WEBINAR – Prelude to Pride: Cooperative Leadership, Inclusion and Ways Forward

Hosted by NCBA CLUSA:

As we work to build intentionally inclusive economies through the cooperative business model, it’s essential to focus on who has been excluded from leading the movement. LGBTQIA+ cooperators have always been crucial pillars of the cooperative movement, even when their contributions have gone unrecognized. Their ongoing fight for social and economic justice within the cooperative movement and broader community must be honored and highlighted.

We have all benefitted from the incremental progress toward greater LGBTQIA+ inclusion. As we enter Pride Month this June, cooperatives have a unique opportunity to consider our role in fostering social and economic equity for everyone. What does meaningful inclusion look like? How can we learn from our failures (especially complicit inaction) in the past to avoid repetition in the future? What can cooperatives do to combat the lingering exclusion of LGBTQIA+ folks within our communities? Which leaders should we pay attention to and how can we support them? In the face of reanimated polarization, let’s commit not only to asking these questions, but also to acting on them.

During this webinar, we’ll discuss the contributions of LGBTQIA+ cooperators to our co-ops, communities and governments. Our panelists will discuss their own experiences as cooperators, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for intentional inclusion, particularly in cooperative leadership and governance.

Speakers

Angela Russell

Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President @CUNA Mutual Foundation at CUNA Mutual Group

In these roles, Angela provides strategic enterprise-wide leadership to ensure that CUNA Mutual’s commitment to DEI is reflected in the workplace, community partnerships and marketplace in our products, processes and services. In 2021, Ms. Russell was the recipient of the inaugural DEI Trailblazer Award from the African American Credit Union Coalition. In 2018, Ms. Russell was named as one of the nation’s most powerful diversity executives by Black Enterprise magazine. Ms. Russell has 20 years of professional experience. Prior to joining CUNA Mutual she worked in various roles in public health including serving as a Health Equity Coordinator for Public Health Madison Dane County and she was the Community Engagement Lead for the national County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Population Health Institute.

Zachary Christensen, CUDE

Co-founder, CUPride and Director of Communications and Digital Marketing, Mitchell Stankovic and Associate

Zach is an executive leader with both strategic and technical skills. As a digital marketer, video and virtual engagement producer and credit union fanatic, he has quickly shifted to a virtual environment driving execution of initiatives for both his organization and clients. At Mitchell Stankovic, Zach is driving change in leadership and strategic planning in this new, virtual world. He is a key contributor of thought leadership for the Underground Collisions and is a co-founder of CU Pride. Zach has over 15 years of experience within the credit union industry in business development, client relationships, market awareness and consumer service evaluation. His expertise includes the development of candidates for key strategic positions within credit unions and high level of communication with C-Suite executives.

Sam McCormick

General Manager @Assabet Co-op Market

They were born and raised in Philadelphia and have worn many different hats over the years. In addition to the years managing Mariposa Food Co-op in West Philly, they have spent time in co-op education, green construction, and business management and consulting in a variety of sectors. They are passionate about food sovereignty, anti-racism, and social equity work, and have tried to center these values in all of their pursuits. Sam is thrilled to be back working in the co-op sector and has relocated to Massachusetts with their partner for this work. Sam is bringing their wealth of experience in co-op management and green construction to the challenge of securing a site and opening Assabet’s store. Sam believes that community support is vital for a thriving consumer-owned co-op, and has already begun the work of deepening and strengthening Assabet’s connections with various groups and organizations in and around Maynard.

Camy Seitz-Cherner

Co-founder and Owner @Redwood Learning Collective

Camy Seitz-Cherner (they/them) is an educator and co-op developer passionate about working in communities of solidarity to dismantle oppressive systems. They are a co-founder of and owner at the Redwood Learning Collective, a democratically run worker-owned tutoring co-op that aims to create sustainable work for educators, make tutoring affordable, and combat curriculum harm. They are in their last year of Saint Mary’s Masters in Cooperatives and Credit Unions and are writing their capstone on a Balanced Scorecard implementation curriculum for democratically-run startup and micro cooperatives. In their development work, they nerd out about distributed governance systems, healing-centered workplaces, and supporting the economic self determination of workers and youth. They identify as queer and transmasculine/non-binary. In their free time, they like to surf, write fiction and poetry, farm, drum, and perform with their dance team!

[From May 17, 2022 e newsletter, NCBA]