Columinate members will be among the many presenters and trainers at the 2025 CCMA conference, to be held in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 29-31. They will join a few hundred co-op directors, managers, and key staff from a network of food co-ops and national allies. The CCMA conference, sponsored by UWCC, is a spirited and busy three days of challenging speakers, workshops, local tours, networking, award presentations, and a bang-up closing party.

LaDonna Sanders Redmond, diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant and a Columinate member, will moderate a Friday keynote on “Evolving Cooperative Identity: Strengthening the Future of Co-ops in 2025 and Beyond.” Additionally, she will moderate a keynote on Saturday, discussing “Everyone Welcome? Challenging the Myth of Inclusion in Food Co-ops.”

Sanders Redmond, who is board vice president at Seward Community Co-op, also will join Seward General Manager Raynardo Williams for a Saturday presentation on “Crisis, Chaos, and Calamity: Getting through hard times at your co-op.”

Jeanie Wells, Columinate consultant on retail grocery and co-op development, will join National Co+op Grocers CEO C.E. Pugh for a Friday session on “Grocery Industry and NCG Co-op System Update.”

Also on Friday, Laura King of Columinate will present on “Brave Conversations, Stronger Co-ops: Cultivating Dialogue for Change,” joined by Jon Steinman, an accredited professional dialogue practitioner.

On Saturday, Columinate members Ben Sandel and Rose Marie Klee will present on ”Board Compensation: Current data and thinking on paying board members for their service.”

Top sponsors of the CCMA conference are Columinate, National Co+op Grocers, and CoBank, with other leading sponsors Frontier Co-op Herbs and Cooperative Development Foundation. Support also came from Wegner CPAs, Organic Valley, National Cooperative Bank, and Local Enterprise Assistance Fund. Additional friends of CCMA and exhibitors at the conference are Food Co-op Initiative, Pachamama, Shared Capital Cooperative, Dorsey, Maple Valley, Saint Mary’s University, Neighboring Food Co-op, Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Cabot Creamery, and Seven Roots.