuk grew up in Los Angeles and majored in economics at Columbia University. After working in development with the office of Joseph Stiglitz and in finance in Korea and Singapore, Okuk completed her MBA with Nanyang University in Singapore and a sustainability certificate at Sloan School of Business at MIT.
Michaela Oldfield is Director of Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council. Michaela coordinates a cross-sector coalition of stakeholders advocating for policies and systems changes to ensure that all residents of the Greater Cincinnati Region have access to food that is healthy, fair, affordable and green. Michaela has a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a PhD from Michigan State University in Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. Her studies and past work have focused on environmental justice advocacy, the politics of public and private food systems regulation, and understanding how policies shape the healthfulness, economics, and sustainability of food systems.
R. Dennis Olson is a Senior Research Associate & Policy Analyst for the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union. He advises the director of the meatpacking division on food, agriculture and trade policies and provides strategic analysis for organizing programs, collective bargaining activities, legislative initiatives, and strategic alliances. Olson supported efforts by UFCW Local 75 in Cincinnati to launch the Our Harvest Co-op farm and food hub, a worker-owned cooperative with a union contract. He currently represents UFCW on the Union Committee of the US Federation of Worker-Owned Co-ops. Dennis represents UFCW on the National Campaign Committee for the Center for Good Food Purchasing and supports local coalitions working to convince public institutions to implement the Good Food Purchasing Program. He also represents UFCW in the National Poultry Workers Coalition, which successfully opposed a USDA proposal to increase slaughter line speeds in poultry plants and continues to challenge poultry companies to respect workers’ rights.
Benny Overton is Co-Executive Director at Southeast Center for Cooperative Development. Benny is the former president of United Auto Workers Local 737 in Nashville, Tennessee. His other roles have included Vice President of Nashville Organizing for Action and Hope,President of the Dickson County Branch NAACP, Vice President of the Tennessee AFL-CIO, Executive Board Member of the Nashville Area-Middle Tennessee Central Labor Council, and Adjunct Professor at the Tennessee State University College of Business. Benny holds an M.B.A. from Tennessee State University. Benny has experience planning and leading experimental worker committees in the manufacturing industry. In these committees, workers made decisions democratically on all things related to production.
Michael Alden Peck is Executive Director & Cofounder of 1worker1vote; Co-Founder & Managing Director of The Virtuous Cycle Collaboratory (tvc2) – a for-profit, MBE worker cooperative & social enterprise whose mission is to “flatten the curves with virtuous cycles”; Board Secretary for the American Sustainable Business Council, which includes the Social Venture Circle; Blue Green Alliance Corporate Advisory Board Member; Worx Printing Union Coop Volunteer Board Chair; Coop Cincy Volunteer Staff Member; and former International Delegate (1999–2019) representing USA & Canada for MONDRAGON.
With a professional career spanning 4 decades, Cynthia Pinchback-Hines is a community activist, organizer, educator, organizational development consultant, diversity leader, entrepreneur, and board member of several non-profits. She recently transitioned from Board Member of Co-op Cincy to Racial Justice Educator & Co-op Developer, with her primary roles being administrator and facilitator for Power in Numbers: Black Co-op U. Cynthia holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership for Higher Education. She has taught at Virginia State University and Delaware State University and served as Associate Dean of African American Affairs & Ethnic Services at Northern Kentucky University, where she provided academic, cultural, and social support to African American students. In addition, she has presented at numerous professional conferences and conducted countless workshops. The Cincinnati Enquirer named her one of the ten most influential educators in Cincinnati and presented her with a Diversity Leadership Award for her achievements at Cognis Corporation. Cynthia resides in West Chester, Ohio, with her husband, Gary.
Jacqueline Radebaugh is an associate attorney with Jason Wiener P.C., a public benefit corporation and a Colorado-based law firm supporting social entrepreneurs and cooperatives, and bringing deep design thinking to business ownership. She assists mission-based, values-forward entrepreneurs and businesses in identifying and addressing their legal needs, from the start-up phase through financing rounds, to conversion and exit strategies. Committed to advancing racial equity through social entrepreneurship, the sharing economy, and community & economic development strategies that promote local sustainability, she aims to bring about social and economic change. To achieve that, she collaborates with co-op incubators and community-based organizations, and instigates conversations about community land trusts and other shared equity models. She focuses on democratic governance and worker-ownership models, and has gotten into DAOs and their overlap with cooperative principles and practices. Before making her way to Ohio, Jacque studied and practiced law in a variety of places, and advised dozens of Fortune 500 companies in Brazil and nonprofits in France, with detours through Geneva, New York City, and Texas. In addition to her Brazilian law degree, Jacque earned master’s degrees in Sociology of Religions & Society and Public Law & Political Sciences from the University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, and an LLM in American Law with emphasis in business law from the University of Texas at Austin.
Melissa Scanlan is the Lynde B. Uihlein Endowed Chair in Water Policy and the Director of the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. She is a Professor in the School of Freshwater Sciences and affiliated faculty at UW-Madison Law School. She is the author of Prosperity and the Fossil Free Economy (Yale University Press, 2021).
amaha sellassie is Co-Executive Director at Co-op Dayton. amaha is a peace builder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver, and lover of humanity. amaha is a practitioner scholar dedicated to building bridges of trust, healing historical wounds, and harnessing the unique gifts and talents of every human being as we press towards a just and equitable society. A lifelong community organizer, amaha currently serves as president of the Gem City Market board and as a founder and leader of many other community initiatives. amaha is also the Director of the Center for Applied Social Issues and a professor of sociology at Sinclair Community College.
Carol Smith is a Co-Founder of Renting Partnerships.
Jonny Sopotiuk is a visual artist, curator, and community organizer living and working on the Unceded Indigenous territories belonging to the Musqueam, Skxwú7mesh-ulh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and Tsleil-Watututh peoples in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Jonny is the President of the Arts and Cultural Workers Union, IATSE Local B778 and is a founding member of two worker cooperatives: the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Cooperative (VALU CO-OP) and Stitcher's Cooperative. Jonny recently launched the new Union Cooperative Initiative with Kevin Millsip to help expand the union cooperative organizing model throughout other industries and sectors across Canada.
Margery Spinney is a Co-Founder of Renting Partnerships.
Simon Taylor is a Founding Member of Union Co-ops UK.
Ellen Vera is Director of Development and Co-op Organizing at Co-op Cincy. Ellen has organized people from diverse backgrounds to improve their workplaces for more than a decade, and became a Co-Founder of Co-op Cincy and of 1worker1vote in 2011 to develop a more sustainable model of organizing, economic democracy, and wealth-building in marginalized communities. Ellen oversees new co-op organizing projects, the launch of Co-op Cincy’s education arm, Co-op U, and makes sure Co-op Cincy has the resources to be successful. Ellen’s experience as part of a family with mixed immigration status deepens her perspective and her passion for organizing with immigrant worker-owners and worker-owners of color. Prior to accepting a position with Co-op Cincy, she helped people organize and strengthen their labor unions as the National Organizing Coordinator for the manufacturing arm of the Communication Workers of America and for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75. Ellen earned a Masters in Business Administration from Northern Kentucky University, which she uses to oversee our design team’s work, producing feasibility studies, business plans, capitalization campaigns, and initial management plans for cooperative enterprises.
Troy Walcott, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, is President and Founder of People's Choice Communications. People’s Choice Communications is an employee-owned multi-stakeholder cooperative formed to provide communication services throughout New York City. People’s Choice Communications provides internet access to underserved areas of the city using fixed-point wireless technology and by including the public in ownership of that system. The company’s goal is to reinvest profits into the community while bringing an end to a multi-year worker strike Troy and his coworkers are part of. Troy operated as shop steward to 1800 IBEW Local Union #3 employees for 13 of his 20 years of service. He was a service technician before moving over to the survey and design department and helped build NYC's communications infrastructure. In 2018, he was presented with an award by Chris Erickson, business agent of IBEW Local Union #3, for his tireless efforts to support the men and women he represents. A strong believer in perseverance and personal responsibility, Troy tirelessly fights for a better future for his coworkers and his community.
Jeanette Webster is Chief Investment Officer at The Fund for Employee Ownership. Housed at Evergreen Cooperative Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, the Fund for Employee Ownership provides mission-driven capital to create quality jobs via employee ownership. The Fund acquires businesses from retiring baby boomers, converts those businesses to worker ownership, and supports them as part of the Evergreen Cooperatives network of employee-owned businesses.
Jonathan Welle is Co-founder and Executive Director of Cleveland Owns, a nonprofit incubator of cooperative enterprises building community power through collective ownership. As a cooperative developer, Jonathan supports groups of workers with business and organizing strategy, financial planning, facilitation, and business operations. His passion for cooperative enterprise as a way to resist racial capitalism began in the Dominican Republic, where he supported the creation of a woman-owned cheese cooperative during his time as a small business development advisor in the Peace Corps. At Cleveland Owns, Jonathan has supported the launch of three cooperatives, including PowerUp Purchasing Cooperative, which builds economic power and helps mission-driven orgs align how they spend money with their values. He has a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Jonathan grew up in Mayfield, Ohio, and boomeranged back to the City of Cleveland in 2015.
Casey Whitten-Amadon is a Staff Attorney at IUE-CWA, the industrial division for the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Casey has always supported and deeply believed in worker democracy in all forms, whether through worker cooperatives, unions, or democratic governments. Casey became involved in the union coop movement in Cincinnati during its infancy, during the creation of the first coop and debates over the structures of the union cooperatives. Later, Casey was involved in the creation of Coop Dayton, the Dayton cooperative incubator based on the Cincinnati Model. Casey was also a Member of the Coop Dayton Board during the genesis of Gem City Market, a worker-owned grocery store in Dayton.
Felipe Witchger co-directs the Francesco Collaborative, building capacity at the intersection of Catholic impact investors and the cooperative movement. He previously spent 10 years leading the Community Purchasing Alliance, organizing religious and educational institutions to shift more than $13 million to local BIPOC-owned businesses in Washington, DC.
Norman Wolfe is founder of Quantum Leaders, Inc. and has spent over 35 years working in a variety of organizations from Fortune 500 to technology startups. He is viewed as an expert in the area of strategy, change adoption, and process and organizational redesign and is the author of The Living Organization.
Sarah Wooley is General Secretary of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, which represents members throughout the food industry. They have a long-standing branch at Suma Wholefoods (a workers cooperative in Elland, West Yorkshire) and more recently a branch at London’s first cooperative pub, The Ivy House. As a union, they have always recognized the need for workers to be fully engaged by their business and that cooperatives offer this opportunity, with workers firmly in the driving seat and receiving a fair share of the profits.
Ibon Zugasti is the International Project Manager at LKS Cooperative (the Management Consulting Division of Mondragon).
