What does the board do?

A nine-person board of trustees elected by the Active Membership directs PCC. Each trustee serves a three-year term, with three positions open for election each year. A trustee may serve no more than three consecutive terms.

The board's primary responsibilities are to provide wise stewardship of the cooperative's resources and oversee the continued success of the nation's largest natural foods co-op with nearly $148 million in sales in 2010.

The PCC board conducts its business using the Policy Governance® model, as do the boards of many cooperatives throughout the country. This governance model allows the board to focus on the broad direction of the co-op through policy-setting. The trustees hire and oversee a CEO who is responsible for all day-to-day operations.

The board met in retreat on February 11-12 in Seattle. There were learning sessions on food hubs, co-ops, sustainable building and PCC growth. (l-r) Trustees Julianne Lamsek, Stacey Donahue, Maggie Lucas, Katrina Basic, Carol Binder, Stephen Tan, Bryan Pearce, Bruce Williams, facilitator Mark Goehring, trustee John Sheller, CFO Randy Lee.

Responsibilities of the Board of Trustees

• Develop, evaluate and oversee the implementation of policies that provide direction to the co-op, guide management and govern the board's own actions and the relationship with the CEO.
• Evaluate the CEO based on those policies.
• Maintain communication with the members of PCC Natural Markets.
• Ensure that all activities of PCC are carried out within the laws of the United States, the laws of the State of Washington, the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws.
• Fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to the members of the co-op.

Expectations of the Individual Trustee

Members of PCC’s board met with members of the board of Wheatsville Co-op from Austin, TX for a dialog on common interests during the annual conference of the Consumer Cooperatives Management Association in June.

• Trustees are to understand the board's roles and responsibilities.
• Trustees are to prepare for and attend all scheduled board meetings, held at least 9 times per year, usually on the last Tuesday of every other month. Board meetings may average three to four hours. Trustees receive packets of written information in advance of each meeting.*
• Trustees typically serve on one or more Board committees. Committee meetings average 1.5 to two hours per month.*
• Trustees are to attend the spring annual meeting and fall member meeting each year, usually evening meetings in April and October.
• Trustees are expected to participate in one or two daylong board retreats each year.
• Trustees are expected to visit stores regularly throughout term of office and attend PCC events.

*Time spent on board business may vary from month to month, averaging 20 hours per month, including preparing for and attending board and committee meetings, and board study.

Trustee Compensation

• Annual stipend
• Unique cooperative board experience, with professional Policy Governance® and board development training, as well as ongoing education sessions on mission-critical topics

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