BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2024 CANDIDATES
We appreciate your interest in the 2024 Sugar Beet Board Elections. Below, you'll find profiles of the candidates. Current board members are marked with an asterisk (*) next to their name. From now until April 15, online voting is available for Sugar Beet owners. Please note that each ownership share (typically representing a household) is entitled to one vote. Thank you for participating!
Amina Jackson*
Hi, my name is Amina. I would love to run for the Sugar beet board because everyone should “Feel the Beet”. When you walk into an atmosphere of employees that warmly welcome you is an amazing feeling. I feel as though the employees of the Sugar Beet are sincere about helping you and align with the co-ops mission. I was raised in a Co-op grocery store. When I moved to Oak Park, the Sugar Beet made me feel right at home and gave me comfort in moving from Hyde Park, where I was born and raised. My goal for joining the Sugar Beet Board is to continue to convey the mission of sustainability and providing nutritional options for the community, which resonates with me. My goal for the Sugar Beet is to truly focus on reaching the Oak Park residents that don’t know the Sugar Beet exist and the benefits the Sugar Beet offers. The Sugar beet has an amazing Café. This is an opportunity, to bring friends or clients and support your local Co-op and enjoy your favorite smoothie, latte, or tea. Pete’s Grocery stores expansion so close to the Sugar Beet, will encourage us to truly dig deep and we must engage in a lot of “heart to heart”, humanistic encounters. To amplify the Sugar beets mission and why coops are so crucial to society, but the oak park area. I believe you can support the beet and not necessarily live right down the street. This is such a crucial time that can either be looked at as an opportunity to engage with the OPRF community and expand or a time to retreat. Success will only be achieved by uniting around The Sugar beets GM and leadership team. My focus is to see what I can do for the Sugar beet to reach multiple generations and engage in dialogues to educate individuals of the Sugar beets mission and how we can be of service to you. My goal is to move in complete unison alongside the other board members. I have taken part in farmers markets, in store events, Sugar beet after dark and in store product roll outs. Engaging with current vendors and bringing in new vendors to the Sugar Beet. My goal is to focus on our future generations and foster our successors. This will ensure the future of the Sugar Beet, because co-ops are needed. I am a Graduate of DePaul University. I am currently pursuing my Juris doctorate. I have eighteen years of experience in Hospitality leadership, Grocery management, telecommunication, retail management and non-profit leadership. My background also consist of peace, justice, conflict resolution with an emphasis in facilitative dialogue. I am asking for your vote, so I can join the Sugar Beet board for a three-year term. Thank you. —Amina
Beth Dougherty*
Beth Dougherty is an educator, editor, and research consultant. Holding a PhD in Sociology, she has lived in the area for almost twenty years, between Oak Park and Berwyn. A nerdy gamer mom of one kiddo and three cats, Beth also serves as the program director for the Chicago Steampunk Exposition. Passionate about fair and equitable employment and trade, Beth has served on the Board of Directors for the Sugar Beet since 2021. Beth brings her perspective as a social scientist and her analytical ability to the board, and is honored to be trusted with the responsibility. First introduced to the awesomeness of grocery cooperatives in Decorah Iowa during her undergraduate years, Beth was beyond excited when the Sugar Beet was a fundraising idea and became a member within months of the store opening. She likes to joke that she will always remember the store’s birthday, as it falls in the same week and year as her kiddo’s.
Bill Gee*
I would like to run for another term on the Sugar Beet board. My name is Bill Gee and I have been on & off the SB board since it’s founding. Normally, I have chosen to step aside whenever my past terms have expired to allow space for others to participate, but this year I am choosing to run for a concurrent term due to the challenges that immediately face the store. We have known for some time that a Pete’s Fresh Market is planning to open up a location across the street from our community food co-op and with that comes both opportunities (for differentiating ourselves) and challenges (expanded competition from another grocery chain store). My involvement within the Chicago food co-op landscape (ie Chicago Market & Dill Pickle) gives me unique context on what ideas can cross pollinate to assist our own store. My past career in the food industry (30 years owning a commercial food business in Chicago) also gives me some practical knowledge about the running a food centric business which in the past has been helpful when working with our past GM’s. I have over 12 years of non profit board experience, so I believe I can bring good board practices and temperament to the Sugar Beet board (but you’d have to ask my board peers to get an unbiased view on whether this is true or not LOL). Besides, the challenges/opportunities regarding Pete's, I think our other massive challenge is in reaching out to the broader community and creating avenues for inclusion. I believe that our current General Manager Katie Fountain does a great job with our staff and customers in this respect, but our board is not reflecting this aspect of our mission and while my presence on this board does not help the situation, I do intend to continue focusing on this subject and will work hard to help cultivate an open and inviting board environment. I would be honored to serve on the board for another term, but regardless of whether I am selected or not, my wife Sue and I will continue supporting the Sugar Beet through our shopping patterns, direct involvement and as vocal advocates for the store since we feel very passionate about what it brings to the community. Thank you for your consideration, Bill Gee
Chad Keast
Why would I like to run for the board? As an Oak Park resident and five year Co-op member I am running for the board of the Sugar Beet out of my love of supporting local food and wellness efforts. I’m an avid health food cook, environmental activist, and natural self care advocate. As an Oak Park small business (eco-conscious salon owner) I would love the opportunity to meet other residents and board members interested in promoting the vision and mission of the co-op in our community. I am passionate about my membership to local co-ops and the opportunities to share ideas on waste reduction, new food and household products and recipes. What would I bring to the board? I have previous and current experience bringing energy and excitement for volunteer and engagement outreach to the Masonic Children’s Hospital at the University of Minnesota where I helped create a non-toxic hair salon and wellness center for patents and families. I am one of the top ambassadors for Wigs for Kids, an organization the provides hair pieces for kids (up to 25 years old) experiencing hair loss from chemotherapy and other medical causes with hair pieces free of charge. I would like to help, grow, and learn from other board members to bring more opportunities to our co-op. As a member in my home state of Minnesota of the Wedge, Linden Hills, East Side, and Lakewinds Co-ops I love the individual focus of our stores and community impact. What do I see as Opportunities and Challenges for the Sugar Beet? Right now a big challenge is the economy for families and households which drives traffic to Amazon, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Costco. Getting residents more engaged to shop in our co-op and its cost reducing benefits like shopping bulk and owner sales while being in a store which is much more effective at reducing consumer waste and keeping shopping dollars local. Bringing young residents in to be active in promoting the values and mission of the co-op and promoting its values and making the processor fun is both a challenge and opportunity. Growing our membership and helping our members to be active in promoting all the benefits of the co-op for both health and environmental advocacy. Getting out to Oak Park events and having more presence to spread the word. The biggest opportunity and challenge I see is to turn on more people to the rewards and benefits of the local co-op as a welcoming place to everyone to check out new and exciting foods and products and why they are so much better for us.
Eric Medina
I’ve always enjoyed shopping at grocery stores. When traveling, I especially love visiting Food Coops whenever I can. This helps me assess the many different products offered to local individuals that are keen to eating a healthy lifestyle. My household enjoys cooking lots of dishes from scratch and always entice our friends & family to do the same as they always are impressed of what we eat. We remind them that it isn’t as hard as people make it seem. Although it is harder to find the right foods for the conscientious shopper, we have seen a shift in our society to promote better food decisions at home. This helps promote better well being not just for our families but our communities. As a board member, I’d like to push our mission further into other communities where some may not be aware that a Food Coop exists. A challenge I see in Chicago is that our city only has a couple of Food Coops. Those other food coops are primarily in the north side and only Sugar Beet coop to support near/around the west/south side of Chicago & Suburbs. Building our coop with other local coops can help promote a wider net of customers/members at affordable prices. My bio: Experienced Global Finance Financial Planning & Analysis leader in various industries, including Biotech, SaaS, Financial Services and Consumer goods. Always results driven especially in collaborative work environments. Expert with System initiatives in Finance Transformation projects at global scale. Willamette University, MBA – Portland, OR; University of Illinois at Chicago, B.S.; Bilingual: Spanish/English and basic Portuguese; Proud Members to: Sugar Beet and People’s Food Coop, Portland, OR.
Gaby Gerken
My first job out of college was at a food cooperative in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I started as a grocery stocker, and soon fell in love with the hum of the store as it became one of my third places, a space where I could connect with others over a shared interest in community and good food. Soon after I found myself in Kalamazoo, Michigan, once again working at a co-op, this time managing several City farmers markets as a department within the store. Working with hundreds of small farmers and makers over those years, I like to say that I helped small businesses live their dreams by giving them the space and support to grow from the market stand to the store shelves and beyond. These days I continue to work with small businesses through neighborhood community development, but every day I miss working directly on our food systems. Living two blocks from Sugar Beet has been a dream as I’m able to pop in throughout the week for all my basic needs. I’d like to run for the board because I want to continue to help grow a place that is so essential to my life. As for skills and experience, I spent five years working for food cooperatives and am well attuned with their values and benefits for the community. In addition, while in graduate school in Cincinnati I was a board member of my neighborhood farmers market. Overall, I have over ten years of experience in community development with work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including contributing specifically to a cooperative's strategic planning, rebranding, and yearly programming. In terms of the challenges facing Sugar Beet, I think access, affordability, and availability, are always something to overcome. Access because of our location, particularly in terms of the future opening of Pete’s across the avenue. Affordability because of the need to be cognizant of the recent price inflation on all aspects of our lives, which often changes our priorities and makes quality food expendable. And finally, availability because climate change will continue to impact food production, and the work to engage and educate shoppers on changes and seasonality of local food never ends. There’s also an immense opportunity to continue to grow the movement by lending a hand to help the numerous other co-ops throughout Chicagoland as they work to open their doors. We’re stronger together and our work isn’t a competition. By sharing resources, we can amplify our mission and our impact on our local food economy and continue to grow our work throughout the region. My experience gives me a unique perspective that inspires realistic solutions and I am confident I would be an asset to the board. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Glynis Kinnan
When I was eight years old, I read a book in which it was casually mentioned that the characters were vegetarians, and my life took a turn as it dawned on me that what one calls “food” matters, that dietary choices have impact. I stopped eating meat immediately and I embarked upon what was to become a lifelong passion for plant-based cuisine, and healthful, humane, and sustainable eating. My roots in this community run deep. I grew up in River Forest, went to Oak Park and River Forest High School, and then to Grinnell College, where I majored in English. After graduation, I moved to Oak Park, where I have lived ever since. I went to graduate school at UIC, where I earned a PhD in English and completed my training in secondary education. In June, I retired from Oak Park and River Forest High School, where I had been a member of the English division since 2005. During my time at the high school, I served on the executive committee of the teachers’ union, as well as on various other committees. Over the years, I have been involved in several community efforts. Specifically, I spearheaded a campaign to bring dog parks to the village and, along with Kathy Capone, I successfully lobbied the Village Board to support the housing of stray animals at the Animal Care League. I was also an early owner of Sugar Beet. I am a long-time active member of the Kadampa Buddhist Meditation Center on Harrison Street. Early on in Sugar Beet’s development I had considered running for the Board, but my job at the high school did not leave me with much spare time, and I did not think I could do justice to the role. What I think I bring to the table: an idealist’s vision coupled with a pragmatist’s ability to compromise; a commitment to the well-being of the whole community; a deftness with language. Skills I lack: I can balance a checkbook, but I am not a financial wizard; when I was young, I worked in a few restaurants, and I did work at both a White Hen Pantry and an IGA when I was in high school, but other than that, I don’t have any retail experience. As far as my sense of the opportunities and challenges facing Sugar Beet, I feel that I need to know more about how the store operates, about existing pressures, contingencies, strictures, et cetera, before I can astutely offer an opinion on this subject. I know that there are things I don’t know, and thus I am sure there are things I don’t know I don’t know. I appreciate your consideration of my candidacy, and I look forward to hearing from you if you think I might have something to contribute to the board.
Jim Doyle*
My wife Ana and I have been members of the Sugar Beet since before the doors opened and I have been delighted to serve on the Board since 2017. Throughout my 35 year career in finance, I have gained considerable experience in the consumer packaged goods and grocery industry having spent over 17 years with PepsiCo, many of those years focused on brands such as Tropicana, Naked Juice, Quaker, and Gatorade. From mid-2022 to 2023, I was fortunate to be able to work closely with the Sugar Beet team as the General Manager. That experience provided a deep foundational respect for the team and the day to day operations of our store, the dedication, love, inspiration which goes into it being the fabulous place and community we all know and love. Ana and I are passionate about healthy eating, supporting community, and leading sustainability efforts. Being a part of the Sugar Beet provides us the opportunity to be more in touch with the sources of our food and the practices with which it is grown, harvested and prepared while connecting to and supporting the local food community. I returned to the Board in late 2023, hope to serve another term starting this year, and look forward to continuing to engage with the Sugar Beet, its community, its owners, and its staff.
Peter Nolan*
I have been honored to serve as the Sugar Beet Board President for the past 8 years. In this time, we have built the Co-op into an Oak Park institution, collectively owned by more than 3,000 local families and employing over 30 wonderful people. We survived the pandemic thanks to our incredible team and the loyalty from all of you. This is an exciting time for the Beet as we challenge ourselves to further live our mission to Build Community Through Food. I greatly appreciate the trust you have put in me over the last 8 years and I would love to continue to serve the Co-op.
Sam Dali
My parents ran a grocery shop in India. Back in 1980s and 90s, I grew up in rural India and was raised on fresh, local food. As I grew up, worked and lived in cities in India, UK and US, I could not avoid packaged food with preservatives. Slowly, but surely, I noticed the ill effects of my new food habits. After being a mother, I became more aware and concerned about the food we ate as a family. I appreciate the role of fresh food movement in building a healthy community. Serving on the board would be my small effort to join the movement, to give back to this community and create an opportunity for future generations to experience good food. (2) As a child, I have seen the nitty-gritties of running a grocery store. As a professional, I have worked as a software programmer, project manager, a consultant and a business analyst. I am a chartered financial analyst. I can use my analytical, management and technology skills and my knowledge of finance for business process optimization, profitability analysis and enhancement. On the finance side, I can be useful with budgeting, capital allocation and treasury functions. People around me say I am an excellent cook. I use my optimization skills in the kitchen to minimize processing, maximize nutritive value while avoiding food waste. It would be great to apply these skills in the deli and kitchen operations at Sugar Beet. (3) Opportunities: Sugar Beet is a community owned grocery store. Most, if not all shoppers, are owners and are invested in the store. The board of directors are elected from the owners and are local people. They know what the customers need and have the ability to influence what the community eats. Sugar Beet is the only store of its kind in the vicinity. Challenges: Though, it is the only co-op, Sugar Beet is not the only grocery store in the area. It faces tough competition from other grocers, big and small. To stay competitive, attract and retain skilled employees, maintain profitability while fulfilling its mission is challenging.
Tamar Bobys
When my family was searching for a home in Oak Park, being within walking distance of the Sugar Beet Food Co-op was a top priority. The co-op has become ingrained in our weekly routine, often daily routine for sourcing fresh, organic produce for our meals. My passion for this co-op stems from my deep belief in the health and social benefits it provides. As an avid home cook who loves preparing meals for friends and family, having access to nutritious, ethically-sourced foods is important to me. Beyond that, I recognize Sugar Beet's role in building connections and empowering our community through the cooperative model. This aligns with my personal values and drive to strengthen the communities I'm a part of. Shortly after moving to Chicago, I got involved with Youth Guidance, supporting under-served youth. In 2019, I joined the Working on Womanhood (WOW) Advisory Board in support under-served middle school and high school girls in Chicagoland. More recently in Oak Park, I have volunteered with the Migrant Ministry to assist Venezuelan migrants. In my professional life at Amazon Web Services, I collaborate with a large retailer to evaluate technologies to transform their business, simplify operations, and improve the customer experience. I have also been a leader in prioritizing inclusion, diversity, and equity (ID&E). I helped establish ID&E communications for my region and then mentored teams to repeat this work across the organization. I hope to draw upon my professional expertise in strategic planning, technology evaluation, operations management, and passion for community-building as a board member for Sugar Beet. Having been a member for the past year, I have witnessed the co-op's importance to Oak Park and to my family. I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to help steer Sugar Beet’s future while staying true to its founding cooperative principles. My motivation comes from a genuine desire to have a meaningful impact in the community I call home. I would be honored to earn your trust and be elected to the Sugar Beet Co-op Board of Directors. Thank you for your consideration.
*INCUMBENT
