Coop Board Members

Co-op Member Since: 2008

Board Member Since: 2010

Favorite Co-op Item: Local dairy products and deli items

What brought you to the Co-op Board?: As a source of healthy, responsibly produced and local food, the Potsdam Food Co-op is and has been a focal point for the community. I wanted to share my energy to help the Co-op meet new economic, cultural and demographic challenges.

What will you contribute to the Co-op and the Board?: I will contribute my unique perspective gained from volunteer experience in the U.S. and abroad, appreciation of the cooperative principles, and my belief in personal and group responsibility as a member of the Board. I support the expansion of local sourcing for both produce and value-added products, and reduction of food miles.

Co-op Member Since: 1992

Co-op Board Member Since: 2009

Favorite Co-op Item: Organic valencia oranges

What brought you to the Co-op Board?:  Desire to ensure that the Co-op continue to be able to meet its members' needs.

What can you contribute to the Co-op and the Board?:  My work on the coöp board is directed toward improving the accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting, with the ideal that this will help us to better assess and direct the coöp. I would also like to help shape what the coöp does next.

Co-op Member Since: Originally joined very shortly after the Co-op was founded. Rejoined in Oct. 2006

Co-op Board Member Since: 2009

Favorite Co-op Item: Equal Exchange Chai Tea

What brought you to the Co-op?: A high school friend's Mom who was a founding member.

What can you contribute to the Co-op Board?: Passionate commitment to cooperative ideals and community-building. Decades of experience as a Co-op shopper, volunteer, and worker. A great love of healthy, fresh and local foods.

Co-op Member Since: 2009

Co-op Board Member Since: 2011

What brought you to the Co-op Board?: I like the freshness of the food and that I am able to obtain products I cannot get in any other store. I had an instant interest in how the Co-op functions and to offer my services.

What can you contribute to the Co-op Board?: I worked in the retail business in a variety of department stores. I have experience in an office setting as Executive Secretary for the Sr. Vice President for Finance at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center. I worked as an executive secretary for 17 years and then as a grant writer until retiring.

Co-op Member Since: 1991

Co-op Board Member Since: 2009

What brought you to the Co-op Board?:  A sense of responsibility to the membership and the community that stems naturally from a deep appreciation of what the Co-op has been and what it can and should become.  Food co-ops arose historically in response to a collective need for good food at reasonable prices.  That need still exists within our community and as our economy makes the necessary transition to local and sustainable, that need will grow.   Since we own the store collectively, it can be directly responsive to our needs, to the needs of our community, and to the growing network of local suppliers.  This requires dedicated leadership.

What can you contribute to the Co-op and the Board?:  I have been an active member of the Co-op for 21 years. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in an alternative food economy, and I love having access to healthy and local food, and sharing my food store with good folks. I have served the Co-op in a number of capacities – I am the gardener/chief composter and have been on the Board for nine years, off and on, to name what I believe to be my most significant contributions. I am interested in the process of governance, and don't mind at all spending time with the committed, creative and agreeable members who serve on the Board of Directors.  

Co-op Member Since: 1973

Co-op Board Member Since: 2012

What brought you to the Co-op Board?: The Co-op has been an important part of my community since its inception. It has been through many changes and survived many challenges. As long as I have been in the North Country I have wanted to serve on the Board and this moment in time, when the Co-op is looking forward to the next 40 years, seems like the ideal moment to use the organizational and governance skills I’ve learned to make a difference. My hope for my tenure on the Board is to prepare the Co-op for the next generation of leadership so that it can serve coming generations as well as it has served mine.

Co-op Member Since: 1993

Co-op Board Member Since: March 2013

What brought you to the Co-op?: A career change has given me some flexibilty to become involved in new projects. I have been anxious to find a role in the community that fits my experience and interest; the timing is perfect.

What can you contribute to the Co-op Board?: My recent role directing Clarkson's Reh Center for Entrepreneurship gives me a good perspective of what today's small businesses are wrestling with. I am a glass half full guy, so I tend to look for the opportunities before the challenges and have an innate "can do" approach to each challenge. Sometimes that leads to challenges in a group environment - I appreciate the skeptic, but often the skeptic doesn't appreciate me.

Co-op Member Since: 1988

Co-op Board Member Since: Initially in the 1990's and now again in 2013

What brought you to the Co-op?: What I appreciate most about the Co-op is its commitment to provide local, international and basic goods (at reasonable prices) to the community.

What can you contribute to the Co-op Board?: I have experience with not-for-profit organizations (from both the Board member and employee perspective.) I have organizational and system analysis skills and understand, from experience, the complexities of retail operations.

Co-op Member Since: June 2012; customer since Sep. 2005

Co-op Board Member Since:  June 2012

Favorite Co-op Item: Fresh, Equal Exchange, Organic and Healthy Food and other products; also international variety

What brought you to the Co-op Board?: Generally shopping there, attending events

What can you contribute to the Co-op Board?: I am an enthusiastic and dedicated member of the Potsdam-Canton community. Having recently graduated with a PhD from Clarkson University in Environmental Science and Engineering, I am currently an Assistant Professor at SUNY Canton's Science and Criminal Justice Department. My doctoral research on pathogen quantification and reduction in dairy operations took me out of the laboratory to interact and exchange knowledge with farmers, policy makers, government officials and engineers in the local area focused on adopting new sustainable technologies in farm management. Both my education and personal convictions compel me to promote a cleaner environment and wider availability of nutritional and organic foods in the local community. I share these goals with the Potsdam Co-op.

I am also actively involved with the Sustainable Living Project (SLP) and Local Living Festival, the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton and Clarkson University organizations, and am a member of the board of Potsdam's CORC Thrift Store. Having grown up and studied in India and knowing 5 Indian languages has greatly expanded my understanding of different cultures. I believe that my strong organizational and communication skills, with diverse and intense academic, professional, and leadership experiences will make me a valuable asset to the Potsdam Co-op Board of Directors.