Dear Co-op Members,
Following a unanimous decision, the Board is pleased to announce that Amanda Charland will be Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society’s next General Manager. Amanda has been with the Co-op since 2012 when she was hired as Sustainability Coordinator. In 2015 she became Director of Member Services and Outreach and is currently Director of Cooperative Engagement. Amanda will begin her new role as General Manager on April 30th, 2022.
The search for the Co-op’s next General Manager was led by a Board-appointed Search Committee that consisted of four Directors, one of whom is also an employee, three member-owners, all of whom had experience in human resources, and the Co-op’s Director of Administrative Operations. The Committee went through an extensive process of collecting feedback from employees and member-owners. Employees from each Co-op location and over 150 member-owners participated. The Carlisle Group, a large recruiting firm that places grocery retail leaders around the country, was hired by the Board to facilitate a high-level search. The Committee and Board interviewed a variety of qualified candidates.
Amanda demonstrates a strong commitment to the Co-op, its employees and member-owners, and to the broader community. In her time at the Co-op, she has initiated programs ranging from waste reduction to marketing tools like value propositions and personas that link us more closely to our member-owners and shoppers. She has led teams at the Co-op responsible for launching innovative social programs such as Pennies for Change, Double-Up-Food Bucks (a food access program) and the Co-op Car Connects program at the Service Centers. She oversaw quality improvements in the offerings at the Culinary Learning Center. Her leadership style is people-centric, an attribute noted as important to both employees and member-owners in the feedback sessions conducted by the Search Committee and the Board.
In addition to her Bachelor’s Degree from Marlboro College, Amanda has a Master’s Degree in Management from St. Mary’s University with a focus on Cooperatives and Credit Unions, as well as a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Marlboro Graduate School. She embodies our cooperative principles, has a depth of institutional knowledge, and is in tune with the values and needs of our community. The Co-op, with roughly 350 employees and over 25,000 members, is the second oldest and second largest grocery cooperative in the country. Amanda is passionate about carrying our collective vision forward and ensuring the success of all our stakeholders.
Amanda will be the first woman to lead the Co-op as General Manager in its 87-year history.
We are confident that Amanda will steer the Co-op towards continued success as we emerge from the pandemic; increase support and compensation for employees; expand relationships with community partners, including vendors and farmers; and dramatically reduce our impact on our climate and environment. We congratulate Amanda, and are excited to welcome her into this new role.
Nick Clark
President, HCCS Board of Directors
Board of Directors
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