The Co-operative Hall of Fame will welcome four more outstanding co-operative leaders this year. A project that aims to celebrate the important contribution of individuals to the co-operative movement, the Hall of Fame is on display at the National Cooperative Business Association in Washington.
This year’s inductees are Ann Hoyt, an internationally known expert of co-operatives, Daniel T. Kelley, former board chair of Growmark, William J. Nelson, vice president of corporate citizenship and president of the CHS Foundation and Judy Ziewacz, former executive director of the Cooperative Development Foundation.
The Hall of Fame, which is administered by the Cooperative Development Foundation, the non-profit affiliate of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA), is also available online at heroes.coop. The inductees will be recognised at the annual Cooperative Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, where a public forum on co-operative development will also take place.
Gasper Kovach, Jr., board chair of the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), which administers the Hall of Fame, said: “Induction into the Cooperative Hall of Fame is reserved for those who have made genuinely heroic contributions to the cooperative community. The 2015 Inductees join a host of extraordinary Hall of Fame members who have contributed significantly to the advancement of the cooperative movement”.
The inductees:
Ann Hoyt is a retired professor and department chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Department of Consumer Science. She has served on the board of various co-operatives and co-operative associations and has trained several thousand co-operative and non-profit directors and managers in the USA. Ann Hoyt is also the creator of a video-based director training programme for co-operatives.
Daniel T. Kelley has been involved in the co-operative sector for over three decades. He has been a director of a number of co-operatives, and is currently on the board of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, CoBank and Illinois Agriculture Foundation, which he chairs. He recently retired as board chairman and president of the agriculture supply co-operative Growmark, Inc. which he has helped grow.
William J. Nelson is vice president of corporate citizenship and president of CHS Foundation, having been active in co-operative education since the 1970s. He taught courses on co-operatives, agriculture, entrepreneurship and leadership at the University of Minnesota-Waseca. He has played an important role in developing the CHS University Initiative of Cooperative Education, which aims to increase the understanding of the co-operative business model education, development and practical experience.
Judy Ziewacz was executive director of the Cooperative Development Foundation. Having been involved in co-operative development for more than 35 years, she has helped launch the nation’s first state wide co-operative development centre – the Wisconsin Cooperative Development Council. She is currently a member of the boards of the National Cooperative Bank and Capital Impact Partners, and chairs the co-operative development committees of both organisations.
