Chris Maher, general manager of BriarPatch Food Co-op in California, won the 2024 Cooperative Service Award, presented at the Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) recent annual conference in Portland, Maine. This award goes to someone who has contributed outstanding and sustained work in consumer cooperatives.

CCMA is presented by the UW-Madison Center for Cooperatives (UWCC) has served as an interdisciplinary teaching and research center for all sectors and types of cooperatives since 1962: https://uwcc.wisc.edu/

Chris Maher’s passion for co-ops began as a member of the management team at La Montañita Co-op (New Mexico), overseeing the food service department. He joined the BriarPatch team in 2007 as the food service manager and was named general manager in 2009.

His involvement in co-op governance at the national level includes past service as board vice president and president of the National Co+op Grocers (NCG); he currently sits on the board of the NCG Development Cooperative as well as on its nominations committee. Locally, Maher has served on the Nevada County Food Policy Council and regularly promotes the work of Sierra Harvest, a non-profit group that supports local farmers and healthy food-to-school lunch programs.

Under Maher’s leadership, BriarPatch has grown to two stores (Grass Valley and Auburn), and annual sales have grown from $10 million to $50 million. The Grass Valley store has significantly improved its energy efficiency with the installation of a solar array that provides half the store’s electricity needs and new lighting and refrigeration equipment that cut energy demands. An electric vehicle charging station was installed in the parking lot for customers.

Chris has worked hard on the co-op’s JEDI initiatives, from perspectives of both sensitivity and allyship. DEI training and workshops for staff, along with thoughtful planning with management and community, is an ongoing theme of the co-op’s work. Chris drafted a resolution recognizing the 8th Cooperative Principle of an unequivocal commitment to creating a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, which the BriarPatch board adopted in August. It was sent to

Briar Patch crew at CCMA

the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), which added it to its “Declarations of Cooperative Identity” to serve as a model for other cooperatives.

Says BriarPatch Marketing Director Rebecca Torpie: “We were thrilled to be able to recognize Chris in front of his peers for all the fantastic work he’s done for co-ops. BriarPatch stands out as one of the leaders in independent grocers and food co-ops because of his strong, caring leadership.”

Adds BriarPatch board member Mark Fenton: “As a longtime board member and treasurer of the BriarPatch Food Co-op, I was thrilled to be there to see Chris get such a prestigious and richly deserved recognition for the impressive work he has done to make BriarPatch one of the most successful co-ops in the nation and for the mentoring and service he continues to provide to developing co-ops across the country. We are so fortunate to have him as our GM.”

Thanks to BriarPatch Communications and Media Coordinator Paula O’Brien for orginal information.