Zimbelman named to Cooperative Hall of Fame
A former North Coast Co-op director, Karen Zimbelman, who now serves as senior director of Membership and Cooperative Relations with National Co+op Grocers, will be inducted in October to the Cooperative Hall of Fame.
Zimbelman was an early innovator in the local, regional and national cooperative movement playing a pivotal role in advancing cooperative enterprises from board rooms to the retail floor.
Her cooperative career began in the 1980s at the North American Students of Cooperation, where she implemented board of director trainings. After three years as North Coast Co-op’s director of membership and human resources in Humboldt County, Zimbelman began her next career phase as a cooperative consultant. During this time, she served as the newsletter editor for the Association of Co-op Educators, developed a tailored co-op orientation manual for food co-op staff and served as the executive director for the Cooperative Grocers’ Information Network, Northwest Cooperative Grocers’ Association and Pacific Cooperative Grocers’ Association.
Under her leadership, CGIN became a vital consumer co-op resource, housing an extensive library of job descriptions, operation manuals, recipes, board training and more. She also authored and published a manual to instruct others on “How to Start a Food Co-op.”
As the founding executive director for two regional cooperative grocers’ associations, she established and managed regional supply agreements, promotions, training, audits and other programs. In that role, she became a contributor to a movement to form a national food co-op association — an effort that ultimately resulted in the formation of the National Co+op Grocers, which today represents 148 food co-ops in 39 states.
She was also awarded the Cooperative Service Award for dedicated leadership and service to cooperatives at the Consumer Cooperative Management Association Conference in 1994 and was recognized for her outstanding contribution to cooperative education by the Association of Cooperative Educators.