The US Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) is to induct five co-operative leaders to its Hall of Fame in late 2026.
The five individuals will be added to the Cooperative Hall of Fame on October 8. As in previous years, the inductees include leaders from co-ops spanning a wide range of industries, from rural development and agribusiness to finance:
- Margaret Bau, a retired co-operative development specialist from USDA Rural Development. Part of the US Department of Agriculture, the organisation funds community facilities, utilities, and services in rural areas. Bau assisted in the formation of more than 40 co-ops in Wisconsin.
- Crystal Long, president and CEO of GECU. Long led GECU’s transition to federally chartered credit union; the organisation is active in Texas and New Mexico.
- Kevin Still, president & CEO of Keystone Cooperative. Still has grown Keystone into a $3bn enterprise with 20,000 farmer-members, making it the seventh largest agricultural retailer in the US.
- Michael Tolle, former board director of CHS Inc. The largest co-operative in the US, CHS is active in agriculture and energy. Tolle led the board at CHS and the CHS Foundation.
One notable inductee is Fannie Lou Hamer, founder of the Freedom Farm Cooperative.
Her posthumous induction to the ‘Unsung Hero’ category serves as recognition of her work developing an agricultural co-operative in Mississippi. Hamer was a civil and women’s rights activist who founded the Freedom Farm Collective in 1967 as a means of empowering Black farmers in Mississippi following the Jim Crow era. The farm co-op fed over 1,500 families in Sunflower County, as well as providing child and adult education, community aid, and employment to the community.
CDF chair John Holdsclaw IV said this year’s inductees “represent the breadth of the co-operative sector in addressing the needs of communities in order to thrive”.
He added: “From promoting financial wellbeing, to transforming legacy co-operatives, to championing co-op education and development, to creating a self-sustaining farm to meet the basic need of marginalised residents of Sunflower County, Mississippi, these inductees have dedicated their lives to solving societal challenges, reinforcing democratic decision-making, and improving economic opportunities for all.”
