The Board Takes Flight

Our Board has had numerous discussions about how we can continue to educate both new and long-term Board members alike. Whether it’s through Board retreats, online trainings through National Cooperative Grocers, or in person at conferences. The latter became a reality in June!

Over the long weekend of June 6th-8th, Board members Tom Theisen, Laura Bady, and Genaro Gomez, our Board Administrator Leigha Staffenhagen, and General Manager Tony White attended the Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) Conference in Sacramento, CA.

After arriving at the Sheraton Grand, the location of the conference, we were given the choice of three different tours. Our group chose to attend “From Soil to Seed to Plate” hosted by Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op and Pachamama Coffee Cooperative. The tour started with a trip into the foothills of the El Dorado Hills to the Pachamama Coffee Roastery. Pachamama is a cooperative of small-scale coffee farmers from Africa and Latin America.

who have come together to roast and sell their coffee directly to consumers. The next stop was Soil Born Farms, located 13 miles east of the Sac Co-op, on the American River. Soil Born Farms is an urban farm, agriculture, and education project that empowers youth and adults to discover and participate in a local food system. It was great learning about and witnessing their work in regenerative agriculture. We finished our day with a tour of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op’s 16,000-square-foot store.

Following the tours, we settled into our rooms and contemplated the two busy days ahead as Friday and Saturday sessions included several compelling topics and presentations.

Friday morning started with the first meeting of all participants which appeared to be over 400, representing co-ops across the country. Keynote speaker Errol Schweitzer’s presentation, “How Co-ops Can Adapt and Compete” is difficult to summarize, but it was informative, humorous, and left us with a positive yet challenging look into the future.

A brief summary of the conference from each attendee:

Tony White, General Manager:

CCMA was an annual occurrence when I worked on the East Coast. Attending in June was a first since 2014, and I was so happy to be there. Certainly, the opportunity to share the event with my four colleagues was great, but the biggest positive for me was embracing the spirit of Cooperative Principle 6, “Cooperation Among Cooperatives.” The amount of collaboration and knowledge sharing between hundreds of talented and dedicated cooperators was extremely powerful.

Tom Theisen, Board President:

With so many sessions to choose from, it was tough to whittle it down. I ended up attending one on owner incentives, another on deli operations post-pandemic, and two related to co-op general managers (GMs). The first of the GM sessions focused on supporting them during these challenging times. We learned that being a GM has always been hard, but never as hard as it is right now. Current market conditions plus a tsunami of GM departures have left many co-ops feeling vulnerable in their leadership. But as boards, we have the power to stabilize and strengthen relationships with GMs right now, and by focusing on this key relationship, we can further stabilize and strengthen the co-op as a whole. We were guided through hands-on and small group work to learn new skills and tools to serve our GMs, and our co-ops, at a higher level.

Second, was how to prepare a co-op for a leadership transition, or rather: GM succession planning. This was somewhat eye opening in that recent estimates suggest that GM turnover has been 25% annually since the pandemic began. And while some of these are longplanned retirements, others have been unplanned exits. Your Co-op Board has already navigated its first-ever GM transition, but as we keep our eyes to the future, it was interesting to hear how other co-op leaders intend to prepare for such a shift, from deepening the bench to discussing the transition planning process.

Laura Bady, Board Member:

As a newly elected Board member, CCMA was a meaningful way to get to know our Board better; I like and respect them even more now!

The grocery business is ever-changing, and we need to continue to adapt and compete. It was inspiring to hear how cooperative farmers, grocers, and product purveyors throughout the country work together through financial assistance, business expertise, and other means to support thriving, sustainable local markets and the greater community. This shared focus keeps us competitive by developing the collective tools needed to keep our local communities’ health and welfare front and center.

Genaro Gomez, Staff Board Member:

One of my biggest takeaways was how much pride every person there took from being part of the co-op mission. It wasn’t just people that have worked in co-ops for a long time, people new to the co-op world were also excited to be part of what we are trying to accomplish. The amount of enthusiasm for new co-ops was exciting to see, as well. I was reminded of just how fortunate we are to have a co-op that has been alive and thriving for 50 years. It was an honor to go out and represent our co-op and community.

Leigha Staffenhagen, Board Administrator:

For me, the opportunity to connect with other cooperators and board administrators was a huge highlight. I love learning, so of course, attending a variety of workshops with topics ranging from marketing to community engagement to the history of co-ops was beneficial. And connecting with our own Board members outside of Skagit was also memorable.

Spending three days in the company of people from diverse backgrounds, life experiences, and rural/urban environments, bound together through the world of Cooperative Business Principles was a refreshing reminder that we have so much more in common than not, and that is a good thing.