Joseph G. Bergeron President of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions

Joseph G. Bergeron is President of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions, a state- wide trade association. He has been President since 1982, and affiliated with the organization since 1978 when he began as a consultant to member credit unions.

As chief executive of the association, Joe is the chief political advocate for credit unions with Vermont's state and federal legislators. In addition, he and his staff provide technical and advisory support for credit unions, provide educational resources for credit union staff and volunteers, and arrange for group purchasing of discounted programs to support the operations of Vermont credit unions.

Joe is actively involved in the national credit union movement. He currently serves on the board of directors the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and participates in several committees of both the Credit Union National Association and the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL). His involvement in national credit union issues has included cooperative development, legislative and regulatory issues and advocacy, among others.

Beyond duties in Vermont and with the national association, Joe serves on the supervisory committee of TRICORP Federal Credit Union and is a past board member and chair. He also was a founding member and past chairman of the Cooperative Development Institute. The Institute develops cooperatives and explores inter-coop business opportunities throughout the northeast. He serves as a board member of the Energy Cooperative of Vermont, a growing local heating fuel cooperative. Additionally, he serves as chairman of the Far Post Soccer Club, the largest youth soccer organization in the state, and was recently appointed by Congressman Peter Welch to his Business Advisory Council to provide input on key federal legislative issues.

Roberta MacDonald Senior Vice President of Marketing, Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Thirty years of consumer product and trade marketing experience, including the last twenty for Cabot Creamery Cooperative of Vermont where she is the SVP of Marketing. MacDonald previously served with the Vermont Agency of Commerce as the state's first Marketing Director. Prior to moving to Vermont, MacDonald provided marketing consulting services for the San Francisco Opera, National Endowment for the Arts, American Express, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. With Cabot, MacDonald prides herself on working to support farm families throughout New England and New York. MacDonald also serves as Chair of the National Cheese Institute's Marketing Committee, sits on the Community Advisory Committee for Palliative Care Service at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and is active as an Advisory Board member for the National Kidney Registry. She is also a frequent volunteer in the kitchen for the local hospice.

Art Woolf Associate Professor, University of Vermont

From 1988 to 1991 Art Woolf was the State Economist for Governor Madeleine Kunin. Mr. Woolf performed economic impact analysis of many public policy initiatives during his public career. Art is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin. He lectures widely on economic issues in Vermont, and has published articles in professional journals and contributed chapters to edited volumes. Art blogs at vermonttiger.com.

Paul Hazen President and CEO, National Cooperative Business Association

Paul Hazen has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Cooperative Business Association since 1998. He is well-known for his knowledge of the co-operative sector and speaks often at national and international forums on the role of co-operatives in community and economic development. He has led several important NCBA initiatives including the creation of .coop, the top-level Internet domain exclusively for co-operatives. Since coming online in early 2002, the .coop domain has enhanced public awareness of co-operatives and created new business opportunities by allowing co-ops to differentiate their member-owned businesses from other domains. Since 1998 NCBA's international co-operative development program has grown to more than $20 million in annual funding. Paul also serves on the boards of the Consumer Federation of America and the NCB Credit Corporation. He served on the ICA board from 2005 to 2009 and was re-elected at the ICA General Assembly in Geneva for another four-year term.

Adam R. Necrason Founding and Managing Member, Sirotkin & Necrason

Adam serves as lead statehouse lobbyist for the Association of Vermont Credit Unions. He is also Vermont's leading expert on how 501c3, c4, and c6 nonprofit organizations' advocacy and lobbying activity is enabled and governed by the Internal Revenue Code and Vermont lobbying laws. He regularly provides trainings on these matters for the Vermont Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations.

Adam has special public and media relations expertise that clients tap for everything from statehouse steps press conferences and placement of feature editorial pieces to management of major paid media and public relations campaigns (TV, radio, print, direct mail, door-to-door canvassers).

He holds a Master of Environmental Law degree and Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts. After graduating law school, Adam was an associate at the law firm of Mickenberg, Dunn, Sirotkin & Dorsch, where he supported complex consumer litigation and state house lobbying.

Since 1998, Adam has worked exclusively in Vermont state government and public affairs. He has been a lead advocate for many state capital victories, including: HMO consumer protections; Downtown revitalization; Clear-cutting restrictions; Opiate addiction treatment and prevention; Auto insurance consumer protections; and over $100M of state funding for affordable housing construction and land conservation.

Betsy Black Outreach Coordinator, Cooperative Fund of New England

Betsy Black is an Outreach Coordinator with the Cooperative Fund of New England, working with current and potential borrowers, providing technical assistance, administration of the loan portfolio, and marketing the Fund in the northwestern part of New England. Betsy's background is working with community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and nonprofit organizations. She is a long time cooperative member, volunteer, board and committee member, and enthusiast. Betsy assists CDFIs nationally with capitalization and strategic planning, and instructs for Opportunity Finance Network and Oweesta Corporation. She formerly worked for the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund for a decade as Capitalization and Communications Director before starting her own consulting business in 2002.

Don Kreis Associate Director & Assistant Professor of Law, Vermont Law School

Don Kreis is associate director and assistant professor of law, at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School, where he is writing about democratically run electric cooperatives. He serves as Vice President of the Cooperative Fund of New England, Norwich and has served on the board of the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society in Hanover, NH since 2003, including three years as president. He has a special interest in governance and fiduciary responsibility of boards. Don is enthusiastic about the cooperative model and its need for capital.

Erbin Crowell Executive Director, Neighboring Food Co-op Association

Erbin Crowell serves as Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA). Prior to joining the NFCA, he served as Marketing and Co-op Relations Manager for the Co-operative Fund of New England and was for over a decade a member of Equal Exchange, a worker co-operative and pioneer in the Fair Trade movement. Erbin has presented at many conferences including the Consumer Co-operative Management Association, the National Co-operative Business Association and the Vermont Employee Ownership Conference, and teaches an introductory course on the international co-operative movement at the University of Connecticut. He holds a Masters Degree in Management: Co-operatives & Credit Unions from St. Mary's University and serves on the board of the National Co-operative Business Association.

Sonja Novkovic (Ph.D.) Professor of Economics, Saint Mary's University

Sonja Novkovic (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Economics at Saint Mary's University. Her research interests are in the field of labor-managed and cooperative firms, social economy, and comparative economics. She has applied evolutionary economics and learning via genetic algorithms as tools of modeling adaptive economic agents. She is the past president of the International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP) and past Vice President of the Canadian Association for Studies in Cooperation (CASC).

Don Jamison Program Director

Don Jamison has worked in the employee ownership field for twelve years. He is a founder of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center where he helps plan and deliver VEOC's educational offerings, and works with those in established companies to assess the potential of employee ownership for their businesses.

Noémi Giszpenc Executive Director, Cooperative Development Institute

Noémi Giszpenc, Executive Director of the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), comes from a background as a management consultant at Ownership Associates, Inc providing training, research, and communications support to employee-owned firms and cooperative and community development-related enterprises. Her most recent work includes research and writing on the Italian cooperative system, including sophisticated methods of co-op to co-op cooperation, financial innovations for community development, and asset development for people with disabilities. She is a founder of the Data Commons Cooperative... a nascent co-op of organizations and institutions, including CDI, NCBA, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE), Equal Exchange, Cooperative Maine, and the Solidarity Economy Network (SEN)... cooperating to share data about cooperative economic activity in order to help their members and the public gain a stronger understanding and better ability to connect with cooperatives and other solidarity economy enterprises.

Aaron Additon Relationship Manager, PowerPay

Aaron Additon, Relationship Manager for PowerPay's Financial Institution Group, acts as the liaison between the company and its financial institution clients and their branches. In this capacity he educates financial institution staff, meets with business merchants, markets PowerPay's products in cooperation with the financial institution, and manages referred leads. Prior to joining PowerPay in September 2007, he accumulated more than 8 years of varied banking and financial institution experience.

Lynda Brushett, Ph.D. Senior Partner

Lynda Brushett, Ph. D. brings more than 30 years of community and economic development experience to her work at the Cooperative Development Institute. She leads CDI's delivery of marketing, strategic planning, conflict resolution, organizational development, venture feasibility analysis and business planning technical assistance and specializes in food, agriculture and natural resources sectors.