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About Membership

Food co-ops throughout the U.S. are eligible for membership in NCGA. Find out more about the requirements and benefits of membership.


NCGA Announces New Hires

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (Feb. 19, 2007) — The National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), a business services co-op with 108 members nationwide, today announced Bea James will join NCGA as its first category leadership manager, and Kim Kusnier has been hired as NCGA’s marketing programs specialist.

Kusnier and James will officially join NCGA in mid-February.

In her role as category leadership manager, James will lead the development of programs and tools to support NCGA members’ product selection & merchandising efforts. She brings more than 20 years of natural food retail experience to NCGA.

Prior to joining the business services co-op, James led the expansion of Lunds and Byerly’s grocery stores’ Organic & Natural program, and managed more than 14,000 organic and natural products. James also has experience in USDA organic retail handler certification. She currently holds the retailer seat on the USDA National Organic Standards Board, and serves as a member on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Organic Advisory Task Force. She will report to David Blackburn, NCGA’s director of purchasing.

“I believe strongly in the natural food co-op model, and look forward to helping co-ops excel in this dynamic marketplace,” James said. “Throughout my career in the organic and natural food industry, I’ve led many new initiatives, so I’m confident that I’ll be effective at creating and developing this new role at NCGA.”

NCGA also announced Kim Kusnier as NCGA’s marketing programs specialist, effective February 12th. She will report to Kelly Smith, director of marketing and communications for NCGA.

Kusnier, who has more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications, has held various marketing and communication management positions at companies including Medica Health Plans, COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services and Securian Financial. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I’m energized by the opportunity to work with natural food co-ops in the Twin Cities and nationwide,” said Kusnier. “I look forward to working with an outstanding NCGA team and contributing my breadth of marketing and communication experience to help our members compete more effectively in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Both James and Kusnier will be based in NCGA’s St. Paul, Minn. office.

About NCGA
The National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for consumer-owned food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCGA helps unify natural food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op shoppers everywhere. To learn more about NCGA, visit www.ncga.coop.