Board of Directors
The Co-op’s Board of Directors is elected by its members and is legally responsible for running The Co-op. The Board hires and evaluates the General Manager, sets policies for the store, and keeps an eye on finances. They also hold elections once a year for any vacant seats. Running for the Board or being part of a Board Committee are a couple of ways you can get involved with the governance of the store.
Current Board Members:
Amber Penny
As a stay at home mother of four, Amber is currently giving most of her energy to raising children. Feeding them is a big part of that, and so learning about what is truly healthy for them is a priority. Pursuing that knowledge has led to the realization that food choices affect more than just the body. There are moral and ethical implications attached to our choices as well. Amber wants to be a part of maintaining and expanding venues like the co-op that provide a way to live according to her values. Her kindness and maturity are a real asset to the board.
Dan Doyle
Dan is a native of Sioux Falls and a graduate of O'Gorman High School. He attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and received his Bachelors of Science for Business Administration degree in Accounting in May of 2005. In the fall of 2005 Dan entered law school at the University of South Dakota. Dan also entered the Masters of Business Administration program at USD in the fall of 2006. In May of 2008, Dan graduated from the South Dakota School of Law with his joint JD/MBA. Following law school, he joined the law firm of Cutler & Donahoe LLP in August and was admitted to the South Dakota Bar Association in September. Dan's law practice areas include Banking, Corporate/Business, Energy/Renewable Fuels, Mergers/Acquisitions, Real Estate, Secured Transactions, and Telecommunications.
Jayne Erickson
Jayne has lived in Sioux Falls since 1979 and shopped at the Co-op since that time. She owns her own photography studio, and so brings artistic expertise as well as small business owner experience. She is keenly interested in how our diets affect our well being and has attended seminars in the Twin Cities that examine this subject as well as other natural living philosophies. She would like to see the Co-op take on a greater role as educator in the community, helping to inform people of the importance of good eating and pure food.
Jim Bennett
Jim has been a Board member, on and off, since the beginning of the Co-op 37 years ago, and remembers when the Co-op was only a bulk food operation. He owns a sawmill and works as a carpenter. Jim (acting as General Contractor) directed volunteers through the process of renovating our current building. He hung the doors, hung the spice shelves, and told the plumbers where to put the sinks. Jim lends a sense of humor and a quiet stability to ongoing Co-op leadership.
Peter Frank
Peter has been a member of and shopper at natural foods co-ops in Milwaukee, WI and San Diego, CA for at least a couple of decades and has been a Sioux Falls Co-op member since 2003. He likes to buy locally and cook organically as part of a holistic life balance that includes sports exercise, mindbody practice, natural/alternative prevention, and treatment of ailments. He enjoys keeping on top of local and global trends in alternative and sustainable energy and social justice activism.
Sanaa Abourezk
Sanaa is a newly elected Board Member. She owns and operates Sanaa’s 8th St. Gourmet and has a passion for food and nutrition. The Mediterranean cooking style she offers is in alignment with many of the diets followed by Co-op shoppers (lots of fruit and vegetables, easy on the fats and sugar). She wants to bring her nutrition knowledge and love of cooking to the whole community.
Stacy Newcomb-Weiland
Stacy has been a board member for many years, and for the past three terms she has served as Board President. She cooks for a family of seven and is a firm advocate of green living, preservation, freshly prepared food. She is project manager of Bring Back The State Theatre and owns and operates Parker’s Bistro on Main Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls.
