Meet the CIAG members

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.

Melina Morrison is the inaugural CEO of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) and was a driving force behind the establishment of Australia’s first peak body for co-operatives in 2013. She is a well-known advocate for co-operatives in the media and business community bringing together her passion for co-ops and her background in communications and public relations.
Before the BCCM, Melina was editor of the ICA Digest for five years and co-authored the ICA message platform for the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade. Melina produced the commemoration book “100 Stories of Co-operation” for the ICA. Her advocacy work resulted in the Australian Government minting a coin and producing a stamp series commemorating the International Year of Co-operatives in 2012.
Melina has since led the apex body to many historic achievements for the Australian co-operative sector including the first national research on the sector; the first policy blueprint; and the first national government inquiry into the co-operative and mutual business sector leading to 17 ground-breaking reforms. As a result of Melina’s long-term campaign for access to capital for co-operatives, the Australian Government passed the first enabling laws for co-operatives and mutuals in 18 years allowing co-operatives to issue investment capital without demutualising.
Melina has championed a world class operating environment for co-operatives in Australia. Key projects she has initiated include the $1 million, 2-year impact measurement research project, Mutual Value Measurement, with Monash University. She is now leading Australia’s first environmental, social and governance (ESG) project for co-operatives to improve sector capacity to respond to the global sustainability challenges.

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).

Jeonghee Kim joined iCOOP as a consumer member and obtained a master’s degree on Cooperative Management at Sungkonghoe University Graduate School in 2014. She served as the chairperson of the Yulmok coop, one of member coops of iCOOP, and the representative of the COOP Store, a subsidiary for the management of iCOOP Natural Dream stores from 2017. She was a representative of the Anyang City Cooperative Association and was elected as Chairperson of iCOOP Federation this year.

Mrs. Om Devi Malla a Nepalese cooperative leader, born in Gorkha district of Nepal, completed her master degree in Sociology from Tribhuvan University Nepal. She is the first Nepali co-operative woman leader to complete a Diploma in Co-operative Education and Management from NCCE New Delhi, India.

Mrs. Malla, who has commenced working in the cooperative sector since 1997 from the District Association leadership to the first Senior Vice-President of the National Co-operative Federation of Nepal (NCF). She has had working experience in the executive committee of NCF for one term. She supported the working of the National Cooperative Development board for 2 times in the capacity of cooperative expert.

Malla has been participating as a national representative at International Cooperative Federation programmes while receiving education and training from more than 15 countries. She is always concerned to exploit her experience and knowledge at national and international number for women empowerment and women leadership development in cooperative leadership.

Malla is the first person to become a parliamentarian working in the country’s policy making level, representing the area of cooperation in the legislative parliament. She played a constructive role in the making of constitution 2015, and raised voice in parliament for women empowerment in cooperatives. She has been awarded by the ”Suprabhal Jana Sewa Shree” a State level decoration by the Government of Nepal for her continuous contribution in the cooperative sector. She was also awarded by different commendation from the national and international organizations. With her commitment and dedication in the cooperative sector from 22 years, Mrs. Malla, has been elected in the position of Global board members of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 17, 2017, for the first time from Nepal. This is a great achievement for the cooperative movement of Nepal.

Om Devi Malla, who has been providing her special attention in women leadership development and inclusion in the cooperative sector and believed that poverty can be eliminated through the cooperative in developing countries. 

Prof. Petar Stefanov, PhD in Economics spent more than 33 years working for the cooperative movement in Bulgaria. Since 2003 he is a President of Central Cooperative Union – Bulgaria. He is a member of Group III of the Economic and Social Council of Bulgaria and member of the Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Association.
At European level he is among the founders of Cooperatives Europe – European region of International Cooperative Alliance established in 2006 and Vice President in the period 2013-2017 and 2021 – 2025. He is Vice President of the European Association of Consumer Cooperatives (EURO COOP) in the period 2013 – 2017 and member of the Board of EURO COOP since 2004.
At global level, he is a member of the Executive Committee of Consumer Cooperatives Worldwide (CCW) in the period 2001 – 2015 and since 2015 he was elected President of CCW. In 2009 he was elected to the global board of the International Cooperative Alliance and he is Chair of the ICA Governance Committee.
For exceptional merits in the development and establishment of the values and institution of the cooperative movement in Bulgaria and two decades of continuous leadership in the field of economic life in 2010 he was awarded State order “Civil Merits” – First Degree. The Central Cooperative Union in 2004 and 2006 was awarded with the prize “National Structure with Contribution to Bulgaria’s Economic Development” for significant contribution of the consumer cooperatives to the economic and social development of Bulgaria.
Prof. Petar Stefanov is among the founders of Cooperatives Europe House (MEC), Brussels, Belgium which is currently Headquarters of the International Cooperative Alliance.

Martin Lowery is the United States representative to the ICA board of directors and is the current Chair of the ICA Cooperative Identity Committee and the Cooperative World Congress Task Force. He is the past Chair of the National Cooperative Business Association, the apex organization of cooperatives in the United States. He is also the past Chair of the National Cooperative Bank, created by the United States Congress to provide capital to cooperative and community-based organizations. He is an inductee to the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame. His career in cooperatives has been centered on electric cooperatives in the United States as the Executive Vice President of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University and believes that we have much to discuss regarding the relevance of cooperative principles and values to the future of mankind.

Ana Aguirre is co-founder and worker owner at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop, an innovation group that focuses its activity in the creation of learning and training ecosystems for companies and education institutions; has a communication agency; runs a university degree and short higher education programs (Travelling U.); and participates in various companies in emerging sectors. In TAZEBAEZ Ana leads the Cooperative Development line and is a member of the innovation consultancy team.
Ana serves as the VP for Europe in the ICA Youth network and she also participates in the Executive Committee.
In the last two years she has been part of the creation and running, as operations lead, in the Platform Cooperatives NOW! course by Mondragon University and The New School. In this field she participates as one of the 12 people in the Harvard Research Sprint on Data Cooperatives.

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. 

Dr. Onofre Cezario De Souza Filho graduated in Medicine from Federal University of Goiás and has a specialization course in Cooperatives Management by the Getulio Vargas Foundation. He started in the cooperative movement at the health cooperative Unimed Cuiabá, being one of the founders of the Unimed cooperative system. He was president of the Unimed Federation. Currently president of OCB and the National Service of Cooperative Learning – Sescoop in the state of Mato Grosso. Member of the Board of the Federation of Unions of Cooperatives of the Federal District and States of Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Tocantins.

She developed a great admiration and inspiration in working with youth and youth member owned institutions. Through her work with the youth, she has interacted with young men and women and had an opportunity to mentor youth in different sub regions of Africa. She is currently working with the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO) subsidiary company – Mutual Assurance. Hilda is a certified Credit Union Development Educator (ADE). She has completed the D.E program, and is an educator of Credit Union /Saccos addressing different issues across Africa that affect Cooperatives. She is a former President of International Cooperative Alliance – Africa Youth Network (ICA-Africa YN) and Vice-president of International Cooperative Alliance Youth Network (ICA-YN). As the first ever elected President of ICA-Africa YN, Hilda has been instrumental in the formation of the Network’s regional committee and increased the number of youth engagement and participation to the Network’s activities hence increased cooperative visibility.

During her tenure, Hilda has organized for a number of national, regional, and global platforms to promote financial literacy, climate action through the “Go green campaign”, the Global Youth Forum (GYF 20 and 21), Global Cooperative Entrepreneurship (GCE) pilot program as a mentor to promoted business start-ups in the Africa region. She has also helped the ICA- Africa YN to get the affiliate member status with the African Youth Commission and ensured youth engagement discussions with different stakeholders such as DGRV, Fairtrade Africa, Aflatoun International and International Trade Centre.

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.