The staff of CDI

Noémi Giszpenc, CDI's Executive Director, Grants and Projects Manager and Director of Training, has experience as a management consultant providing training, research, and communications support to employee-owned firms and cooperative and community development-related enterprises. After graduating with bachelor’s degrees in economics and science journalism from M.I.T., she began her career, first as an economics researcher at the World Bank, then as an editor at the Nonprofit Quarterly, a magazine for nonprofit managers. She later became a principal at Ownership Associates, Inc., a consulting firm in Cambridge, MA specializing in developing an ownership culture at employee-owned firms. As part of earning a Master’s in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University, she did a thesis on the creation of a cooperative economy in the Northeast, including the practical development of an interactive cooperative directory, the Regional Index of Cooperation (www.find.coop). Her most recent work includes research and writing on Italian cooperatives, financial innovations for community development, and asset development for people with disabilities. She has also taught at Montclair State University, NJ.

Lynda Brushett, Senior Cooperative Development Specialist, has run her own consulting business, Niche Marketing,  for 20 years, specializing in community-based, community-led development strategies. Her focus is on economic development , food and agriculture projects. She has conducted feasibility studies and organizational planning for a number of community based cooperative economic development initiatives including the Yankee Shepherd Cooperative and the Green Valley Lamb Cooperative.  She is co-author of Market Planning for Value-Added Agricultural Products and author of Special Food Business Fundamentals:  An Entrepreneurial Training Program.  Recent work on a strategic planning /expansion project for the Springfield Vermont Food Co-op brings both a model and practical expertise to this endeavor. 

Andrew DanforthAndy Danforth, Housing Program Manager, serves as a member of CDI’s Cooperative Development Team, providing management and leadership to CDI’s cooperative housing development efforts, including CDI’s SNEROC Program. He has been working with CDI since early 2009 and has been actively working with several manufactured housing groups as they convert to resident owned communities. He has a quarter century of diverse experience in housing finance, non-profit governance, and social outreach. He is a co-founder and Managing Director of Circinus Group, which is a portfolio social lender and commercial conduit and provides financial and systemic consulting services to the international residential finance community. During his career, he has worked with 7 of the 20 largest US banks and several Wall Street brokerage houses, has served as a liquidating Officer of the FDIC, and has assisted local lenders, government agencies, Indian tribes and regional non-profits. Internationally, he has worked on projects in Canada, Australia, the UK, and in South Asia. He currently serves as an adviser to the Mexican National Workers Housing Fund, and to a UN/NGO on the practical application of Shari’ah (Islamic law) to micro lending programs in Southeast Asia. Andy has a long history of non-profit involvement. He is currently Board President of The Cooperative Fund of New England (www.coopfund.coop), a unique 32-year old revolving fund that lends to cooperative enterprises and community non-profits throughout New England. He is a founder and serves as Board Secretary of its sister fund, the Cooperative Capital Fund of New England, the first known venture capital fund targeted toward cooperative enterprises. Andy also serves as CDI's Financial Manager. He is responsible for keeping the financial systems for the organization running. He also advises management regarding matters such as the efficient use of resources,  developing and presenting financial forecasting, supporting strategic planning efforts and sharing information effectively to assist others in doing CDI’s work. 

Kathleen Fekete Bauerlein is CDI's Grants and Projects Coordinator.  As well as providing top-notch support and attention to detail, she maintains CDI’s library/resource room, maintains and organizes filing systems; and supports the development of systems for grants and project management.  She has been working for CDI since 2003. She brings excellent organizational skills and thoroughness that supports the many and diverse activities undertaken by CDI.  In California, Ms. Bauerlein ran her and her husband’s general contracting business J. Bauerlein & Associates for 10 years. After that, she managed the Tsegyalgar Bookstore in Conway, MA for two years and was the Office Manager of Franklin Land Trust, also for two years.  

Jeremiah WardJeremiah Ward serves as Housing Program Organizer under CDI's SNEROC program and is also CDI's newest Cooperative Development Specialist. He has worked for a number of cooperatives in different sectors in the United States and has conducted extensive research on agricultural and worker cooperatives in Mexico. Jeremiah also has expertise in the field of urban development. He obtained his MA in Community Development and Planning from Clark University and specializes in HUD's HOME and CDBG programs, as well as other urban development initiatives. He also currently serves as a consultant for the City of Worcester's Neighborhood and Housing Development Office. Jeremiah hopes his connections to community development practitioners and his detailed knowledge of cooperatives and urban development will help expand CDI's reach into urban areas throughout the Northeast.

 

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