BECOME A BOARD MEMBER

A Board of at least 5 Directors is required for our co-op. Members are voted in at our Annual Member’s Meeting for 2 year terms to govern and oversee the health and wellbeing of the co-op. Speak to one of our current Board Members if you are interested in joining the Board.

Board Meetings

Board meetings are held monthly and are open to any member who would like to attend. Currently, Directors review co-op business, collectively develop operations, vote on important issues, and provide vital direction and advice for Growing Our Co-op Together.

Officers - 2024

• President – Dan McManus (since 2016)

• Vice-President -

• Secretary – Catherine Dodge Smith

• Treasurer – Karine Bouis-Towe (2023)

Directors - 2024

• Nikki Needham (2024)

• Shawn Grider (2024)

• Lucy O’Leary (Chair 2024)

Thank you to our former Board Members!

• Erin Henley (2023)

• Danette Koke (2023)

• Marc Clifton (2023)

• Elizabeth Angelo (2012)

• Jennifer Shiffman (since 2020)

• Gabriel Zeltzter (since 2020)

• Mayor Clarence Speed (2012)

• Jim Cashen (2012)

• Jeff French (2012 - 2013)

• Laura Summer (2014 - 2015)

• Irene Young (2014 - 2016)

• Charlie Doheny (2015 - 2017)

• Linda Van der Muelen (since 2018)

• Abby Laufer (since 2015)

• Michelle Koch Botta (2019)

• Lynda Akerman (since 2015)

• Bambi Bishop (since 2017)

• Eileen Ordu (2019)

• Elizabeth Angello (2012)

• Erin Corrigan (2023)

• Roxanne Wilkes (2023)

Thank you to our owner-members who formed the Collaboration Team to develop the Philmont Cooperative and its business plan.

• Kathy Abeyatunge

• Elizabeth Angello

• Sally Baker, Philmont Beautification, Inc.

• Faith Benson

• Sheri Bolevice

• Irene Young

Board Member Bios:

Board President - Dan McManus

Dan McManus is the co-founder and owner of Common Hands Farm and Common Hands Farm Stone Masonry.

An entrepreneur and alternative economics scholar, Dan put his passion for community and cooperative economics to work.  He studied at Goddard College and started his first business with Castle Masonry, a cooperative masonry company. He then moved on to Create Common Hands Farm,  a family farm which has offered stable employment and farmer training to 120 employees and apprentices over the course of 12 years.

Dan was involved in bringing forward a blueprint for the Philmont Market and Café which was first put together by PBI, and the founding team of the Co-op.  This model struck a chord and stood out in particular to him as one with the most potential.  As a vendor at the Philmont Farmers Market for many years, Common Hands Farm garnered firsthand experience in the Village’s needs and saw the Co-op’s potential to provide affordable access to healthy food for the community.

Dan has served on the Philmont Cooperative’s board for six years, a term which is soon coming to a close. Dan has remained on the board in the hope that the Co-op can try a different approach towards engaging our wider community and providing a structure and trellis for food entrepreneurs to plant and grow their ideas.   He looks forward to a new chapter of clarity, accountability, and clear presentation of our truly revolutionary and vitally important ideas. Dan is a believer in the Idea that a community can strive towards engagement and mutuality in our food system. 

Dan McManus has also had the pleasure of serving on other boards, including Cornell Cooperative Extension, Agrarian Trust and The Hudson Midweek Farmers’ Market.   

He is a local farm inspector for the “Naturally Grown” certification label.

As Dan phases out of his board position, he looks forward to forming a committee of producers who can work together to put effort into our store’s presentation, the availability of product, and the never ending puzzle of general food affordability for our community. 

Treasurer - Karine Bouis-Towe

Karine has been passionate and a dedicated cooperative market shopper since her first days on her own in Asheville, NC and continuing in Washington, DC where there are several cooperatives to choose from.  She spent a few years working as a Project Manager trying to help a community group create a new food co-op in the H Street, NE DC neighborhood, this cooperative did not come to fruition but gave her experience in forming food co-op feasibility studies, business plans and cooperative business grants.

Karine is a part-time farmer, she owns and manages Retrograss Farm on Rigor Hill Rd. about 10 minutes from Philmont.  In addition, she works part-time in the IT profession and has worked as administrative support and developing new initiatives at the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School.  She has also held the position of Board Treasurer for other community initiatives over the past few years.

Secretary - Catherine Dodge Smith

As I’ve lived in Philmont the last six years. I’ve watched the Philmont Coop grow and go through many changes over time . I’ve been an ardent supporter of the Coop and the life it brings to our village. I’ve spent my life being an actress, a photojournalist, a mother of a child with Down Syndrome, and a Camphill coworker at Camphill Soltane.

From 1986-1996 I was a founding member of a cooperative of progressive photographers around the world. It was called Impact Visuals. I helped run the coop and was also a photographer, based in NYC and traveling the world.

For ten years I was co-owner and CFO of Basilica Industry in Hudson NY.

2000-2010. The 1850’s forge and foundry building was a place for community to gather, a place of public assembly, art, music, theatre and circus, to name a few. The city of Hudson wanted to tear it down and put up a parking lot. We were able to intervene and begin an idea of reclamation. and culture.

From 2011- 2016 I was a teacher and co-worker at Camphill Soltane, where I was responsible for many young individuals with special needs.While I ran the day house, I learned so much about working with all different personalities and abilities.

Director - Shawn Grider

I am the owner/president of Regeneration Contracting LTD, a residential remodeling and construction company. I am expert in all phases of remodeling ,renovation and restoration. I have been a resident of Philmont since 2018 and a member of the Philmont Coop since 2020. I have a long and strong interest in healthy, local, natural food and nutrition. I am passionate about cooking and eating an organic and whole foods diet sourced as locally as possible. I am currently perusing a certificate in permaculture design and permaculture education. Locally one of the projects I am most proud of is the Giving Garden at Free Columbia located at 11 Maple Ave. The giving Garden is a cooperative gardening project focused on Healthy Biodynamic food, organic gardening education and local food security. Our goal is to cooperatively raise abundant vegetables for ourselves and to share with our neighbors. I believe in living a principle centered life based on honesty and integrity that embraces community and finds the best in all of us.

Board Meeting Chair - Lucy O’Leary

8/12/1973

Born in The Royal Forest of Dean in England in a Medieval castle! Parents divorced aged 3. Moved to Papua New Guinea at age 6 with mother & step-father. ‘Commuted’ back and forth between PNG and UK for the next 8 years (father was in UK) Back to England in 1987, finished school and went to Warwick University- studied English Language and Literature-BA. After Uni, spent the next 4 years traveling and working around the globe. In late 20’s settled into a career in the YHA (Youth Hostel Association). Was managing the largest hostel in England, located in London, when I decided I wanted to volunteer in America.

After researching different volunteer organizations, I decided upon Camphill, Triform, in Columbia County. This was at the ripe old age of 30, in 2003. I settled into community life immediately, and decided this was my path. I love building community.

After leaving Camphill life in 2021, I landed in Chatham, and very quickly made a relationship with the managers at the Co-op, who invited me to apply for the Co-Manager position. My main focus at the Co-op is outreach, membership, marketing & community building, but I am deeply involved in every aspect of running the store- buying, pricing, HR, training, merchandising, and I attend all Board Meetings. I organize the yearly Member Meeting. I organize community events and I manage our social media pages as well as writing our monthly newsletter. I love working at the Co-op. I am excited about being on the Board of the Philmont Co-op, as I believe I have expertise to offer, as well as a belief that Cooperatives are stronger together.

Director - Nikki Needham

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND PROGRAMMING

Philmont Beautification, Inc., provides ongoing grant writing & administration, and technical assistance and program development continuing our long-term collaboration with the not-for-profit community development organization who funded the re-adapt renovations of the co-op building and site, equipped the kitchen and market, and was a member of the Collaboration Team. To make a donation to support ongoing technical assistance and educational programs for the Philmont Cooperative contact PBI at info@pbinc.org.