AKIRA KURIMOTO studied law at the University of Tokyo. He is a senior fellow of the Japan Co-operative Alliance since 2021. He was a professor of the co-operative program at the Institute for Solidarity-based Society at Hosei University, Tokyo during 2015-2020. He was the manager of the Japanese Consumer Co-operative Union during 1990-2003 and the board member/chief researcher of the Consumer Co-operative Institute of Japan since 1998. He served as the Vice President of the Japanese Society for Co-operative Studies and the general secretary of the Robert Owen Association. He served as the Chair of the ICA Research Committee (2001-2005) and a member of the ICA Principles Committee. He is the Chair of the ICA Asia Pacific Research Committee and a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Co-operative Monitor. He is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Co-operative Research Partnership which published a volume “Waking the Asian Pacific Co-operative Potential” in 2020.His main research interests include co-operative laws, co-operative economics, co-operative history, corporate governance, food supply chain, health and social care and the social economy/enterprises.
Alexandra Wilson discovered a passion for cooperatives when, as a teenager, she led her neighbours in a successful fight to create the Bain Apartments Co-operative, putting a stop to the landlord’s plans to evict 260 low-income households. Her involvement in saving her own home led to a career in the development, management and provision of association services to housing cooperatives. After nine years with the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto, five as managing director, and 15 years at the helm of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, she started up the Agency for Co-operative Housing, serving as CEO from 2005 until her retirement in 2021. Alexandra spent 22 years on the board of Cooperative Housing International and in 2017 was elected to the global board of the International Cooperative Alliance. She is a member of the board and vice chair of Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, the apex body of the Canadian cooperative movement; vice chair of the board of The Co-operators, a large cooperative insurer; a member of the board of the Canadian Co-operative Investment Fund; and a member of the board of the Funeral Co-operative of Ottawa. A member of numerous cooperatives in Canada and France, Alexandra has played multiple volunteer roles in the credit union sector and did a three-year stint in the 1980s in the international cooperative development field.
I am a PhD (Business and economics) and I work as a Professor in Management and exercise the art of management in practice too by being the Deputy Head of Department, the Service management Master’s Programme and research group of Managing Intellectual Capital at the Business School of the University of Eastern Finland. I am a Docent of Management and Co-operatives at LUT School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology. My current research interest areas are co-operatives (namely their dual nature, co-operative governance and management), organization change, organizational identity and work-community skills/Organization Citizenship behaviour. I have published textbooks and numerous journal articles and other publications. I also believe in giving back: I have positions of trust such as membership of the board at Cooperatives Europe, Pellervo Coop Center and Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa, a regional consumer cooperative that is part of S-Group. I am an experienced organizational speaker, TED TALK speaker (http://go.ted.com/anupuusa) and an awarded teacher. I am an academic who does not believe that theory and practice are opposites. My philosophical background lies in the interpretative paradigm: “We look at the same target, but do we see the same thing?”I am a realist who tends to look at the bright side of life. I believe in the power of questions. Joint pondering and cooperation are the ways forward.
Dante Cracogna holds a doctorate in Law and he is professor of Commercial Law at the Law School, University of Buenos Aires. He is also a lawyer practising in the field of Civil and Commercial Law. Currently he is vice president of the Argentine Federation of Consumers Cooperatives and Chair of the Cooperative Law Committee of Cooperatives of the Americas and in that capacity is a member of the Cooperative Law Committee of the ICA. Dr. Cracogna was a member of the Consultative Committee which assisted Prof. Ian Mac Pherson when drafting the Identity Statement. He was a member of the ICA Principles Committee in charge of elaborating the Guidance Notes to the Cooperative Principles published by the ICA in 2015. He was active in the elaboration of the Framework Law for Cooperatives in Latin America and the Statute of the Mercosur Cooperatives and wrote several books and many articles on Cooperative Law. For several years was president of the Intertional Association of Cooperative Law.
David Rodgers has a Batchelor of Education in biology. While study to be a teacher in 1971 he was a founder member of a student housing co-operative. This led to a forty year career in housing co-operatives, 32 years as chief executive of CDS Co-operatives which became the largest co-operative housing association in England. He served as the UK’s representative on the board of Co-operative Housing International and was its elected President for four years. He was commissioned by the ICA to be the interpretive editor of the Guidance Notes to the Co-operative Principles published by the ICA in 2015. He also served for twelve years as a board member and vice chair of governors of the UK Co-operative College and for four years as an elected Labour councillor in the London Borough of Ealing.
Nelson Kuria has working experience of over 36 years in Development finance and Insurance. The crowning of his career in insurance was in The Co-operative Insurance Company of Kenya, now CIC Insurance Group where he worked for 17 years, 14 of them as MD/CEO. He led the transformation of CIC from a very small insurer to one of the top five insurers in Kenya and the Region with 3 local subsidiaries and the leading Cooperative Insurance Company in Africa with another 3 subsidiaries, which are joint-ventures with cooperatives in South Sudan, Uganda, and Malawi by the time of his retirement in February 2015. He was recalled to CIC Group after 6 years in retirement to serve as Group Chairman. Nelson has been honored with two state awards by the president of Kenya for his contribution in co-operative development. In the insurance industry he was honored with the Life Time Achievement Award in 2012 and in 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Leadership. In 2019 he was given the award of Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Kenya in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development corporate governance in Kenya. In the past, he has served as Chairman and board member of many many organizations in Kenya including the Association of Kenya Insurers, Federation of Kenya Employers, and the Co-operative University College of Kenya. At national level, he served as a Member of the Presidential Task Force on Parastatal reforms in 2013 and Chairman of the National Cooperative Task Force in 2020 – 2022 (the output was a new cooperative law). At international level, he has served as a Board member of the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Feederation (ICMIF) and member and facilitator in three UN Expert Group Meetings on co-operatives in 2011, 2012 and 2014. In 2012, he was a member of the ICA Working Group which prepared the Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade 2012 -2020. Currently he is Chairman of CIC Insurance Group, Smep Micofinance Bank (a Christian microfinance); Africa International University and Institute of Directors of Kenya. He is a board member of Acre Africa (an agritech subsidiary of Zep Re). Most recently on 16th April 2025, he was appointed by the Government of Kenya to be a member of a Committee of Experts to review the Sacco Societies Act. Nelson is a regular speaker in both local and international conferences and seminars in insurance, cooperatives, leadership and governance.
Dr. Cynthia Giagnocavo is the director of the Cátedra (Chair) of Agriculture, Cooperative Studies and Sustainable Development UAL-Coexphal at the University of Almería, Spain and a professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business Management in the area of Organisations. Her work is focused on sustainability in food and agricultural systems, including transitions to agro-ecological social systems. Her research focuses on the intersection of organisational, technical, social, economic and institutional innovation, with an emphasis on cooperatives, innovative business models, collaborative entrepreneurship and social enterprise. She is Chair of the ICA CCR European board and a member of the ICA CCR global board. She is also a member of the CIRIEC European Members of the International Scientific Commission Social & Cooperative Economy. She is lead scientist in numerous European and international projects on innovative knowledge systems, sustainable supply chains, the diversity of business models, entrepreneurship, and the application of new technologies and digitization processes from a socio-economic perspective. She is also an experienced Barrister, Solicitor and Attorney qualified in Canada (Ontario), England and Wales, and New York State. Before entering an academic career, she worked in both London and Madrid for the global law firm Clifford Chance LLP in the structured finance and banking groups, advising European and global banks and corporate entities. Before relocating to Europe, she worked in Toronto, Canada at the Ministry of Environment, as legal counsel for the Ontario Clean Water Agency, and for the law firm of Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg in the areas of corporate, banking and securities law. She was a law clerk for the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Her varied experience has led her to understand the need for cooperative business and social models in a profound and urgent manner. Hons. B.A. (York U); LL.B. (Osgoode Hall); M.E.S (York U); PhD (UAL).
Erbin Crowell represents the DotCoop LLC which manages the dotCoop domain and the Coop Marque, in the CIAG. Erbin Crowell serves as Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA), a secondary co-operative of more than 45 food co-ops and start-up initiatives with a combined membership of over 164,000 people across New England and New York State. With a mission of supporting co-operative growth, innovation, and shared success among its member food co-ops, the NFCA provides technical support, opportunities for peer collaboration, regional sourcing initiatives, marketing and policy advocacy, and educational and training resources. Erbin brings more than 25 years of experience in the co-operative movement, sustainable food systems, and Fair Trade, including work with Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Fund of New England, the Cooperative Development Institute, and the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops, and as a consultant with organizations such as the Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the National Cooperative Business Association, CLUSA International (USA), the New England Farmers Union, and the Co-operative Management Education Co-operative (CMEC). Erbin received his B.A. in Anthropology from Brown University and his Master of Management: Co-operatives & Credit Unions from Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, and is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he teaches courses on the co-operative movement.
Eva Sundari is a Pancasila Feminist and a consultant on Gender and Development. She was appointed as the ICA representative for the G20 event in Indonesia, having previously served as a board member of ICA Asia-Pacific. As a member of parliament for 15 years (2004–2019), she initiated the establishment of a women farmers’ cooperative in her constituency. Currently, she serves as the cooperative supervisor of INCUR.
Francesca Ottolenghi, an expert in international cooperation, has gained extensive professional experience in the cooperative movement at both the national and international levels. As a biologist, after advanced studies in France and Australia, she founded a women’s research cooperative in 1995. Since 2005, she has founded the Haliéus Association—of which she served as Director and President—as a structure for implementing international development cooperation interventions within Legacoop, managing projects as a project manager in many countries worldwide to strengthen the role of cooperatives as tools for sustainable and inclusive growth. Since January 2022, Francesca Ottolenghi has held the position of Head of the International Relations Office, Head of the Office for Sustainability and Cooperation, and Head of the Equal Opportunities Office at Legacoop. Additionally, she is Chair of the ICADP (International Cooperative Alliance Development Platform) of the International Cooperative Alliance, contributing to promoting and strengthening the role of cooperatives in the global context. She collaborates (and has previously worked as a consultant) with various UN agencies and international organizations (FAO, ILO, UNIDO, CIHEAM, etc.). She is also a professor at the University of Rome La Sapienza where she teaches courses dedicated to the use of the cooperative model in development cooperation projects, with a focus on the “Cooperative Model for Sustainable Development (more than 10 years). Regarding sustainability, since 2022 she created the strategy and multi-year work plan for the Sustainability & Cooperation Office of Legacoop, implementing specific projects, building professional networks, and developing specialized activities and advanced training.
Born in 1952 in Germany. High school in Germany and in the United States; studies in law and French language at Saarbrücken and Geneva; qualification as German judge; post graduate studies in development issues and development law in Geneva and Paris; licentiate, doctorate and professorship qualification in law at the University of Helsinki. Prior to working at the University of Helsinki, from where he retired at the end of 2020, he worked as Chief of the Cooperative Branch of the International Labor Organization (ILO), as legal advisor to the German Federal Minister of Economy and at the universities of Geneva and Saarbrücken. Since 1994 Henrÿ has consulted on cooperative policy and law in/for some 65 countries for national, regional and international governmental and non-governmental organizations, among which the ILO, the FAO, the World Bank, the EU, the OECD, the International Trade Center and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). He coordinated the ICA Cooperative Law Working Group, a predecessor of the current ICA Cooperative Law Committee (ICA CLC), which was established in 2013. Since then he has coordinated the ICA CLC. Henrÿ has published widely on development questions, land law, comparative law and cooperative law and has been a frequent contributor to seminars and conferences in many countries over many years. He is a member of several scientific associations and of editorial boards of scientific journals. He has taught cooperative law and policy and comparative law at several universities and other institutions.
Harsh Mukeshbhai Sanghani currently serves as the President of the International Cooperative Alliance Youth Committee (ICA YC) and as the Youth Representative on the ICA Global Board of Directors. His cooperative journey began at the age of 14, when he founded Cowganic, a venture inspired by his passion for sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. This early initiative reinforced his belief that age is never a barrier to driving meaningful change. Today, Harsh leads multiple enterprises, including Ray Infrastructure and Shanti Infrastructure, while actively championing youth empowerment, sustainable development, and international cooperation. Through his leadership roles and advocacy on global platforms, he continues to inspire young people to see cooperatives as a pathway to inclusive and sustainable futures.
Jean Louis Bancel after having graduated in management and law, has for 15 years, held different positions as a civil servant in the French Ministry of Finances. For many years he has been an active manager in French cooperative and mutual enterprises in the field of insurance and banking His last position for 15 years has been to be the executive chair of Credit Cooperatif, the oldest French cooperative bank serving cooperatives and social economy enterprises In France he has a long knowledge of advocating for mutuals and cooperatives. He is still the President of CoopFr the French national apex for all the cooperatives At the international level: he has been: member of the board and President of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF). He also has been the President of the International Cooperative Banks Associations Till a few weeks ago he has been the President of Cooperatives Europe In different positions (representing sectors, representing regions and as at large member) has been a member of the ICA board. He has been the chair of the principles committee which published the guidelines to the ICA principles.
María Eugenia Pérez Zea, born in Medellín – Colombia, is a cooperative leader, with more than 20 years of experience in managerial positions within the cooperative and solidarity movement at the national and international level. She has presided over leadership positions in Coomeva and its Cooperative Business Group, being elected as president of the Board of Directors since 2010 and re-elected in 2013, concluding her term in 2017. She has been a member and coordinator in the COOMEVA Cooperative Business Group for various periods of the corporate committees of: Audit, Finance, Mutual Funds, Good Corporate Cooperative Governance and Statutory Reform. She served as president of the Regional Committee for Gender Equity Regional – CREG of ACI Americas from 2010 to 2014 and vice president of it, from 2014 to date. She is currently president of the Global Gender Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance – ICA and a member of the ICA world board. María Eugenia is also the executive director of the Colombian Association of Cooperatives – ASCOOP, being the first woman president of the integration body with 61 years of experience. She is a lawyer from the University of Medellín, a specialist in administrative law from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, as well as in Socioeconomic Evaluation of Projects from the University of Antioquia. In addition, María Eugenia has experience in Cooperative Law, fiscal control, state contracting, quality management, boards of directors and good governance. This cooperative leader has published several articles in different publications of the cooperative sector, has been a university teacher, and has been a national and international speaker on issues of cooperative regulation and management, gender equity, fiscal control, Sustainable Development Goals, among others.She was chosen as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in 2020 and recognized in the global cooperative movement by the SHE-COOPS organization.
Sonja Novkovic is a Professor of Economics and Academic director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada. Her research, teaching and writing revolves around comparative economic systems, co-operative and broader social solidarity economy, with particular focus on worker ownership, participation and economic democracy. Having worked in and studied the self-managed economy in the former Yugoslavia, she continued to work on economic democracy in her graduate work in Canada. Her interest in the broader cooperative movement deepened with the launch of the professional Masters in cooperative management program at Saint Mary’s University in 2002. Currently, she is a contributor to the UNRISD Sustainability Performance Indicators project bringing the cooperative economy perspective to the team. She is also a collaborator on a four-year research project on humanistic co-operative governance funded by FWO – Belgium, and a research project for Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada on the impact of Covid-19. Her co-edited volumes include Co-operatives and the World of Work (Routledge, 2019); Cooperativism and Local Development in Cuba: An agenda for Democratic Transformation (Brill, 2018); and Co-operatives in the Post Growth Era (Zed, 2014), among other. Sonja has been serving as Chair of the International Co-operative Alliance Research Committee (2013-2021); she is a member of the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission on Social & Cooperative Economy, and the NCBA-CLUSA Council of Economists.
