ACE Board of Directors and Staff

Board of Directors and Staff

PRESIDENT
	ROD KELSAY is executive director of the Mid America Cooperative Council (MACC) in Indianapolis. Rod heads-up a multi-state association of cooperatives that focuses on education, communication and outreach to its membership. Its educational activities include director training, orientation to cooperatives, a chief financial officers conference, a credit conference and a four-day regional youth conference. The council also publishes the MACC VOICE newsletter, maintains a web site and conducts strategic planning & business analysis. MACC's education programs were recognized in 2006 with an ACE award. Rod joined the ACE board in 2007, and was elected president in July 2009.



VICE PRESIDENT
	TANYA GRACIE was elected to the ACE Board of Directors in 2009, and became its vice president in July 2010. She is the Canadian Co-operative Association’s Project Manager for 2012, the UN International Year of Co-operatives. In this newly-created role, Tanya is providing inspiration, support and leadership to cooperative organizations across Canada in an effort to leverage the many opportunities afforded by the International Year. Tanya has worked at CCA since 2008 and was previously the association’s Program Officer, Member Services. She also serves as a director of St. Georges’ housing co-op in Ottawa, where she lives; is a member of the board of the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC) and a director of Your Credit Union. In May 2009, Tanya graduated from the Masters of Community Economic Development program at Southern New Hampshire University, and is a recent graduate the Ontario Co-operative Association/Schulich School of Business Co-operative Management Certificate program. Before moving to Ottawa to work for CCA, Tanya was an intern with the Ontario Co-operative Association in cooperative development and worked for GROWMARK, Inc. as a summer student. She is also an annual facilitator with the Ontario Co-operative Association’s Co-operative Young Leaders program. Tanya has been the recipient of both the On Co-op Youth Leadership Award and ACE’s William Hlushko award for Young Co-operative Educators.

SECRETARY	LYNN PITMAN was elected to the ACE board of directors in July 2010. She is an Outreach Specialist with the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives. Lynn acts as a resource for individuals and groups interested in cooperative issues, including start-up, and develops educational and communication materials to support the Center's outreach activities. She has participated in research on the economic impact of cooperatives and cooperative legal structures, producing staff papers and articles on the topics. Lynn has served on several boards, including a start-up grocery co-operative, and is engaged in neighborhood development issues. Her prior business experience was with several growing entrepreneurial firms in the field of direct marketing.



TREASURER
	GREGORY MCKEE was elected to the ACE Board of Directors in July 2010. He is Director of the Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives and Assistant Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. Greg teaches a semester-length course on cooperative business management to undergraduate students at three universities in North Dakota, and online, and a course in game theory and strategy. Recent research has focused on determinants of profitability for North Dakota agricultural cooperatives and credit unions as well as several case studies about significant management decisions made by cooperatives headquartered in the Upper Great Plains. Greg is also part of the Community of Practice for Cooperatives leadership team for eXtension, an Internet-based platform used by disciplines to provide information and training to their communities. DIRECTORS

	MONICA ADELER joined the ACE board of directors in July 2011. She helped create and taught the first undergraduate class on cooperatives at the University of Winnipeg’s School of Business and Administration. Monica is originally from Argentina, where she completed a law degree before moving to Spain to complete a second law degree and a master’s of business administration. She is completing her doctorate in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Saskatchewan, with a focus on examining supportive environments for co-op development in Spain, Italy, Quebec, and Manitoba. Monica moved to Winnipeg in 2007 to conduct research in partnership with SEED Winnipeg (Supporting Employment & Economic Development) and the Manitoba Cooperative Association regarding policies supporting co-op development, a project that was funded by a social economy research grant from the Winnipeg Inner City Research Alliance. That research became the foundation of the Co-operative Development Tax Credit adopted by the Province of Manitoba. Monica is an active member of two Co-op Vision Strategy working groups in Manitoba, is a board member of the Canadian Association for the Studies in Co-operation, and is the 2011 recipient of the John Logue ACE Award.


	COLETTE LEBEL studied bio-agronomy at Université Laval and completed the Economics and Management of Co-operative Enterprises program at the University of Bologna. She has been a part of the cooperative farming movement since 1986. Today, she is the Director Cooperative Affairs for La Coop fédérée where she oversees executive training, promoting the cooperative identity and maintaining the network’s cooperative community life. Furthermore, she is a regular collaborator to the magazine Le Coopérateur agricole where she writes a monthly column. In 2000 Colette was awarded the Prix Moïse-Cossette as recognition for her contribution as the year’s best agricultural communicator and in 2006 she was part of the top five chosen by the Canadian Business Press for best editorial as part of the Kenneth R. Wilson Memorial Award. She is also past president of the Association of Co-operative Educators and serves on the Conseil d’orientation de l’Institut de recherche et d’éducation pour les coopératives et mutuelles de l’Université de Sherbrooke (IRECUS).
	JESSICA GORDON NEMBHARD is co-founder of The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland (UMd), College Park. Jessica specializes in economic development policy and Black political economy. Her research focuses on community- and asset-based economic development and democratic community economics, cooperative economics and worker ownership, alternative urban economic and educational development strategies, racial wealth inequality and wealth accumulation in communities of color, and popular economic literacy. She has served on the boards of the United States Federation of Democratic Workplace and the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, and on the Editorial Collective of the Grassroots Economic Organizing Newsletter. Jessica was re-elected to the ACE board of directors in 2011.
	RIZICK ROSARIO PEÑA is education manager for Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico (Múltiples) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A veteran employee of Múltiples, a property and casualty insurance cooperative, Rizick has an undergraduate degree in cooperatives and a Master's degree in technology and information science. She works closely with the cooperative's education committee and was involved in the coordination of the 2006 ACE Institute in Puerto Rico. Rizick joined the ACE board in 2006, and was its vice president from 2009 to 2010.

	CATHY STATZ is Education Director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU), headquartered in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She coordinates a variety of cooperative education programs for Farmers Union members, their children and the general public, including the WFU Summer Camp Program at Kamp Kenwood, and the National Farmers Union College Conference on Cooperatives. Cathy grew up on a dairy farm near Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (with Secondary Level Education Certification) and a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and is the 2006 recipient of Lawrence University’s Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award. In 1997, she completed the National Cooperative Business Association's Future Co-op Leaders program in Washington, D.C., and participates in the New Visions, New Ventures cooperative discussion group in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). She has been a member of ACE since 1997 and was named the 1999 recipient of the ACE William Hlushko Award to Young Cooperative Educators. She was re-elected in 2011 to the ACE board of directors.


Bill Patrie	Staff Bill Patrie of North Dakota served as executive administrator of the Association of Cooperative Educators from November 2008 to July 2010, and remains as its advisor. He has specialized in cooperative and economic development in North Dakota and surrounding states for more than 20 years. He is credited with spearheading the formation of more than 40 cooperatives that have created hundreds of jobs. Bill received an undergraduate degree in political science and has a Master’s degree in public administration. He received the ACE award for “Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Education and Training” in 2005.

Sarah Pike	Sarah Pike joined ACE's staff in 2009 as its registrar and Institute planner for Minneapolis and Cleveland, and became the association's Executive Administrator in July 2010. Sarah started her career working for the City of Minneapolis’ Grants Department. At the City of Minneapolis, she managed federal and state grants that focused on economic development in low-income areas, such as HUD’s Empowerment Zone grant. She left the City of Minneapolis for the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis to earn a Master's degree in business administration. Upon graduation, Sarah started her own business. Most recently, Sarah worked for the University of St. Thomas researching and writing case studies for use in the University of St. Thomas MBA business curriculum.
Cathy L. Chamberlain	In 2007 Cathy L. Chamberlain became the communication director and institute coordinator of the Association of Cooperative Educators. She has been a communication and public relations professional in the cooperative sector since 1988, and was the Ontario, Canada manager of communication and university relations of agricultural cooperative GROWMARK, Inc., and vice president of the Ontario Co-operative Association. Cathy was also a board member of the Association of Cooperative Educators (ACE) and its vice chair until she retired from the board in 1997. She is a recipient of ACE’s William Hlushko Award (for young cooperators), Professional Contribution by an ACE Member Award, and a creator of the Reginald J. Cressman Award recognizing outstanding commitment to staff development. Cathy is a graduate of the University of Guelph, and of the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) Master of Arts program in journalism.