dotCoop: A global board for a global organisation

dotCooperation LLC is the organisation that oversees the management of the .coop domain name, the board that is part of this stretches right across the world.

dotCooperation LLC is the organisation that oversees the management of the .coop domain name, the board that is part of this stretches right across the world.

With an aim to be as diverse as possible, board members, who are all from co-operatives, represent many countries, regions and languages throughout the world.

In a question and answer session, in celebration of ten years of dotCoop, Carolyn Hoover, its Chief Executive, discusses the board's oversight: "We are fortunate to have a Board that currently has members from China, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. This provides dotCoop with excellent feedback on planned efforts both in existing areas of co-op participation but in areas that are anticipating growth in their co-operative sectors and internet use. We work with the ICA to identify and include Board members to maintain the needed diversity to serve the global community."

Alan Miller, General Manager of dotCoop's registrar, Midcounties Co-operative Domains, says the board is quite unique in co-op circles, which meets four times a year using the internet — through video and voice-chat services such as Skype.

Current members of the dotCooperation board are:

Louis Doering, dotCoop Board Chair
Louie was formerly with Spire Federal Credit Union, a full-service innovative financial cooperative based in Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota in the United States and is currently a member of the NCBA Board of Directors and Executive Committee. 

Alan Miller, dotCoop Vice-Chair, General Manager for dotCoop Domains Group at Midcounties Co-operative Society (UK)
The Midcounties Co-operative owns around 350 food stores and a range of other businesses including energy sales, pharmacies, travel, funeral and childcare nurseries. Midcounties has more than 300,000 consumers as members and employs 9,000 colleagues in the UK.

Lindy Bannister, General Manager, Wedge Community Co-op; Board & Executive Committee, National Cooperative Business Association; Board Vice-Chair, Frontier Natural Products
The Wedge Community Co-op is the largest single store consumer co-op open to the public in the US. The Wedge contains a retail store, cooperative warehouse and a 97 acre farm – all certified organic.

Bill Clayton, VP of e-Business and Marketing, National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation
The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) is a member-owned financial institution that provides state-of-the-art financial products to its more than 1,000 electric cooperative members located across the United States. CFC has total loans and guarantees outstanding that exceed $20 billion, and its owners have invested more than $3 billion in CFC securities 

Rosemary Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer, CoopMetrics, National Cooperative Businness Association Board
CoopMetrics is a US cooperative that provides Fortune 500-quality business intelligence tools that improve the competitiveness of local businesses and their associations.

Caroline Naett, Secrétaire générale, Coop FR
Coop FR is the cross-sector organization of co-operatives in France.

Salegram Padhee, Head of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Group, National Dairy Development Board
The National Dairy Development Board was created to promote, finance and support producer-owned and controlled organizations in India. NDDB's programs and activities seek to strengthen farmer cooperatives and support national policies that are favorable to the growth of such institutions.

Kelly Smith, Director of Marketing and Communications, National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA)
The National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) is a business services cooperative for 122 consumer-owned retail food co-ops located throughout the United States.

René Vásquez, Director Adjunto Administrativo (Executive VP for Finances and Planning), Caja Popular Mexicana
Caja Popular Mexicana operates as a cooperative savings and loan society with 426 branches serving more than 1.9 million members throughout Mexico.

Zhang Wangshu, Deputy Director, International Cooperation, All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
The All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC) consists of 31 provincial, 344 prefecture, 2,376 county federations and 21,267 primary societies with 160 million member households and more than 1,287 million employees. 

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