Board Corner: January 2025

EEFC completed the 2024 election on December 1st, and we are happy to announce the following results:

Staff seat (1 year) – Michael Murphy
Member Seats (3 year) – Desmond Zheng, Nick Liese, Heather Kenner
Member Seat (1 year) – Nico Demkin

The EEFC board includes a one-year staff seat, elected solely by our employee-members, which had been left vacant for most of 2024. The board is gratified to have it filled once again by Michael Murphy, who was hired as part of the café beverage counter reopening initiative, and brings relevant skills gained as a student advocate at Duquesne University, and more recently with eight years in the service industry. Welcome Michael!

As a result of prior board resignations, three of our current board members, Desmond, Nico and Nick, were elected to one-year seats in last year’s election. All three have decided to stand again for election this year, and have been reelected.

Nico Demkin works in the accounting field, and has brought insight gained there in areas like human resources and administration which have enhanced our board deliberations. Nico worked on the general manager search sub-committee this year, helping to plow through the applications and aiding the rest of the board in narrowing the field. In addition, his experience of this last year’s Expansion activities enhances the board’s bank of institutional knowledge as we continue to move forward in our search for more space.

Desmond Zheng also returns to the board, having served this past year as our secretary, a job he has performed with a thoroughness and alacrity from which the rest of the board benefits greatly. Desmond is a sustainability consultant, and he melds a lifelong involvement with food co-ops to his professional expertise and his interest in promoting our cooperative enterprise as a vital player in the culture and economy of our region.

Nick Liese returns to the board, having stepped in earlier this year as vice president. Nick is a construction project manager whose extensive experience in real estate development was a major asset to the board this year as we dealt with various expansion-related initiatives and an in-depth evaluation of the Uptown project in particular.

Heather Kenner is our other new board member this year. Heather brings substantial experience with food co-ops and small “a” agriculture to the position, and currently works in food sustainability with an international non-profit. Heather’s professional work experience fits well with EEFC’s institutional commitment to an “ethical and resilient food infrastructure,” and we welcome her to the board.

Finally, we say goodbye to our fellow board member Lucia Covato. Lucia performed her board duties this past year with absolute commitment, and was a great asset in our deliberations on expansion and the general manager search, bringing much relevant professional experience to the latter. We will miss her.