Bill Gessner Joins Cooperative Hall of Fame

Many readers of this site will recognize Bill Gessner’s name from his many past contributions to food co-ops, both through Cooperative Grocer and directly at scores of co-ops where he has given both his passionate inspiration and his balanced and compassionate advice. Bill’s career working with food co-ops began in the 1970s and continues today. With Bill's recent induction into the Cooperative Hall of Fame, we can now take additional pride in his many contributions to our businesses and to the consumer cooperative movement at large.

On May 2, in ceremonies at the National Press Club sponsored by the Cooperative Development Foundation, Bill Gessner and three other outstanding cooperators were honored for their exceptional leadership and contributions to cooperatives. This year’s four inductees:

• Michael Cook, Professor of Cooperative Leadership and Executive Director of The Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
• William Davisson, CEO (retired) of GROWMARK, Inc.
• Bill Gessner, cooperative developer and member of the CDS Consulting Cooperative.
• Charles Snyder, President & CEO of the National Cooperative Bank.

Images and more details on each of these outstanding cooperators can be found at the Cooperative Development Foundation website.