2026 Board of Director Candidates

Owner since 2015.

Explain why you would like to serve as a member of Keweenaw Co+op’s Board of Directors

I would like to serve another term on the Co-op Board because it continues to be a meaningful way to demonstrate both my appreciation for this highly valued community asset and my commitment to it. While serving on the Board for the past six years, I have come to fully appreciate the challenges of balancing our ideals (sustainability, high quality and organically-grown food, and fair treatment of stakeholders) with the realities of sound business/financial practices that are needed to sustain those ideals over time. I believe that one of the most important responsibilities of the Board is to assure that the Co-op continues to be a viable alternative to the conventional “food-industrial complex,” as well as one that exemplifies the idea of “being the change you want to see.”

I’m the kind of Director who enjoys hard work just as much as hard questions, and we’ve had plenty of both with the relocation project! One might think that the Board’s work would have settled down by now, but we are not there quite yet. With a new General Manager coming in soon, some post-project responsibilities still to wrap up, and the need to shift financial perspectives toward long-term planning, there’s still a bit more to go. I would appreciate having an opportunity to share one last term with my Board colleagues while we follow through on those responsibilities and define a healthy and productive “new normal” for future Boards.

Do you have any particular skills you would like to explore and share in your service on the Board of Directors?

I have always been attracted to the Co-op as a “business with a mission,” as it is a place where I can combine my experiences coming from a family of small business owners with my personal dedication to non-profit endeavors. I love the model – leveraging the productive forces of business not toward maximizing profits but to other ends that are meaningful and progressive in regard to nutrition, food, community, and the earth from which every aspect of this enterprise grows.

I have learned a great deal by serving as the Board Secretary for the past six years, which has also included leading the Board’s Policy Committee. Over the past four years, our Policy Committee has been thoroughly reviewing and updating all of the Co-op’s governing policies, from the new Michigan-based bylaws down to the resolutions that the Board now uses to document its major decisions and the rationales for them. We are in the final stages of wrapping up those policy overhauls, and then we can transition into a new maintenance mode whereby all policies will be assessed on a periodic basis to keep apace with changes and developments.

I have also enjoyed serving on the Board’s Finance Committee since the start of the new store project, which has included learning the financial quirks of the Co-operative model, assessing and monitoring project financials, and working with the General Manager to raise the new equity that enabled the project to go forward. Our Finance Committee is very close to wrapping up its project-related work, and can now shift to assuring that sound post-project business planning comes into place and that the Board effectively transitions back to its norms of equity management and monitoring current financial performance in light of long-term plans and non-profit priorities.

What excites me is that I can foresee yet another three years-worth of “doing and learning!” But a third term would also be my last, so my top priorities would include sharing my knowledge and understanding with new Directors, working with the Board as a whole to develop a good supervisory relationship with the new General Manager, and fostering a stable transition to a new generation of Co-op service to our local community.