Board of Directors Results 2025
We are pleased to introduce you to the new 2025 Belfast Community Co-op board members! These board members will serve 3 year terms.
Ernie Cooper
Joining the Belfast Community Co-op was among the first things my wife Lisa and I did when we moved to Belfast over ten years ago. It didn’t take long for us to learn that what everyone called simply “the Co-op” was not just a great place to shop, but an important and well-loved community Institution. Recognizing that doing what I can to help ensure the continued health and vitality of the Co-op is among the most important work I could do in my retirement, I joined the Co-op Board in 2017. In the years since I served two years as Board Treasurer and the last three years as Board Vice President. I am proud to have been part of the growth and stability of the Co-op over the years, and I am excited about the future the Co-op will have in our newly renovated store. I would be proud to have the support of the Co-op membership in giving me an opportunity to carry on with this important work as a continuing member of the Co-op Board.
Kim Relick
I learned of the Belfast Community Co-op long before I moved to Belfast. Friends in Boston said as I embarked on another summer trip to Maine, ‘Don’t forget to stop at the Belfast Co-op!’ Ten years later I am honored and excited to be invited to apply for a board position at this very same Co-op. I see it as a great opportunity to contribute my skills and energy to the team effort to meet the Co-op’s immediate goals while developing a wider strategic plan to grow and thrive into the next decade. Business-wise, my experience as a team leader in international sales and business development for a myriad of companies across the US, the UK, and Australia honed my skills for developing and executing strategic plans that delivered measurable results for each organization. Important lessons learned were understanding and listening to a customer’s needs before attempting to close a sale is key to a successful outcome, and completing a sale is just the first 50% of success – the second 50% is customer service. My positions at Boston University, College of Communication – first as Director of Marketing, then as Director of Strategic Initiatives & Creative Production – required working within a complex non-profit organization and interacting with conflicting stakeholders to achieve goals set by the Dean. I was charged with developing and launching a suite of revenue-generating upskilling workshops for communication professionals. My responsibilities included budgeting, project management, P & L, development and oversight of the digital marketing plan, and delivering a high-quality experience for customers and clients. My non-profit experience in Belfast includes membership and volunteer committee work for the Belfast Garden Club, the Waldo County Democratic Committee, First Church Belfast, and a board directorship at Waterfall Arts. While serving at Waterfall Arts, I experienced the challenges of working with a board of founders, incoming board members, and a new executive director. Together, we navigated complex and juxtaposed ideas on how to increase the organization’s revenue to improve accessibility to the physical building and expand creative enrichment programs for schools, young people, and the wider community. Throughout these experiences, I have learned the value of listening and thoughtful discussion. The importance of understanding an organization’s culture. The importance of creating a congenial work environment for staff. And the shared sense of achievement when all facets of an organization work together to deliver a successful outcome for the organization and the customer. I would welcome the opportunity to bring my experiences and lessons learned to the board of the Belfast Community Co-op and its member owners.
Jim Miller
I am running for reelection this winter for a three-year term. I have been a board director in the past and held the offices of Secretary and Treasurer more than once over the years. The Co-op needs an engaged board, and I have the time and inclination to serve another term. My exposure to the Co-op over the last several years has been in the area of finance (I have volunteered for the last 6 plus years.) If we are lacking an awareness of equality, equity, etc., (I am not aware) I would expect a discussion at the board level. If we need to improve our community relations, the board, and membership should be involved in what is lacking and how we will rectify it. I think the answer to how we might put diversity, equity, and inclusion, front and center is to once again start with board and member analysis, and create a plan with clear goals. I do appreciate the role of a board and a general manager and that role needs to be respected. I have served on several boards, some formal and others not so much. I was a board member of the Co-op during its time on Lower Main Street and on High. I was Treasurer for most of the dozen years I served on the board. I am currently on the Restorative Justice board and have served for 8 years as Treasurer. I consider myself a team player and a good listener. I recently retired and have the time and energy for this assignment. Three years is a commitment I can make.
Kevin L. Cope 
What prospect could be more delightful than that of becoming a Board member of the Belfast Community Co-op? What could be more impressive, amazing, and even astounding than a small, high-quality, community-oriented food resource that has earned an honored place on one of America’s premiere gourmet byways (the foodie highway rolling from Portland to Mount Desert) while becoming the year-round favorite grocer for our discerning mid-coast clientele? What could be more enticing than an opportunity to serve this excellent organization? During its first half-century, our Co-op has zoomed to success, but the years ahead will bring challenges as well as opportunities. The Co-op is a “community” organization, but Maine’s communities are diverse and evolving. Keeping pace with community changes—advancing the culinary and nutritional aspirations of customers from Rockport to Ellsworth, not to mention those who come and go from our much-visited area—requires energy, vigilance, and responsiveness. As the future unfolds, the Co-op must promote not only community but also the values and processes that create community. Building a food-respecting community begins with thoughtful curating of local and general food products and other merchandise; development of education and outreach programs that include but also extend beyond the established Co-op customer base; and sponsorship of fun activities such as pop-up sampling events, culinary demonstrations, and guest-chef showcases. No organization, not even an altruistic one, can avoid real-world economic processes. Operating and maintaining a Co-op is costly. Our Co-op can increase its revenue stream by expanding its offering of high value-added products, especially in its café and prepared-food areas. There is also much to be done in the area of incentives, efficiency, training, and evaluation of Co-op management. The Co-op Board is charged with the development of a vision for our beloved store. My extensive public service in large educational organizations has helped me develop talents and skills that could be useful as we escort the Co-op into its promising future. Over the course of ten years as the elected president of the faculty senate of a major research university and as chair of the faculty council for its eight satellite campuses, I participated in the full range of management and fiscal activities: budget supervision; labor relations; program and mission development; physical plant planning; fundraising; Board relations; government affairs; media relations; and more. Working daily with Human Resource Management, I gained insight into the needs and rights of employees, eventually spearheading a drive to unionize our professional faculty and staff. These activities have given me an understanding of the workings, needs, difficulties, and potential of public-interest organizations. Better, in private life, I have cooked, baked, and generally reveled in food activities all my life, from a childhood spent in my family’s taverns and restaurants through my and my wife’s exploration of the food culture of our hometown of Camden and on to my recent completion of the advanced curriculum in sourdough baking at the King Arthur Baking College—an employee-owned organization whose products appear on Co-op shelves!
The Co-op would like to extend a warm and heartfelt thank you to the directors at the end of their term and to the directors who had to move on this past year.
Our outgoing directors, along with all those who have served on the Board in the past, have spent countless hours in service of the Co-op and their expertise, perspectives, and professionalism will be greatly missed. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
