Staff & Board

Steve Cooke has been the General Manager of Friendly City Food Co-op since August of 2010. He came back to the Shenandoah Valley to be part of the start-up team there and apply all of the experience, skills, and local food system building tools he acquired as GM of Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Atlanta, GA, where he worked for 16 years. Steve has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Journalism from James Madison University in Harrisonburg. Steve likes to say that he “has a degree in Political Science and Communications, and that’s why he runs a food co-op,” tying the politics of food, and the building of strong community relationships.

Anne is the Managing Director for food systems work, including the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, at Reinvestment Fund. In this role, she leads grant and technical assistance programs for local and national initiatives to improve access to healthy food in underserved rural and urban areas. She has been engaged with cooperatives for over 15 years, including being on the boards of a student co-op association and a number of food co-ops in Philadelphia and Denver. She helped found two co-op support organizations, The Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance and the Center for Community Wealth building in Denver. Anne also has experience as an entrepreneur, federal grant writer for food systems and economic development organizations, small business lender, and community organizer. She is passionate about creating community-led solutions to achieve racial and economic justice and food sovereignty.

Jamila Medley is a relationship weaver, culture worker, and artist working at the intersections of the personal and organizational. She is committed to ensuring that the organizations we build and the spaces we inhabit serve as sites of liberation, resilience, and care.
Through Medley Transitions, Jamila supports a variety of solidarity economy-based organizations through emergent and designed change, often providing governance and strategic planning support.
In 2023, Jamila created the Black Women at Home Project. It complements her work in systemic transformation as a cultural archive project focused on visibilizing the ways Black women embody and celebrate home.

Since 2021, Jamila has stewarded the Collective Courage Fund which is housed at The Partnership Fund. She serves as board chair of the People’s Media Fund and on the board of directors of Food Co-op Initiative. Jamila is a former board member and Executive Director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA).

Darnell Adams is a Boston-based certified leadership coach, facilitator, and strategist with over two decades of experience with non-profit, for profit and cooperative businesses. She has been recognized by Boston Magazine as a “Thought Leader” and part of “Boston’s new power class: the visionaries, idealists and thinkers among us whose insights are transforming the way we live, work, learn, play”. Darnell is a developer and facilitator of strategic plans, special projects and workshops, and provides expertise and training on an array of topics including transformational leadership and understanding bias and power.

Darnell holds a Master of Education from Harvard University. Darnell is the President and co-owner of Firebrand Cooperative, a women-owned worker cooperative specializing in change management for mission-driven organizations.

Richard has been an advocate for co-ops his entire 30+ year career. He was in a student co-op in college and has worked for the National Cooperative Business Association, the National Cooperative Bank (where he managed the Food Co-op 500 which later became FCI), and the Credit Union National Association, now America’s Credit Unions. He also serves on the board of the Belfast Community Cooperative and Shared Capital Cooperative.

Gerardo has served as executive director of LEAF for the last five years, spearheading the Fund’s move into retail food co-ops and healthy food financing. He joined LEAF after spending many years in the commercial banking and investment management field. His background includes ten years as a Vice President at First National Bank of Chicago, and 15 years in investment management in the positions of Portfolio Manager and Senior Vice President with Baring Asset Management and John Hancock funds. He has a master’s degree in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John leads NCGs Business Expansion team which advises members and future members in the planning and implementation of store reinvestments, relocations, and new store projects. John has over 20 years of experience in retail real estate development and asset management with expertise in market & financial analysis, lease negotiation, program development, and portfolio management, with 10 of those years advising co-ops.

amaha is a peacebuilder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver, and lover of humanity.  He is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Applied Social Issues at Sinclair Community College in Dayton Ohio. amaha is a practitioner-scholar dedicated to building bridges of trust, healing historical wounds, and harnessing the unique gifts and talents of every human being as we press towards a just and equitable society.  As the former chair of the Dayton Human Relations Council Board, his areas of interest include health and education equity, praxis, dismantling structural violence, and getting the voice of marginalized communities into the center of public policy to emerge structures of belonging that acknowledge the dignity and worth of every human being.  He is co-founder and board chair of the Gem City Market, a community-driven effort to address food apartheid through a food coop dedicated to increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables within west Dayton. He is also co-founder of West Dayton Strong an afterschool/summer program in Desoto Bass public housing that is focused on math and reading development utilizing a S.T.E.A.M. curriculum. Currently, he is working towards his Ph. D. in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati with an emphasis on utilizing community-based participatory research (CBPR) towards emerging health equity and community transformation.

Gabrielle Davis is the Principal Consultant of Equitable Consultants, a licensed mental health therapist, National Co+op Grocers employee and the Board Treasurer for Detroit People’s Food Co-op. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a Master of Arts in Counseling and spent 18 years as a respiratory therapist before transitioning into her current work.
Gabby is passionate about supporting cooperatives build sustainable cultures where people, communities and businesses can thrive. Her work focuses on leadership development, workplace culture, trust-building, relationship repair, psychological safety, community engagement, and equity.
Gabby lives in the Detroit metro area with her wife and her wife plants. When she’s not working, Gabrielle enjoys traveling, reading and playing Scrabble aggressively. Community is Gabby’s love language.

Tamah Yisrael is the Cooperative Solutions Coach at TMH Solutions Hub, artist, and creator of Takin It Back. She works with cooperatives, nonprofits, and community-based organizations to design people-first financial systems, democratic governance structures, and sustainable operations. She serves the movement through her work with Builders of the Highway Foundation, Cooperation New Orleans, Cooperation Works, Food Co-op Initiative, and the Resist and Build Movement.
Her approach blends cooperative strategy, financial literacy, facilitation, and cultural grounding—helping groups move from intention to implementation while centering people, values, and long-term resilience.

“Benjamin Bartley is the Director of Responsible Procurement at UNFI, one of North America’s largest natural and organic food distributors, where he leads climate and regenerative agriculture strategy and execution across UNFI’s supply chain. His work sits at the intersection of sustainability and commercial strategy, translating climate action and resilience into business value and societal impact.

Benjamin brings nearly two decades of food systems experience rooted in cooperative and values-based food enterprises. He previously held roles as Food Access Director at the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, and as Value Chain Specialist at La Montañita Co-op, a multi-store cooperative grocer and regional distributor, where he developed local procurement programs, provided technical assistance to farmers and food businesses, and secured federal grants to expand wholesale market access. He is a director of both the Weavers Way Co-op board and the Weavers Way Community Fund, which supports food access in the Philadelphia region. Benjamin holds an MBA from Drexel University and a Master’s in Ecosystem Management from Penn State.”

Guy Cousins is a Charlotte-based strategic consultant and former transactional attorney operating intentionally in the space of community economic development. A Richmond, VA native and graduate of the Charlotte School of Law, Cousins builds legacy institutions designed for community elevation. He previously founded a law firm focused on democratizing access to information for an equitable legal system and currently serves as the Project Director for Three Sisters Market, an initiative of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition.

Cousins utilizes his background to translate complex frameworks into operationally rigorous, community-accessible structures. A Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum, his work centers on building resilient local economies through the holistic development of human capital and multi-layered capital stacks. Guided by a philosophy of “People over profits”, Cousins works to ensure community-wealth projects maintain the fiduciary integrity necessary for institutional investment and multi-generational impact.