Greetings from the GM Selection Committee of the Co-op Board!

We’re currently made up of Board members Rufina Garay, Alicia Dominguez and ocean mason. The Board’s Selection Committee is moving forward with the next steps in hiring our next General Manager, and want to outline our process for you.

We’ve contracted with Carolee Colter, a consultant with a lot of experience supporting co-op boards in hiring general managers. She knows our co-op from when she conducted employee surveys 2002-2014 and worked with the leadership team on building out HR systems during that time. She'll serve as the project manager for the hiring process, working closely with the Selection Committee.

The Board will also contract with a recruiter that specializes in the grocery industry and has experience recruiting GMs for other food co-ops.

An early and important part of this process is clarifying the characteristics, skills, and qualifications we want our next GM to have. To do this well, the Board will be gathering input from a variety of sources to identify qualities that reflect the needs and priorities of the Co-op as a whole.

This is the most meaningful stage for community input. Hearing from you helps the Board better understand what matters most and assess how potential candidates align with our needs.

Here’s a timeline for this part of the process:

January

• Formal survey of the Board

• Formal survey of general manager and management

• Informal survey of staff. This will be posters that people can write on and add sticky dots to emphasize important qualities. We’ll also take direct written input

• Convenience sampling of Members-Owners as the Board does outreach

February

• The Board will look at the data and prioritize characteristics

• Completed Job Description will be available and recruiting can begin

 
Thanks for taking the time to share your perspectives! If you have questions you can reach out directly to us at GMSuccession@foodcoop.coop

Best,

ocean mason for the GM Succession Committee