Co-op Advisory Board

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the Cooperative Development Center created the Cooperative Development Center Advisory Board in the spring of 2024. Creating the board was an essential step in the expansion of the Center’s work and engagement of various professional groups and communities in the three states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The Advisory Board will provide additional technical assistance, enhance accountability to stakeholder groups, offer valuable guidance to RMFU Center staff and contractors, and contribute to marketing and fundraising. Advisory Board members are alert to emerging trends within their expertise and networks. 

The Advisory Board comprises individuals with expertise in cooperative development, rural and community economic development, nonprofit organizations, finance and fundraising, marketing, agricultural programs, and state and federal grants. Members represent local food systems, environmental and community resiliency, equitable land access, affordable housing, and disaster preparedness and response. The advisory board members consult with the Center about specific programs, funding opportunities, new collaborations, and overall strategy. Advisory Board meetings are important places for discussing new and ongoing projects.  

The Advisory Board initially consists of three members; that number will grow to five or seven as we recruit representatives from New Mexico and Wyoming. Representation from BIPOC and other underserved communities is essential to Advisory Board membership. Advisory Board members have stagged three-year terms, participate in at least two hybrid meetings per year, contribute to focused, online discussions, join working groups as appropriate, and attend the RMFU annual conference in November.  

The Advisory Board members are important ambassadors for the RMFU Co-op Center. They help raise awareness and build partnerships that further the mission and objectives of the Center, and its specific projects. The Chair acts as liaison with the Center Director and another RMFU Leadership Team member.  

The Advisory Board members can share knowledge from their respective experiences and standpoints. They can expand their professional networks and access resources while helping to strengthen the Center’s standing among cooperative support organizations. The board members’ insights will be instrumental in shaping the future of cooperative development and sustainable agriculture in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.  

The RMFU Co-op Center is pleased to announce that we have recruited three advisory board members to our co-op team. These board members have extensive working relationships with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union organization, and we are excited to get them involved further. Joining us from San Luis Valley is Liza Marron, the founding director of the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition in one of Colorado’s most important agricultural regions. The Coalition fosters an equitable local food system that restores the health of the people, community, economy, and ecosystem. She has been a community organizer focusing on social justice, wellness, and prevention for many years. Liza has a master’s degree in Community Counseling and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. Her skill set includes coalition building, grant writing, governance, visioning and strategic planning, nonprofit management, finance, and economic development. She was part of a community cohort in 1999 that conducted assessments and founded the Saguache County Sustainable Economic Development (ScSEED). Marron has retired from the SLVLFC and now serves as a Saguache County Commissioner. She has been a Rocky Mountain Farmers Union member since 2016 and serves as the San Luis Valley Chapter Secretary. Liza lives in Saguache, Colorado, with horses, dogs, a cat, chickens, a garden, and a bicycle. 

Chuck Holum is an attorney specializing in cooperative development, renewable energy, agriculture, rural development, and rural health issues. Chuck provided organizational solutions for meat producers in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, helping them organize and finance the Ranchers Choice Cooperative; assisted the Mountain View Harvest Cooperative, a bakery established by a large group of wheat growers, with incorporation, organizational issues, and financing; and has helped incorporate and develop dozens of smaller cooperatives and nonprofits. Chuck also helped organize, incorporate, and obtain financing for Colorado HealthOP, a health insurance cooperative in Colorado.  

Linda Phillips has her practice at Phillips Law Offices LLC. She is also currently Senior Counsel at Jason Wiener PC, a public benefit corporation based in Denver, Colorado, working part-time as a mentor and trainer. Linda obtained a J.D. from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law in 2003. Before that, starting in 1991, she worked as a paralegal, providing legal services to cooperatives throughout Colorado, with the attorney James B. Dean. Linda represents small to medium-sized businesses, emphasizing all types of cooperatives, including marketing, purchasing, consumer, and worker co-ops. Her work includes cooperative formations, business structural analysis, and general counsel for the cooperative community related to their business enterprises. Linda advises clients about cooperative entities and tax issues involved with starting a company or converting to an employee-owned entity. Linda helped form and was on the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center’s Board of Directors, a nonprofit promoting employee-owned business models in Colorado. She helped the organization to grow and focus its efforts on employee ownership as a viable alternative to today’s corporate culture. Linda is retiring from direct client services but will continue participating in the cooperative community through writing and speaking engagements.  

All of us at the Center look forward to working with these professionals, growing the Advisory Board, and expanding the reach of the Center’s activities.