Ellen Goddard, President

Ellen is the Co-operative Chair in Agricultural Marketing and Business. She is also the Program Leader, Consumer and Market Demand Policy Research Networks, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Member of the AVRI Council.

Sonja Novkovic, Vice-President

Sonja (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Economics at Saint Mary’s University. Her research interests are in the field of labour-managed and cooperative firms, comparative economics and transition economies. She is focusing on evolutionary economics and learning via genetic algorithms, as tools of modeling adaptive economic agents. Dr. Novkovic is involved in the Masters of Management for Cooperatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU) program at Saint Mary’s. She is currently the president of the International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP).

J.J. McMurtry, Executive Member

J.J. McMurtry holds a doctorate in Social and Political Thought from York University. His research focuses on linking contemporary social, political and economic theory with the practice of co-operatives and the social economy using a life-theory perspective. Professor McMurtry has presented his work at conferences across North America and in Europe. He has published works on social theory, politics, literature, and the social economy in scholarly and popular media. He has also been active in a number of movements and organizations for over two decades including co-operative businesses, a research firm, unions at the local and national level, as well as various community and volunteer organizations.

Getu Hailu, Treasurer

Getu Hailu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business at the University of Guelph. Getu relocated to the University of Guelph in May 2005 following his Ph.D. studies (majoring in Agribusiness Production and Finance with minor in Food Marketing Economics) at the University of Alberta. Getu’s current research focuses on consumer demand/food safety and agribusiness production/finance.

Michael Gertler, Past President

Michael joined the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan in July 1996. He has been with the Department of Sociology since 1987, where he teaches the sociology of communities, rural sociology, and the sociology of agriculture. His research interests focus on organizational innovations that support agricultural diversification, agricultural co-operatives, the social ecology of sustainable resource use, and sustainable rural communities.