CCCD STAFF

E. Kim Coontz is Executive Director for the California Center for Cooperative Development. She has been working with cooperative enterprises for more than 20 years. She was executive Director of Yolo Mutual Housing Association for 4 years. For more than 14 years Kim worked for the Center for Cooperatives at the University of California at Davis prior to its closure in 2004. In this capacity, she was active in the start-up of cooperatives, in teaching cooperative board governance seminars, in providing technical assistance to cooperatives, conducting research, and in writing and compliance. She has authored and co-authored more than 10 publications about cooperatives and written numerous articles. Her publications include Cooperative Start-up manuals (2 editions of Steps to Starting a Marketing Cooperative, and Steps to Starting a Worker Cooperative), and a book on child care cooperatives called Bringing Families Together: A Guide to Parent Cooperatives. She has also published articles on housing cooperatives. In 2004 she was awarded Author of the Year by the National Association of Housing Cooperatives. She has presented at numerous conferences, including the International Cooperative Alliance, the National Cooperative Business Association, USDA Research Group-NCR 194, various housing conferences, and many of the specialty cooperative sector conferences. Kim earned her Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. 

Justin Ellerby was hired as a Cooperative Development Specialist following a six month internship with CCCD. He has a Bachelor of Science in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis, where he specialized in Trade and Commodity Development. During his internship at CCCD he employed his quantitative skills to assist with analysis of a crop survey of olive growers that projects yield over the next three years. He recently taught, consulted, and studied at Morningstar Fishermen, a faith-based institute for alleviating global rural poverty through integrated aqua-agriculture and is currently developing a community development curriculum for the non-profit. In addition to his agriculture experience, Justin has worked with housing and food cooperatives. He worked for Briarpatch Co-op Community Market in the rural community of Grass Valley California, was a member of four different housing co-ops over an eight year period, and served on the board of Santa Cruz Student Housing Co-ops as the Education Officer.

Lisa Pray has been employed as a Operations Manager with the California Center for Cooperative Development since October, 2007. Prior to this she was employed as a Staff Accountant for a media corporation, was a staff bookkeeper for a major financial services company; and worked as an independent bookkeeper with clients that included sole proprietor businesses, non-profits, and an affordable housing developer. Lisa served in the Navy for 8 years and worked as a Computer Specialist with the department of defense for 22 years. She has a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Memphis and a B.S. in Computer Science from National University. She is an enrolled agent with the Internal Revenue Service and been a licensed tax preparer for 11 years.

Luis Sierra is Cooperative Development Specialist for the California Center for Cooperative Development. He has an M.S. in Community and Regional Development from UC Davis. He has extensive experience in developing agricultural marketing organizations to carry out alternative marketing strategies including agricultural cooperatives, farmers’ markets, and investor owned businesses. Luis worked with the Rural Development Center in Salinas, CA to train mixed fruit and vegetable farmers in organizing their own cooperative and later became an employee of that cooperative. He has extensive experience in coordinating multi-stakeholder initiatives such as food policy councils and farm-to-institution networks. For 2 years, he co-hosted and produced Local Dirt, an acclaimed radio show on KDVS focusing on local agriculture and food security issues. He has served as a board member for the Organic Farming Research Foundation from 2003-2008 and Marina Certified Farmers’ Market from 2003-2005. 

Ava Churchill is a recent graduate of UC Davis and a senior intern at CCCD. She has traveled in many developing countries and has a comprehensive view of the development issues in a global context. She spent her college years living in the Tri Co-ops at UC Davis, where she headed a commission to bring a solar hot water to her community. Her degree in International Relations with an emphasis in Latin American Studies qualified her for a position as the assistant program coordinator at the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas (HIA) of UC Davis. Ava later completed an undergraduate research project, analyzing the close relationship between the UC Davis School of Ag and the rapid development of Chile’s agriculture sector. Ava has been an avid supporter of the co-op business model in her community and has been a long time patron of the Davis Food Coop, even when she couldn’t afford it. As a part-time staff member at CCCD, she conducts market research for rural co-operatives, co-ordinates cooperative training conferences, and provides Spanish translation.

Andrew McLeod is a certified co-op developer with the California Center for Cooperative Development. He first advised start-up co-ops for the Olympia Food Co-op, then spent 3.5 years on staff at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, where he organized the workshop series “Grow Your Own Food Co-op” to share the expertise of established co-ops with start-ups. He is also author of “Holy Cooperation," a book that provides an in-depth look at cooperative Christian thinking and organizing. He has written papers on the cooperative aspects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the potential for interfaith peacemaking through cooperation.