Sunday, July 19 – 3-5 PM

Each year, owners of the Alberta Cooperative Grocery are invited to run for open seats on our Board of Directors. The election culminates at the Annual Membership Meeting on July 19, but you can cast your vote any time between now and then. To join the Annual Meeting on Zoom and meet the candidates, register here!

Online ballots have been sent to all owners, via email with this link along with a personal ID and password. If you’re having trouble finding it in your inbox, check for the address “vote@simplyvoting.com” and/or subject line “Alberta Co-op Annual Meeting” — and if you’re still having trouble, check in with Rachel at owner.services@albertagrocery.coop . Extra paper ballots should be available in the store this week, as well.

In accordance with our bylaws, the Board may have up to eleven Directors, so there are up to seven open seats at this time. Directors serve for three years and can serve two consecutive terms if re-elected.

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The Candidates

Kristin Culpepper

Hello, my name is Kristin Culpepper and I have been an owner of the Alberta Co-op since 2013. The Co-op is a place that my family and I find comfort and pride in our community. I’m excited to play a part in ensuring this space is provided to others. During the week, I am a business consultant for Pepper Foster Consulting, a small, local consulting firm that specializes in strategy development and execution. Before transitioning to my current career, I was a biology research scientist studying the cellular & molecular impacts of low oxygen in the body. As a director on the board, I hope for my diverse experiences to support productive dialogue and facilitate perspective-taking. I offer my background in business, operations and strategy to be a complement to the other strengths at the table. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly articulated the benefits of a local supply chain, especially one that serves communities with fresh and healthy food. In alignment with the Co-op’s vision, I believe an important part of the Co-op’s future is extending this access to as many people as possible. I am committed to supporting its livelihood and continued growth into the next era for our community. Thank you for considering me to join the Alberta Co-op Board of Directors.

Michael Harrison

What I have grown to love and respect most about the Alberta Co-op is the value that it adds to the local community. Adding value to those around me is what I’m all about – especially to those whom share common values with me and are driven by them. This is why I am running for the Board of Directors.

Now, I work with data as a Business Intelligence consultant and my professional focus is in helping organizations maximize the value of their data. Data can tell really interesting stories – and depending on how you approach it, data can help you write the story too.

My vision for the co-op is to help write the story ahead – one that focuses on understanding the value that’s added by its owners, employees, suppliers, and customers so that strategies can be put in place to continue to grow the values-driven impact of the co-op.

I have only been a member for a year and I don’t have any experience with any other coops (Alberta’s my first!) but I’m ready to add value to this one.

David Kennedy-Wong

Hi, I’m David Kennedy-Wong, and I’ve been a member or co-member of the co-op for about 4 years now. My vision for the co-op is that it serves all of the surrounding neighborhoods in a way that prioritizes the black community that hasn’t (so far) benefited from the co-op as much as white folks have. I have experience as a high school teacher, equity facilitator, bike mechanic, and organizer. My interest in joining the board is to apply an equity lens to every aspect of board work, and center racial justice in every analysis I am part of. To be clear, I don’t have the answers, but hope to help in the process of collectively discovering them. I would bring skills in facilitation, training, and equity analysis to the board, as well as experience with collectives, nonprofit boards, and consensus decision-making. Thank you.

Bennett Minton

My mother taught us about gardening and nutrition, and my son was a farmer before he went to work in an organic grocery. My sister urges me to market the granola I’ve been baking since high school. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” she posts.

When we decided two years ago to move from Washington, D.C., to Portland, I spent days biking across the east side before targeting neighborhoods around Alberta. I was shopping at the Co-op before we settled in Boise, an 8-minute ride from the store.

I spent my career as reporter and congressional analyst, and in Oregon I started lobbying in Salem the day after I moved for a rational and equitable tax code. (You can google my op-eds in The Oregonian about our state’s nonsensical tax system.)

As a volunteer, I spent a decade in my church’s leadership, finishing its conversion from an operating board to a policy board, similar to that of the Co-op. In and out of my career, I study how institutions function – from the federal government to small nonprofits.

The Co-op is a neighborhood treasure. I offer my effort in service.

Travis Nissen

I joined the Alberta Street Co-op shortly after relocating to Portland from Ithaca, NY in 2018.

While I shopped at my local Co-op growing up, it was not until recently that I was able to take on greater responsibility. What initially drew me to Alberta Street Co-op was the line of adorable dogs waiting for their owners on a warm Saturday morning. Since then, the community and responsibly-sourced produce have been the major draws. Community engagement and outreach are real drivers for me. I work as an architectural designer at a K-12 architecture firm and previously I volunteered as a neighborhood outreach coordinator at the City of Knoxville, TN. In both positions, the skills that lead to successful outcomes with diverse stakeholders are thoughtful listening, careful questions, and open, empathetic communication. Throughout 2020, the Collective Management’s adaptability, leadership, and well-reasoned safety protocols in navigating this health crisis have left lasting impression on us all. As a director, I will follow their lead, and work to foster an open process for setting long-term goals and objectives. And until we all bake sourdough, the Co-ops wonderful bread selection will keep us well fed.

Thank you for the consideration.

 

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Bylaw Amendment

This year’s ballot also includes a proposed amendment to the ACG bylaws, which pertains to the way votes are counted in elections just like this one. The proposed amendment reads:

You can find the current text of Article VI: Election, Removal and Replacement of Directors in this PDF of our bylaws.