Join us in welcoming newly elected board members to our cooperative (see sidebar). Thank you to all our candidates for running and to all our members who took the time to vote in this year’s election. An exciting slate of six candidates running for three seats garnered doubled our quorum for participation.

Anna Boyer and Charity Schmidt are new to our board and we welcome back Julie Ristau who was an incumbent. All three add important experience and representation to our board, including diversity in geography, co-op sector representation, gender equity and participation in agricultural and tech industries. Our board is made up of 73% female or non-binary identifying individuals, 36% people of color and we have representation from worker, farmer, food and housing cooperatives.

What does our board look like?

Shared Capital has an eleven-member Board of Directors elected by the members of Shared Capital. Ten of the seats represent Shared Capital’s cooperative members and one seat represents Shared Capital’s individual members (Interested in joining? Go here). All seats have three-year terms and seats are “staggered” so that three or four seats are up for election per year. Because our individual class has one seat on the board, they are only asked to participate every three years when that seat is up for election.

How do our elections work?

Shared Capital is a cooperative and holds democratic elections for its board using a one-member, one-vote process. We hold competitive elections which are held electronically to maximize the opportunity to participate. Our quorum required for a successful election is 10%.

Nominees must be endorsed by a cooperative that is a member in good standing. We seek a board with skills and experience in a variety of realms including cooperative governance, finance, lending, investing, law, marketing, member engagement, cooperative development, CDFIs, and all cooperative sectors. Most importantly we are looking for people who are committed to our mission and our work and able to participate fully on the board and at least one committee.