2025 Board Candidates

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I was asked to serve out a departing director's term and would like to continue my service.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

I have served on many boards, including terms as secretary, vice president and president.

What do you hope to get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

I want to help strengthen the organization so that it continues to serve our community as it has for many years.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

I worked with the current board to add a new end for the first time in many years - recognizing that changing circumstances can put stresses on our members that our Co-op could help navigate.

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I fell in love with Common Ground the first time I joined the staff back in 2010 as somebody equally passionate about good eats and economic democracy. I hope that I can continue helping the coop in building a sustainable and equitable local food economy, while moving forward as one organization within the broader cooperative movement.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

I have a good deal of experience in retail, including 10 years at Common Ground between my two stints here, and also operated a small sustainable farm and orchard for five years in between. Since moving back, I have served on the Board for 3 years as well. I hope I can bring these experiences together to offer a unique perspective to our coop's board.

What do you hope ot get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

I hope I can continue learning how to balance the needs of the different stakeholders in our cooperative - producers, staff, and owners - to make sure Common Ground continues to be a cornerstone of our community that lives up to the cooperative principles and our ends.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I love our community! The Co-op values sustainability and supports local farmers, businesses, and non-profit organizations, while educating the public about global food systems and global culture. It is a democratic, owner-driven organization that I'm ready to give back to by serving on the Board.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to the Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

I have been an Urbana resident off and on since 2001, as a graduate student in the Center for Writing Studies (M.A.) and Department of Communication (Ph.D.), and now as a faculty member at the University of Illinois. I was involved in the IMC in its early years, writing for the Public I, and taught yoga at Amara for a number of years. In the meantime, I lived and worked in Phoenix, AZ as a legal assistant and adjunct instructor of rhetoric, and in Hattiesburg, MS as faculty member and director of a speaking center. I served on the Board of Directors for the local animal shelter in Forrest County, MS, contributing my skills in budget oversight and communications. I also hold office in the National Association of Communication Centers.

What do you hope to get from the experience on being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

You don't know what you don't know! Serving on the Board will open my eyes to both the daily minutiae of the Co-op and the larger economic, environmental, and public health considerations that drive our collective decisions. I am eager to take in perspectives that I might not have considered before.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

The Co-op is already guided by a strong sense of values and Ends, so referring to them in every big and small decision is important, especially as we face growing economic uncertainty and inequality in the community and around the world.

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I believe in the power of community in solving local and global problems. I have been a member of the Co-op since its inception and view it as an important steward of community health and well-being. As a board member, I would like to contribute to those goals.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within the community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

I have served on the board of DREAAM and on the board of Academy High (local independent HS). I am an educator and a trained attorney with a background in criminal justice and children's issues.

What do you hope to get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

I hope to learn more about the operations and challenges of running a business model like the Co-op that is committed to important social and community values while ensuring sustainability and adaptability. I hope to develop personally and learn new skills while also contributing skills I have already acquired (organizational, strategic planning, communication, legal, etc).

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

I care about the Co-op and in upholding its Ends for all members of our community. But I have a lot of learning and listening to do in order to understand how I can best contribute.

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I would like to serve on the Board because I am passionate about local producers being able to connect with the local community. Local food chains offer lower cost options for stable and environmentally sound food practices that benefit both producers and consumers. More contact within these groups allows for better education so tha tour food choices are informed by more than pretty marketing, but by human relationships based in the realities of food production. While farmer's markets and farm stores offer these opportunities, a grocery store allows consumers to interact frequently with local offerings in a more familiar format.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

I am currently a manager working in the aviation industry who leads a multi-generational team who works with customers all over the world. This means I have learned to work and communicate with a diverse customer base and team whose culture and experience differs from my own while working toward common goals. The key to be able to do this is a focus on learning and curiosity about how other people work and experience the world while understanding my own bias.

Since I run a department, it is my responsibility to balance the needs of my team, our business, and our customers. while the needs of the business weigh heavily there is no business without customers or internal teams to support them, it is important to ensure that the overarching goals of the business support individual contributors and customers.

I have seen that while policy is important, evaluation is an equal contributor to success. The needs of the community are always changing and long term goals should be flexible to that change. I have helped in my various roles for both large and small businesses over the years to build better evaluation/monitoring tools to do this.

What do you hope to get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

I hope to learn more about the running of the cooperative and how the model benefits the community and its owners. Food is a primary need of all humans. I feel working on the board will provide ample opportunity to support our community through education about food issues and provide a path to improve our local food chain.

I am used to working on the day to day mangaement of a team and I am hoping to learn about how best ot provide overarching support on a macro level.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

I worked for a company who completed GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) food safety audits with a primary focus on producers who engaged in fossil fuel free farm practices. It opened my eyes to how grocery story chains influence what products are available to consumers as well as the type of farms that individuals operate. CGFC is in a unique position to disrupt this influence to benefit alternative producers and provide alternative options for its cooperative owners which leads to an environmentally sound and equitable food chain. I want to help disrupt that system.

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

I've been on your Board since 2022, serving first as Director, then Secretary, and currently as President. Through serving, I've learned how instrumental board culture, teamwork, and diverse perspectives are. The Co-op faces opportunities that the Board and leadership are prepared to meet - and I'd love to be a part of that.

I have a lot of experience with governance boards through my work, and I've never met a board member who gets excited about governance. What excites us is the organization, people, and purpose. Because the Co-op is meaningful to me, I'm fully invested in the governance and the future of Common Ground.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

Before serving on the Co-op Board, my experience was limited to that of a staff member, serving and guiding not-for-profit BODs through leadership and organizational changes, operational and strategic planning, and adapting to meet the needs of their current communities while also maintaining their unique perspectives. I will continue to bring all of that, plus everything this board has taught me, to my service on the Co-op Board of Directors.

I graduated from the United Way's Emerging Community Leaders program in 2022 and have voluntarily completed numerous leadership, diversity, and anti-racism courses over the past 15 years.

What do you hope to get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

If re-elected, I'm looking forward to working with and learning from the rest of the Board members, continuing to collaborate with the Co-op staff, and partnering with the owners. I'm hoping my time on the Board will allow me to complete some of the initiatives I've helped put in motion and continue to set the Co-op up for future success. I'd like to continue to expand my understanding by learning more abou the specific needs of our community and how the Co-op can help address those.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

All of these tasks go hand in hand, so as long as the Board stays focused on our role and goals, balancing these three things should remain fairly easy.

The current Board has been prioritizing the Ends, reviewing them for completeness and relevancy, and exploring other Ends that serve our community. The Ends are in everything we do, so fortunately, the job of balancing them with our other work has been second nature.

Planning for the future of the Co-op has also been a priority - we've established task forces to review the current status of the store and identify areas for improvement so we remain stable in an unpredictable environment.

Monitoring the operations of the store is probably the most interesting part of this equation. A governance Board reviews and guides the store leadership - it's not our place to tell them what to do. That said, this Board has been thoroughly reviewing store operations, staffing, and finances. We've had very tough conversations with Gary Tyalor, who I believe is a fantastic GM and partner. He's transparent, willing to listen, and truly cares about the staff and the store. Without this relationship and the current Board culture, we'd have a trickier time balancing each of these tasks.

Why would you like to serve on the Board? What makes governance meaningful to you and how will your values align with the Co-op's Ends?

Keeping the mission of the coop active in the community.

We know that potential Board members may have past experiences serving on Boards, in other leadership roles, and within our community. What professional skills will you bring to our Board? Share any relevant leadership experience.

Program director of the greater community AIDS Project-2000 - 2004, Community Mental Health Activist 2004-to present day, Asst Director of Behavioral Health, Promise Healthcare Currently

What do you hope to get from the experience of being on the Board? What do you hope you will learn about yourself?

A community connection that is different than what I have done with my career.

How will you help the Board balance the needs of upholding our Ends, planning for the future of our community-owned cooperative and monitoring the operations of our grocery store?

In the next few years i am looking at retirement and want to remain relevant and connected to my community in a real and meaningful way.