Bree Heagy is currently a student at Messiah College studying Economic Development with a concentration in Business. Previously, Bree attended Lancaster County Career and Technology Center to study photography. Bree has travelled to Nashville, Tennessee and Buffalo, New York to help support those living in poverty. She has also travelled to Germany to work at a camp that helped German students grasp a better understanding of the English language. Bree proudly helped out at the Special Olympics in the Spring of 2016. She is excited to use her ability to work quickly and efficiently as an intern at KDC.
In addition to actively providing technical assistance to worker co-ops, start-ups, and conversions, Jim is a co-founder of DAWN and currently serve on DAWN's Board of Governors, its Training and Certification committee, and its Business Planning Team.
Jim is a graduate of the CooperationWorks! Training for Cooperative Development Practitioners, and served several years in the CW leadership as Chair of CW's Networking Circle. He is also a member of the Grassroots Economic Organizing media collective, which has been chronicling the worker co-op and solidarity economics movements in the US and around the world for over thirty years. He is also a sustaining member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
Jim is a member of the development team for the Co-op Index, a diagnostic tool developed by worker co-op members and developers as a way of helping worker co-ops grow closer to an "ideal cooperative" organization, as guided by cooperative values. He is a co-founder of the Data Commons Cooperative, a collaborative database for the US cooperative economy.
Jim is a software engineer by profession, specializing in statistical analysis websites, and is currently on sabbatical from his own worker co-op after serving ten years there, including three years as President. He also spent several years consulting too, and serving on the board of, his local food co-op, including two years as President.
Jim is a graduate of the CooperationWorks! Training for Cooperative Development Practitioners, and served several years in the CW leadership as Chair of CW's Networking Circle. He is also a member of the Grassroots Economic Organizing media collective, which has been chronicling the worker co-op and solidarity economics movements in the US and around the world for over thirty years. He is also a sustaining member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
Jim is a member of the development team for the Co-op Index, a diagnostic tool developed by worker co-op members and developers as a way of helping worker co-ops grow closer to an "ideal cooperative" organization, as guided by cooperative values. He is a co-founder of the Data Commons Cooperative, a collaborative database for the US cooperative economy.
Jim is a software engineer by profession, specializing in statistical analysis websites, and is currently on sabbatical from his own worker co-op after serving ten years there, including three years as President. He also spent several years consulting too, and serving on the board of, his local food co-op, including two years as President.
Cathy A. Smith, Ph.D., specializes in both financial and qualitative analysis as used to assist emerging organizations in developing feasibility studies, business/revenue models, and strategic plans. Cathy (also goes by nickname of Kate) has done numerous feasibility projects include studies for three separate ethanol plants (locations: Ontario, Montana, and New Jersey) along with a concrete manufacturing plant.
Other feasibility studies and business plans include one for an urban mushroom production facility in Philadelphia and a bio-diesel plant in York County, PA. These were completed during the 5 years she served as Vice President of AUS Consultants, Inc., headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey. Feasibility studies since joining the KDC staff include studies for a coffee-roasting business, a housing cooperative, a mobile slaughter unit, several vegetable marketing cooperatives, a machinery cooperative, several food co-ops, a retail outlet for a dairy marketing cooperative, an agro-tourism rest stop, three value-added farm studies, and a specialty pork marketing cooperative.
Throughout Dr. Smith’s academic and consulting career she has provided technical and business assistance to cooperatives. While on the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, she served as the Director of the Cooperative Business Education and Research Program, which was an educational outreach program providing support to Boards of Directors of rural cooperative businesses. As Director, she developed a nationally recognized curriculum for the Graduate Director School. Her research interests included the relationship of marketing strategy (i.e. cooperatives) to profit in the farm enterprises.
Prior to leaving to take a position at AUS, Dr. Smith served for eleven years on the faculty of The Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. While on faculty, she taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in marketing and finance. Cathy is a graduate of Iowa State University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business with a minor in Economic Analysis and conferred with Distinction. She then received a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University with minors in Public Finance and Econometrics.
Other feasibility studies and business plans include one for an urban mushroom production facility in Philadelphia and a bio-diesel plant in York County, PA. These were completed during the 5 years she served as Vice President of AUS Consultants, Inc., headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey. Feasibility studies since joining the KDC staff include studies for a coffee-roasting business, a housing cooperative, a mobile slaughter unit, several vegetable marketing cooperatives, a machinery cooperative, several food co-ops, a retail outlet for a dairy marketing cooperative, an agro-tourism rest stop, three value-added farm studies, and a specialty pork marketing cooperative.
Throughout Dr. Smith’s academic and consulting career she has provided technical and business assistance to cooperatives. While on the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, she served as the Director of the Cooperative Business Education and Research Program, which was an educational outreach program providing support to Boards of Directors of rural cooperative businesses. As Director, she developed a nationally recognized curriculum for the Graduate Director School. Her research interests included the relationship of marketing strategy (i.e. cooperatives) to profit in the farm enterprises.
Prior to leaving to take a position at AUS, Dr. Smith served for eleven years on the faculty of The Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. While on faculty, she taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in marketing and finance. Cathy is a graduate of Iowa State University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business with a minor in Economic Analysis and conferred with Distinction. She then received a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University with minors in Public Finance and Econometrics.
