We hope that you can join us for all or part of our celebration! Click here to register by October 15, 2019.
Refreshments and lights snacks will be provided.
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3:00-4:30 pm | All for One and One for All? The Future of Cooperation in Co-op Federations
Co-operation among co-ops is a nice idea in theory but hard to do in practice. Earlier this year, Calgary Co-op—the largest member-owner of Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL)—announced it would stop buying its groceries from FCL and instead purchase from rival Save-On Foods. Credit unions for their part are increasingly thinking about going it alone without their central entities. In this panel, long-time observers of the sector take a critical lens to questions like: What is the responsibility of membership? Is it take what you want and leave the rest to carry the burden? Or are there higher principles in play? Co-hosted with the Saskatchewan Co-operative Association, this promises to be an engaging and vigorous discussion.
Speakers:
- Marc-André Pigeon, Director, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan campus
- Murray Fulton, Fellow in Co-operatives and Public Policy, and Director, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan campus
- Dionne Pohler, Fellow in Co-operative Strategy and Governance, and Associate Professor, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
- Brett Fairbairn, Fellow in Co-operative History and Governance, and President, Thompson Rivers University
4:30-5:00 pm | Reception and Networking
5:00-6:30 pm | KEYNOTE TALK | The Future of Co-operatives in North America
Keynote speaker: Melissa Hoover, founding Executive Director, Democracy at Work Institute, USA
Melissa Hoover is the founding Executive Director of the Democracy at Work Institute, the think-and-do-tank that expands worker cooperatives as a strategy to address economic and racial inequality. A leader in the worker ownership movement for over fifteen years, Melissa helped start and grow the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the national grassroots membership organization for worker-owned businesses. She was a cooperative business developer for many years with the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives in Oakland, doing business and capital planning for two startups, training cooperative members, and serving as CFO in the first year of each startup's operations. In 2018, Melissa was named an Executive Fellow of the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of The ICA Group/Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, The Working World, and Safe Passages of Oakland, and serves as a strategic advisor to foundations, investors, nonprofits, local governments and other organizations that want to incorporate worker ownership into their economic development and community wealth-building programs. Originally from Kansas City, Melissa attended Stanford University on a full scholarship, earning a BA in History with a research focus on immigrant women's role building cooperative movements in the U.S.
Event Details
- When:
- Time:
- 03:00 PM - 06:30 PM CST
- Location:
- Prairie Room, 101 Diefenbaker Place, University of Saskatchewan campus
- File:
- Download the event invitation