Dear Doctor Hoyt

Cooperative Service: This year, there was no award recipient more obviously deserving than Dr. Ann Hoyt. She often drops the title before her name, yet Professor Hoyt has earned not only a doctorate but the respect and admiration of thousands of cooperators who have been inspired and educated by her. Her insightful, gracious, and decisive leadership has been instrumental in making the annual CCMA conference a vital national forum for the growth of our food co-ops through its joyful, intense, and challenging environment.

Ann Hoyt has had a rich career, and the needs and accomplishments of consumer cooperatives gained much-needed attention from her work, formerly at the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and more recently the Urban Cooperative Initiative. Beyond her superb 25-year stint as planner of CCMA, she has been a true servant leader: 

29 years as a UW–Madison professor, specializing in cooperative research and education

22 years on the board of directors of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA; two years as chair)

Six years on the board of directors of the National Cooperative Bank

Five years with the NCB Development Corporation (now Capital Impact Partners; two years as chair)

20 years on the board of directors of the UW Credit Union
(nine years as chair).

Hoyt has written and published hundreds of articles, delivered hundreds of speeches and presentations, and contributed to countless board meetings. Hoyt created, directed, and taught courses at the Cooperative Management Institute, the first such national training course for food co-op managers, which solidified the career paths of many of our best leaders. Her strong influence extended also to co-op board training, and more than 20 years ago, she began to advocate a more effective understanding of co-op board roles through Policy Governance. 

The work of Dr. Ann Hoyt has highlighted and furthered the interests of cooperatives, women, low-income populations, and prisoners. She led research devoted to child welfare, wrote a doctorate study on gender bias in court rulings on child custody and alimony, led a large research project on the impact of U.S. cooperatives, and, with colleagues in Italy, is studying cooperatives for prison inmates. If we were to include her international work, her impact could fairly be said to range from Madison to Madrid, from her Sacramento co-op origins to South Africa, from Emilia-Romagno to Washington, D.C., and all the cities that have hosted CCMA for the past 25 years. 

Ann has conducted research and planning from her base at the UW Urban Cooperative Initiative and as chair of the Department of Consumer Science within the School of Human Ecology. She made sure that CCMA featured speakers and topics that pushed the envelope and expanded the perspectives of many attendees. As you will read in the following quotes from the many letters of support for her Cooperative Service award, our co-ops have benefited from her knowledge, wisdom, principled leadership, and generous personality. 

“It is hard to imagine the food cooperative community being as connected and aligned as is the current reality without all of Ann’s work and expertise for so many years.” 

–Robynn Shrader, CEO, National Cooperative Grocers Association

“Ann has helped to grow a generation of cooperators who can look outside of their own environments and see how the cooperative model links us, empowers us, and demands from us a commitment to those we serve.”       –Michelle Schry, general manager, People’s Food Co-op (La Crosse/Rochester)

“I will forever be grateful for Ann’s mentoring and support….Ann’s warmth is, in my opinion, one of the most significant reasons behind the stunning success of the CCMA conference. That and the amazing speakers and presenters and outstanding themes she puts together…”

–Marilyn Scholl, general manager, CDS Consulting Co-op

“Her quiet strength and optimism and endless generosity are models to us all.”

–Stuart Reid, executive director, Food Co-op Initiative

“I have always been impressed with her dedication to cooperatives and her depth of knowledge, enthusiastically shared with our ever-growing ranks of cooperators….Ann has a great sense of humor…. She has always seemed to be unflappable, no matter the challenge, and I’m sure there have been many, considering the very disparate and -independent nature of food co-op devotees.” 

–Alex Gyori, general manager, Brattle Food Co-op

“Ann helped us become who we are today. When Ann talks about growth, she is talking about the personal and organizational growth that can result in sales and membership growth—she is a tireless advocate of education for management, board, and consumers….She has introduced us to thinkers outside of our sphere—people who help shake us free from our complacency and [make us] look at the world with fresh ideas. I have personally learned so much from the opportunities Ann has provided, and I have greatly enjoyed her sense of humor, her clarity of vision, and her keen intellect.” 

–Gail Graham, general manager, Mississippi Market Co-op

“I saw Ann in Bloomington a few months ago at a food co-op startup conference we co-host with the Indiana Cooperative Development Center… There was Ann, conversing and sharing her knowledge with eager folks new to cooperatives, engaging them and making them feel welcome to our sector. It felt good to see her spreading the ‘co-op gospel’ to others, sharing the tools and confidence to return home and grow food co-ops in their respective communities.” 

–George Huntington, general manager, Bloomingfoods Co-op

“Ann has, with great grace, put up with the inanity that the Italian Grocers Caucus brings each year to an otherwise serious event… On behalf of Italian Grocers everywhere, mille grazie Ann e in bocca a lupo.” 

–Paul Cultrera, general manager, Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op

“Ann inspired me to make cooperation my life path. What I took from the Cooperative Management Institute was a sense of what being a cooperator meant. I connected with the idea that even the most mundane tasks supported something bigger. I found a life purpose worthy of my time. I am tremendously grateful… Ann asks the big questions of our time and puts them into a cooperative context.”       –Sean Doyle, general manager, Seward Co-op

“As organizer of the annual CCMA, Ann has created an environment where generations of cooperators have been able to network, learn, share, and laugh together. She has introduced us to great thinkers in a broad array of subjects helpful to the cause of cooperative development.” 

–Terry Appleby, general manager, Hanover Consumer Co-op Society

“It has been my honor to serve with Ann on the board of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA) for the last 15 years. I have learned so much from Ann about effective governance and about working cooperatively to find solutions to thorny problems. Ann Hoyt leads by example. She is deeply committed to the cooperative model and gives generously of her time and talents to forward its progress worldwide. A consummate teacher, Ann encourages others to think more deeply on issues by raising penetrating questions.”  –Mary Ann Rothman, 

executive -director, Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums