In 1992 Brian Henehan from the Northeast Cooperative Council and Andrew Ferguson began  bringing together cooperative leaders from across New England and New York to :
1) identify opportunities for joint activities and business development  and
2) build a vision for a thriving cooperative economy in the Northeast. 

They conducted a needs assessment for cooperative education and training  needs and catalogued cooperatives across the region.the spring of 1994, these cooperative leaders established the  Cooperative Development Institute. They represented the wide range of  cooperative enterprises found in the Northeast:
1. Roger Allbee, Springfield Farm Credit Banks
2. Joseph Bergeron, Vermont Credit Union League
3. Thomas Davenport, National Grape Growers Association
4. Cindy Foley, former chair of the National Cooperative Bank
5. Brian Henehan, Northeast Cooperative Council, Cornell Univ.
6. Robert Loeb, Telecommunications Cooperative Network
7. James Megson, The ICA Group
8. Nancy Wasserman, Vermont Community Loan Fund
9. Robert Wellington, Agri-Mark Cooperative

The Institute was founded with the explicit mission:
"To increase economic opportunities and benefits for people in the  Northeast by fostering the growth and success of all types of cooperative  enterprises."

The Northeast is an extremely large and diverse region. To make  significant and sustainable economic improvements, new development  infrastructure has been forged out of partnerships between cooperatives,  businesses, public agencies, and other resources across the region. Building  across sectors, from agriculture, through credit unions, to worker-owned cooperatives, and working through many disciplines, from new cooperative  business start-ups and cooperative banking, to leadership development and  education, the Institute and its diverse partners bring economic benefit to  people and their communities. CDI received its non-profit 501(c)(3) status in the Summer of 1994

Photo: MA Congressman John Olver (left) and David Tuttle from the USDA (right) with Steve Alves of Greenfield Mercantile, Lynda Brushett of CDI, Sally Wright of Co-opPlus of Western MA and Rochelle Prunty from River Valley Market at a CDI press conference last year.