STAFF
Vanessa Bransburg, Co-Executive Director for Operations & Programs
Vanessa Bransburg is the Co-Executive Director for Operations and Programs, overseeing all programmatic and operations strategies, incuding organizational culture building, professional development, and progress toward organizational goals. Vanessa also leads the Rapid Response Cooperative Development Project and provides training and consultation to cooperative developers working with vulnerable workers and immigrant communities. Previously Vanessa was the Director of Cooperative Development at the Center for Family Life (CFL) in Brooklyn, NY for 8 years. While at CFL she expanded the program's capacity by tripling the number of staff, spearheaded the worker cooperative incubator program for hundreds of immigrant and low-income residents, established the NYC Cooperative Development Initiative to support NGOs looking to become cooperative incubators, and was one of the founders of the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives. She also has a background in community organizing and clinical social work. Vanessa has an MSW from Columbia University, a BA in Sociology from UCLA and is an immigrant from Argentina.
Email: vbransburg@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 13
Julian S. McKinley, Co-Executive Director for Partnerships and Growth
As Co-Executive Director for Partnerships and Growth, Julian guides DAWI's organizational growth, strategic partnerships, and communications. Since joining DAWI in 2019 has led the organization’s communications and data programs while driving strategic priorities as a member of its senior leadership team. His diverse experience at DAWI includes guiding the organization’s COVID-related strategic refinement, training cooperative developers in the U.S. and East Africa, helping lead New York City’s business conversions response during COVID, and leading regranting programs for the city’s Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative. Prior to joining DAWI, Julian led strategic storytelling campaigns focused on regenerative economics, impact investing, and family financial security. He began his career as a news editor and earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Springfield College (Mass.). He lives in Queens, New York with his family.
Email: jmckinley@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 10
Rebecca Bauen, Director of Education & Training
Rebecca Bauen directs DAWI’s training and education program, which includes cooperative developer fellowships, training workshops, and our School for Democratic Management. She has long-standing experience in worker cooperative development and adult education. As Executive Director of WAGES in Oakland, California, Rebecca directed the organization toward scaling green cleaning cooperatives. She has taught courses on worker cooperatives at UC Berkeley, The Evergreen State College, Rutgers University and the Cooperative University of Kenya. She has published articles on cooperatives for GEO, the ICA Group and Dollars & Sense. She has participated in study trips of Argentine recuperated factories, and worker cooperatives in Cuba, Emilia Romagna, and Mondragon. Rebecca holds a M.P.A. with a focus on regional economic development and environmental sustainability.
Email: rbauen@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 5
Frank Cetera, Director of Business Transfers Program
Frank leads DAWI’s national work to build an infrastructure of support for business transitions to employee ownership. He comes to DAWI after 15 years as a Senior Business Advisor with the New York State Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Syracuse, NY where he lives and works today. At the SBDC, he held an Advanced Advisor Certification in the area of Employee Ownership, and, as founding Chair, led the America's SBDC Special Interest Section on Employee Ownership & Business Transitions. Frank holds a Masters of Science degree in Sustainable Systems from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (along with a Masters of Forestry from the State University of New York). He practices his avocations for systems thinking and natural resources management as co-founder and President of the Alchemical Nursery Project, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation that restores and stewards vacant urban land for "ecological landscapes and lifestyles", and as founder and resident of the Bitternut Urban Collective co-household which is currently transitioning itself into cooperative corporation community ownership. Frank has also served on the Board of Directors for the CDFI Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union since 2010, and has led the organization as Chair since 2013.
Email: fcetera@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 25
Shevanthi Daniel, Senior Program Director
Shevanthi (Shev) is Senior Program Director of DAWI. Shevanthi provides strategic support on program implementation and growth for DAWI's conversion work with city municipalities, technical assistance providers, legacy business owners and consulting services. Shevanthi comes to DAWI after successfully launching and implementing worker cooperative management certificate programs, as well as a city focused cooperative education and incubation program at the Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship. Shev is passionate about the intersection of sustainable business and economic development with particular emphasis on direct impacts for people of color. Before entering into worker ownerhip sector, Shev led large-scale labor organizing and worker justice campaigns with SEIU1199 NW and organizing civil rights. And organized social justice leadership work in rural and urban centers across the country. Shevanthi co-founded the O’Dell Education Center, a nonviolence direct action and leadership academy in Washington State, owned and operated by the Institute for Community Leadership. She currently serves on the board of Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) and served as Executive Board President at the Center for Women in Democracy, strengthening women's capacity and leadership in public and private sector. Shevanthi has an MBA in Sustainable Business from Pinchot University and BA in History and Anthropology from University of Washington.
Email: sdaniel@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 11
Yadira Fragoso, Rapid Response Cooperative Business Developer
Yadira Fragoso is from Mexico City and she came to the United States in 2000. She is a former worker-owner at Si Se Puede women's cooperative for eight years, where she participated in different committees and served as president in 2012. She has served on the New York City Network of Worker Cooperative's board of directors for two years and attended the USFWC conferences and has advocated for immigrant cooperatives in DAWI's Lideres de Cooperativa en Action. Yadira left SSP in 2016 to continue working in developing the project of creating a line of natural and non-toxic cleaning products at the BKLN Clean LLC cooperative. She is currently interested in becoming a cooperative developer and bringing the worker cooperative model to Tulsa, OK to empower the Latinx community affected by social and economic inequality.
Email: yfragoso@institute.coop
Madeleine Hernandez, Rapid Response Cooperative Business Developer
Madeleine has been a Business Developer at DAWI since October 2021. She is a marketing, business, and communication professional. Madeleine has worked in the nonprofit world for over 12 years in different areas such as community development, arts, culture, and business.She has worked closely with entrepreneurs, supporting them in growing their businesses for more than 10 years, and she has always been interested in the co-op world. She is passionate about creativity and giving back to society by sharing what she has learned. Madeleine has been an entrepreneur herself and has worked with a variety of different populations throughout her career. She was born in Mexico City and in her free time, she loves to play basketball, read, and study philosophy.
Email: mhernandez@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 21
Jaclyn Mace, Finance Manager
Jaclyn joins DAWI as a Co-Finance Manager to work alongside Finance Manager, Annie Danger. Jaclyn has worked with nonprofits since 2012, and is currently pursuing an MBA through the University of Nebraska. She enjoys the systems work inherent in nonprofit accounting and is passionate about supporting DAWI's mission to create opportunities for equity and economic empowerment. She is currently on the board of a local nonprofit where she lives in rural Vermont with her husband and cat. In her free time she can be found reading novels, cooking, hiking, climbing, or spending time with family and friends.
Email: jmace@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 24
Melissa Hoover, Director of Special Projects
Melissa Hoover is DAWI’s Director of Special Projects. In this capacity she works closely with DAWI partner Apis & Heritage’s Legacy Fund, as well as other innovative and scale-oriented initiatives. A leader in the worker ownership movement for twenty years, Melissa served as the founding Executive Director of the Democracy at Work Institute from 2013 through mid-2023, growing the organization from the ground up. Prior, she helped start and grow the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives. She was a cooperative business developer for several years with the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives in Oakland, supporting business planning, systems setup and training for two successful startups. Melissa is a Senior Fellow at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. She serves as a strategic advisor to organizations of all types that want to incorporate worker ownership into their economic development and community wealth-building programs. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of The ICA Group, Fund for Jobs Worth Owning, and Safe Passages of Oakland. Originally from Kansas City, Melissa attended Stanford University on a full scholarship, earning a BA in History with a research focus on immigrant women's role building cooperative movements in the U.S.
Email: mhoover@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 1
Anh-Thu Nguyen, Director of Strategic Partnerships
Anh-Thu leads and supports market development initiatives, innovations, and strategic partnerships for worker cooperative creation, scale and growth. She supports DAWI’s NYC work through the NYC Council-funded Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, providing consulting, education and technical assistance to emerging worker cooperatives and developers. She was named a 2022-23 Coro New York Immigrant Civic Leadership Fellow. Her work has encompassed international human rights, social enterprise, and sustainable fashion. She began her career with the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT), and has launched and consulted on several conscious beauty and fashion brands, including being on the founding team of MAKE Beauty. She studied Classics and Government at Georgetown University and received her JD from the University of Texas School of Law.
Email: atnguyen@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 16
Jamie Pockrandt, Data Architect
Jamie Pockrandt supports DAWI's organizational initiatives through data management and systems design. She recently received a BA in Social Psychology from Portland State University, with a focus on applications at work and in community. Previously, Jamie has supported research addressing the impacts of access to community resources on individual opportunity and well-being, the development of a respectful workplace climate, and has coauthored work in occupational health psychology regarding mistreatment and stress in the workplace. Prior to her work in research, Jamie worked in relationship management and education in the context of sustainable supply chains in the coffee industry, during which time she assisted in the development and management of small-scale client-funded economic development initiatives with coffee-producing partner organizations around mostly Latin America and East Africa. She also holds a BA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and enjoys listening to science fiction audiobooks in her free time.
Email: jpockrandt@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 19
Olga Prushinskaya, Metrics and Impact Analyst
As DAWI's metrics and impact analyst, Olga works to understand and communicate impact in the growing field of worker ownership. Olga is a dynamic and mission-driven data scientist with a background in public health and a focus on health equity. Her work has spanned a variety of fields in addition to worker ownership, including youth housing services, pulmonary medicine, chronic disease management, and maternal and infant health. Olga has an MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan and a BS in Microbiology from Michigan State University. Olga is a 2021/22 Executive Fellow at Rutgers University's Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at the School of Management and Labor Relations. When not thinking about data, she can be found working on an art or sewing project.
Email: olga@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 17
Jason Reddock, Development Manager
Jason works closely with the Executive Director and program leadership to set up the organization for sustainability and growth. He is an experienced program manager and sales professional with expertise in grant writing, database management, program development, and customer service. He has written grants at the foundation, city, and county levels and is a Certified Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma—a process improvement methodology designed to increase customer satisfaction by improving the quality of an organization's systems and processes. He enjoys supporting organizations that serve marginalized populations, having done so professionally for the past nine years. Jason graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2017 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies. In his free time, he reads (a lot), watches all things World War II, and practices Filipino martial arts. He owns a home in Des Moines, Washington.
Email: jreddock@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 2
Nina Stender, Rapid Response Cooperative Development Project Director
Nina Stender leads the Rapid Response Cooperative Development Project, which creates pathways to entrepreneurship and stable, career-building work for vulnerable workers and immigrant communities. Her passion for worker ownership was shaped by her experience at the Brownsville Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, where she learned about worker co-ops as a tool for economic self-determination. Previously, Nina was the Senior Membership Manager at Certified Employee-Owned, where she supported employee-owned companies with communications, education, and marketing. Nina holds a BA in Social Studies and Government from Wesleyan University and is a graduate of the Certificate in Workplace Democracy and Community Ownership at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. She was selected for a Public Affairs Fellowship at the Coro New York Leadership Center in 2017-2018 and a Social Change Fellowship at the CUNY Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership in 2021-2022. Nina was raised in Hong Kong and is now based in the Hudson Valley, New York, where she formerly served as a board member of the Kingston Food Co-op and now serves as an advisor to Co-op Hudson Valley.
Email: nstender@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 23
Zen Trenholm, Senior Director of Employee Ownership Cities and Policy
Zen Trenholm is the Senior Director of Employee Ownership Cities and Policy with the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) where he works with cities and community partners to build equitable economies using worker ownership. He leads Worker Ownership Cities, a multi-year program that convenes and equips local governments to preserve legacy businesses, create quality jobs, and expand entrepreneurship pathways for workers facing employment barriers. He previously developed the Shared Equity in Economic Development Fellowship program in partnership with the National League of Cities, working with cities and communities to shape and implement worker ownership initiatives that meet critical economic and workforce development priorities. Zen also informs state and federal legislation and develops policy agendas, reports, and toolkits for lawmakers and advocates to unlock support for worker ownership. He serves on the steering committee of both the Worker Owned Recovery California Coalition and the Oregon New Economy Project and was selected as a 2022 Next City Vanguard fellow reflecting his work to make cities more equitable. Prior to DAWI he was an organizer for fossil fuel divestment and a director at the California Student Sustainability Coalition. At UC Berkeley, he co-founded the Student Environmental Resource Center and after obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Cooperative Business Development, he returned to his alma mater to teach a course on cooperative entrepreneurship. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Email: ztrenholm@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 12
Tori Kuper, Director of The School of Democratic Management
Tori Kuper is the Program Director for the School for Democratic Management where she supports the growing field of worker cooperative managers and technical assistance providers with the training, education, and tools they need to thrive. Tori comes to DAWI after spending fifteen years building democratic organizations that increase worker power. She founded BreadHive Worker Cooperative and Cooperation Buffalo, re-catalyzing the worker cooperative movement in Buffalo, NY. Most recently, she was the Membership Director at New Economy Coalition, where she spent seven years building power and momentum for the solidarity economy movement in the US. At NEC, she played a central role in planning and executing CommonBound conferences, developing the Pathway to a People's Economy policy toolkit, launching Rural Power Coalition, and facilitating NEC's conversion to a democratic workplace. Tori has served on the boards of RIPESS: The Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, North American Students of Cooperation, US Solidarity Economy Network, and is currently on the Stewardship Council for the Nonprofit Democracy Network. She holds a Master's Degree from New York University and is graduate of DAWI's Participatory Management Certificate Program with Rutgers University.
Email: tkuper@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 27
Karina Pacheco del Río, Director of Marketing and Communications
Karina Pacheco del Río is DAWI’s Director of Marketing Communications. She’s born, raised and based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Karina is a creative cyber feminist with a love for color-coded spreadsheets. She’s been managing digital communications in the non-profit and women-owned sector for the past decade and enjoys crafting online spaces where communities can grow together and build new narratives of brighter futures. She believes good storytelling is best received from both messaging and visual components together. She holds a BA in Investigative Journalism, a Post BA in Digital Marketing, and a Master’s in Business Administration with a Marketing specialization. Karina is active in the fight for women’s rights, reproductive justice, racial justice and just recovery in the Puerto Rican archipielago. On her free time you can find her curled up reading a book, practicing karate or watching movies with her two boys.
Email: kpacheco@institute.coop
Alyssa Smith, Director of Operations
Alyssa Smith is DAWI's Director of Operations. She's an inclusive, positive leader who has experience as an effective member of the executive management team. Ability to deal with conflict effectively and to manage difficult employee relations situations confidently and calmly. Team building style that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and collaboration where the contributions are acknowledged and respected. Well-versed in current HR trends such as compensation, benefits, and performance evaluation frameworks along with fluency in primary HR functions (employee relations, HR administration, policy development, and compliance); experience in hands-on responsibility for the full scope of benefits activities and experience in revising policies to meet changing organizational needs. Expertise in full life cycle talent management and other various human resource functions. Deep understanding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Restorative Justice as a stepping stone to Transformative Justice. Championed implementation and assisted in the creation of DEI initiatives. She enjoys building inclusive and engaged workplaces.
Email: asmith@institute.coop | Phone: (415) 379-9201 Ext. 26
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maru Bautista, President
Maru Bautista is the Director of the Cooperative Development Program at the Center for Family Life in Brooklyn New York. For the past 6 years, she has worked with her team and the Sunset Park community to strengthen and scale immigrant-led worker cooperatives in New York City. Most notably, Maru has supported the development of the Brightly franchise (brightly.coop) and Up &Go (upandgo.coop). Maru has served on the Board of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives since 2015, and for the past 4 years has served on the Board of the Democracy at Work Institute. Maru is originally from Puebla, Mexico. She moved to Brooklyn 8 years ago to pursue an M.A. in International Development from the New School. Loving all things cooperative, Maru’s family is in a babysitting cooperative, she is a member of a food cooperative, and has a car-sharing agreement with a friend. Maru is a firm believer in collaboration as the only path forward!
Christine Curella
Christine Curella is an advisor to policymakers and grassroots leaders on community wealth building initiatives, building on her experience of more than fifteen years in the public sector. Her recent work includes supporting coalitions in designing programs for federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge and economic innovation funds. Previously, Christine held senior positions in New York City government, where she designed and operationalized programs and policies to advance inclusive economic development, and worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama Administration. She is a graduate of Hunter College, of the City University of New York (CUNY), and received her Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Eulalio Guevara
Born in El Salvador, Eulalio grew up in a humble home. He arrived in Boston in January 1999. In 2008 he started working for A Yard and a Half, and in 2013, he started to collaborate and grow the idea of turning it into a cooperative after the owner Eileen Michaels gave the news of her retirement. At A Yard and a Half, Eulalio currently works as a sales manager. As an active member of the cooperative, Eulalio is the treasurer of A Yard and a Half's board of directors. He also serves on its executive and finance committees. As a USFWC member and long-time DAWI program partner and participant, Eulalio is a leader in effective democratic workplace practices, inspiring cooperative leaders, future worker-owners, and immigrant worker-owners alike.
Rebecca Lurie
Rebecca Lurie is the founder of the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the City University of NY School for Labor and Urban Studies and the Murphy Institute where she also serves as faculty in the Urban Studies Department. She is a founding member of the worker-owned cooperative, New Deal Home Improvement Company. She began her working career as a union carpenter and transitioned into worker education through the union’s apprenticeship program and the construction industry. Using a sector approach for understanding industries and businesses and their employment needs, she has remained dedicated to inclusive community economic development. Rebecca has collaborated on numerous initiatives in NYC, including pre-apprenticeship programs, a Bronx green jobs network, a kitchen business incubator and the design of Best for NYC. She serves on the board of the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative and chair of the buildings and grounds committee of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. She holds a Master’s in Organizational Change Management from The New School, a certificate in Adult Occupational Education from CUNY and is certified in Permaculture Urban Design. She is a native New Yorker raised with the spirit and passion of dedication to social justice.
Maddie Taterka
Maddie Taterka (they/she) believes that everyone has a human right to healthcare. Maddie is the Worker Benefits Program Manager at the U.S. Federation of Worker Coops, where they help USFWC members sign up for vision and dental insurance, and supports members to navigate the labyrinths and understand the workings of the American insurance system, though she envisions a future with guaranteed free and quality healthcare for all. Maddie has been active in the worker co-op world since 2016, when they were part of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA) 20->20 cooperative development program and co-founded a video production worker co-op, Bonfire Media Collective. Maddie has a past life as a journalist and copy editor, and has been involved in media labor organizing and Put People First! PA's healthcare is a human right campaign. In her free time, you can find Maddie doing crossword puzzles, birding, reading, and spending time with family.
Christina N. Chung
Christina N. Chung is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Law and Work (CLAW) at UC Berkeley Law School, where she conceptualizes and leads legal, policy, and empirical research and analysis to develop and promote progressive labor and employment policies and strategies aimed at economic justice for workers, with a focus on workers in low-wage industries and the interconnected issues of race, class, gender, and immigration status. Before joining Berkeley Law in 2022, Ms. Chung spent nearly 25 years in the public and non-profit sectors dedicated to worker justice issues. For a decade, she first served as Special Counsel to the California Labor Commissioner, in which she was the Commissioner’s chief advisor on the most significant legal and policy issues affecting workers in the state, and then as Senior Advisor of Law and Policy to the California Labor Secretary, in which she directed and shaped labor and employment policy at the largest state labor agency in the nation. Her many accomplishments in the public sector include creating California’s SEED program, which has granted nearly $30 million in state funds to support excluded workers in building socially responsible small businesses and worker cooperatives. Prior to her government service, Ms. Chung worked for over ten years litigating successful wage and hour cases on behalf of low-wage workers, at two of the leading public interest organizations in the country. For her legal accomplishments, leadership, and commitment to public service, she has been honored by community-based organizations and was previously named one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” in the country by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
Stacey Sutton
Stacey Sutton is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy. She Directs the Solidarity Economy Research, Policy & Law at UIC’s Center for Urban Economic Development and co-stewards the Chicago Community Wealth Building Ecosystem which serves in the role of coordinator and researcher for the city’s $15 million investment in emerging worker cooperatives, community land trusts, limited equity housing cooperatives and community investment vehicles. Stacey is a scholar-activist. Her research explores questions related to the solidarity economy, prefigurative politics, economic democracy, worker cooperatives, racial justice, and disparate effects of place-based city policies and she is committed to translating research to support grassroots movements or policy debates. Stacey has collaborated with numerous organizers in Chicago toward strengthening the local solidarity economy ecosystem and creating onramps for activists in the broader social justice movement. Stacey co-facilitates the Black Abolitionist Solidarity Economy (BASE) fellowship series. She serves on the board of Woods Fund Chicago and the New Economy Coalition.
STAFF-ELECTED DIRECTORS
Zen Trenholm, Senior Director of Employee Ownership Cities
Nina Stender, Rapid Response Cooperative Development Project Director