Board Ready: A Training Series for New Co-op Directors
Outstanding board leadership is a critical component of being a successful cooperative business. Great boards don’t just happen, they are built and honed. Governance training is critical to developing a productive and forward-thinking board and ensuring a positive relationship between the board and management.
Directors have many duties and responsibilities. Every director brings a unique combination of skills, expertise, and blind spots to the board room. The stronger the individual directors are, the stronger the board will be as a whole.
We’re excited to introduce Board Ready: A Training Series for New Co-op Directors—a revamped cooperative director training program, now expanded into a five‑part series delivered fully online. This updated format makes it easier than ever for directors from every cooperative sector to participate, learn, and grow.
This training is designed for new directors from all types and sectors of cooperatives.
Who should attend: Newly elected directors and directors who have not received formal cooperative board training.
Curriculum
Fiduciary Duties and Director Responsibilities
This session introduces the core legal and ethical responsibilities of board members, grounding directors in the standards of care, loyalty, and obedience that guide sound governance. It helps participants understand what responsible oversight looks like and how to anchor decisions in mission, law, and organizational integrity.
Tools for an Effective Board
This session explores the practical structures, documents, and processes that help a board function smoothly and stay aligned. Participants learn how to use onboarding, documentation, financial literacy, committees, and annual planning to create a well organized, proactive board environment.
Tools for Effective Meetings
This session provides strategies for designing and facilitating meetings that are focused, inclusive, and productive. It emphasizes agenda design, role clarity, decision making processes, and meeting culture to help boards use their time well and make meaningful progress.
Cooperative Finance Basics
Learn how key financial statements are prepared, how they can be reviewed and used by boards, and recommendations for financial accountability and transparency.
Tools for Accountability
This session focuses on the systems that ensure transparency, follow through, and shared responsibility across the board and organization. It covers evaluations, reporting practices, and other mechanisms that help boards monitor progress, uphold commitments, and maintain trust.
Logistics & Registration
Format: This training is delivered over five weeks and includes one two-hour virtual session each week.
Who should attend:
This training is intended for new co-op directors or directors who have not received formal director training.
Training Schedule:
- September 15, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT
- September 22, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT
- September 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT
- October 6, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT
- October 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT
Details:
- Training will be delivered over Zoom.
- To get the most out of the training, attendance at all sessions is required. Sessions will not be recorded, so live participation is essential.
- Please join the Zoom session on your own computer so you can fully participate in breakout group activities.
Registration:
Capacity: 30
Attendees per co-op: no more than 3
What is included: 10 hours of live, interactive virtual training and digital workbook.
Fee: $200/person
Registration closes Tuesday, August 25, 2026 or when capacity is reached.
Scholarship Opportunity
To support broad participation, a limited number of registration scholarships are available.
Scholarship Award: $125 off the standard registration fee
Who Is Eligible: Reduced-fee registrations are intended for participants from cooperatives with demonstrated financial need, including board members from:
- Start‑up cooperatives
- Emerging cooperatives that are incorporated and in the process of becoming operational
- Established cooperatives with limited financial capacity
How to Apply: Interested participants must complete a brief scholarship application by July 17, 2026 to be considered for the reduced registration rate of $75.
Trainers
Kristin Forde Hurckes
Cooperative Development Specialist
UW Center for Cooperatives
Kristin Forde Hurckes is part of the team of Cooperative Development Specialists at the Center who supports worker cooperatives in rural community with an emphasis on worker cooperative conversions. She emphasizes the importance of both individual and collective commitment to the significant cultural and organizational change that is required to shift toward democratic and participatory decision making. She enjoys learning about the many creative ways cooperatives organize and structure themselves; and developing effective formats for group processes.
Courtney Berner
Executive Director
UW Center for Cooperatives
Courtney Berner joined the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives in 2011 and served as a cooperative development specialist before becoming executive director in January 2018. Her work centers on advancing understanding and practice of cooperative governance, with a focus on how boards, members, and management work together to strengthen cooperative performance and accountability.
In 2021, Courtney launched the Cooperative Governance Research Initiative, the first cross-sector, mixed-methods study examining governance practices in U.S. cooperatives. Through this initiative, she leads research and outreach that help cooperatives navigate governance challenges, adapt to changing conditions, and deepen member engagement. Her knowledge is grounded in her experience serving on the boards of non-profits and cooperatives, including Willy Street Co-op, the Wisconsin Center for Employee Ownership, and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, as well as in developing tailored trainings that help cooperative boards achieve their full potential.
Tim Bartlett
General Manager
Lexington Co-op
Tim Bartlett has been the General Manager of the Lexington Co-op since 1997. Lexington is a consumer-owned natural foods grocery store in Buffalo, NY that received the Co-operative Excellence Award in 2013 from the Consumer Cooperative Management Association. Tim led Lexington through two expansion projects that helped to grow the co-op to 20,000 consumer-owners, $23 million in sales and over $3 million in annual purchases from local farmers. Tim serves on the board of directors of National Co-op Grocers. He lives in Buffalo, NY with his wife Tamar, daughters Rachel & Sophie.
Kelly Maynard
Cooperative Development Specialist
UW Center for Cooperatives
Kelly Maynard is part of the team of Cooperative Development Specialists at the Center, focusing her work on supporting food and agricultural enterprises in rural communities. She enjoys working with diverse groups as they refine their cooperative business proposition and she prioritizes facilitation and learning about group process and governance in the early stages of cooperative development. Kelly also develops workshops and resources in collaboration with outside partners to broaden understanding about the cooperative model and explore innovative applications that address challenges like farm ownership transitions, farm labor shortages, and beginning farmer land access. Kelly’s four years of experience working as an education coordinator and general manager of an immigrant-owned farmers’ cooperative and her two years as an agroforestry volunteer with the Peace Corps in Paraguay shape her approach and methods.
Emily Stewart
Associate Director
CoNorth
Emily works closely with the Executive Director in leading the development and implementation of the organization’s lending programs. Emily also oversees the organization’s cooperative technical assistance team. Before joining CoNorth, Emily founded BreadHive Worker Cooperative Bakery (Buffalo, NY) and worked in community organizing. Emily has an undergraduate degree from Grinnell College and a master’s in Community Development in Action from Vanderbilt University.
UW Center for Cooperatives events are open to all. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming in compliance with state and federal law. You may request an interpreter, materials in an alternative language and/or format, and/or other services to make these event more accessible. Contact mawebster@wisc.edu. Make your request 25 days before the event. There is no added cost to you for these services.