The Creamery Board of Directors is elected by member-owners to provide leadership and fulfill the Co-op’s Ends.
Elected by the Member-owners of the Old Creamery Co-op, the Board of Directors is composed of nine community members. The Board is responsible for ensuring that the store is run in a way that is financially responsible, socially conscious, and genuinely responsive to the broad interests of our Member-owners and the community. However, the Board is not directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Co-op. Instead, the Board provides support, consultation, and oversight to the General Manager of the Co-op.
The Co-op’s Board of Directors relies on two guiding documents for our work:
- The Co-op’s Bylaws guide the Co-op’s principles and processes.
- The Co-op’s Policy Manual defines the roles and responsibilities of both the General Manager and the Board of Directors.
The Board meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 6:30pm to 7:30 with a social time that begins at 6:15pm. We currently meet in person and offer a hybrid option via Zoom. We welcome Member-owners to attend meetings and share comments and questions at the beginning of every meeting.
Please email board@oldcreamery.coop for the agenda and Zoom links. We also welcome and encourage Member-Owner participation in our sub-committee work and/or as a volunteers for projects at the Co-op.
Schedule of Meetings 2023:
Jan 24, Feb 28, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, Sept 19, Oct 17, Nov 21, Dec 19
Any changes to the date, time or location of regular board meetings will be posted in the store and on this website. Past Board minutes and agendas are also available to Member-Owners in a binder upstairs in the library or upon written request. To learn more about how our Co-operative is structured and governed, please read our Co-op Bylaws, Mission/Ends Statement, and Policy Governance Manual. If you are interested, the Board will also share the Director’s Information Packet and Confidentiality Agreement with prospective members.
INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS?
Do you enjoy being a Old Creamery Member-owner and want to support its values and role in the community?
Would you like to contribute to our local food economy and advance a cooperatively owned, democratically-run local business?
Do you enjoy working with a group of respectful, thoughtful, and collaborative neighbors?
If you answered yes to these questions, we would value your participation on the Board.
If you would like to contribute to our co-operative journey let any board member know, contact us at board@oldcreamery.coop or send a message to the general manager gm@oldcreamery.coop
Please schedule a time to talk with one of us; we’re always happy to answer your questions and serve the needs of the cooperative community.
Our 2023 Board Members
Steven Schiff – President – Cummington
Ana and I came to Cummington in 2018 to build a house for ourselves and create a transition from forty-one years of life lived in Brooklyn, New York. Soon afterwards we got our fifteen minutes of fame when our almost finished house burnt to the ground the day after Christmas of that year. The good thing is that we now live in a twice-built house and it was here finished and ready right before the lockdown.
Before coming here, I was a middle school teacher in the New York City public school system for thirty one years. Ana is an artist and also taught art. We keep our foothold back in Brooklyn where life is opposite that here in the Hilltowns. I grew up in Texas but left there to go to college in Vermont and from there I landed in New York and loved it. After some years working as an artist, and at odd jobs, I became an educator and worked most of my career at a small collaborative, democratically run public middle school mostly attended by working class families and their children. I am also a long time working member (mandatory) of the Park Slope Food Coop and treasure the food, work, and large, diverse community there.
As a board member for the Creamery, I hope to learn from the experience of the many folks who have come before me. The Creamery was instrumental to our life during lockdown and we saw it adapt, grow and thrive during hard times. I understand The Creamery to be vital to the identity and life of this community. So, I look forward to helping in whatever ways I can to ensure a stable and delicious future of our little store.
Sadie Stull, Vice President – Plainfield
I have enjoyed living in Plainfield for the past 23 years. I have been a member of several co-ops over the years, starting with a co-op in Northampton, MA in the late 1970’s. I am a strong believer in co-operatives. I look forward to bringing my enthusiasm for working with others and problem solving. I have run a small construction business for over 20 years, and been involved with many community organizations such as the Hilltown Seed Saving Network, Raspberry Hill Community Garden, and the Plainfield Cultural Council. I currently serve on the Plainfield Agricultural Commission and the Plainfield Council on Aging. I value the Old Creamery Co-op as a place to shop, have a meal, and meet other members of the community.
Paul DiLeo, Treasurer – Plainfield
I have been coming to Plainfield with my wife Cynthia for 30 years, camping first and moving here full time 20 years ago. We’re raising two kids, Claire and Celeste, who have been in Shawn Thayer’s 4H sheep club for 15 years and built a flock of Border Leicesters. We also grow peaches, apples, have horses and chickens, etc. I’m the founder and a managing director of Grassroots Capital, a B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation which manages investments in microfinance, affordable education, and other “social impact” businesses in Africa, Latin America and South Asia and am on the boards of several such companies and investment funds. In this capacity, I travel a fair amount which has limited my local engagement, but over the years I have been a Board member of the Hilltown CDC and on various Plainfield Town committees. My travel schedule is now relaxing a bit so I look forward to working with all the Creamery’s current and future stakeholders to move it into the future, continuing and expanding its role as a resource for everyone who lives in and visits in these Hilltowns.
Martin Schotz, Clerk – Cummington
Martin is a recently retired physician who has been living in Cummington for the past ten years. He is a student of Nonviolent Communication and is active in the community on issues of justice, democracy and peace. He is a jazz drummer. He thinks the Creamery is a vital institution and would like to see it prosper and serve everyone in the community.
Katy Eiseman, – Cummington
I grew up at the other end of Hampshire County, in Pelham. After a few years in Washington and New York studying and practicing law, I came back home to Western Mass, moving to Cummington in 2004. I’ve been a morning baker at the Creamery, worked on Only One Cummington Volume II, and ran the Blue House Café in Haydenville for five years with my husband. I’ve also worked with It Takes a Village (the Hilltown Village) and with the Hilltown Land Trust. When the Kinder Morgan pipeline threatened the region, I founded the Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast, which I still run. My two kids attend RH Conwell in Worthington. I now serve on the Cummington Planning Board, and I appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Creamery Board and help develop a shared vision for what we want our co-op to be, and a path to realize that vision.
Ilse Godfrey – Cummington
I moved to Cummington with my husband after we agreed that we didn’t want to be just visitors, we wanted to be part of the unique community here. Residents and Creamery members since 2018, we relocated our small sign business to our property in 2019. I am a member of the Town Planning Board, and the ad hoc commission working to obtain state Cultural District designation for the Town of Cummington. With Robert, I am a volunteer Community Emergency Response Team Member (CERT), a certification provided through the Cummington Public Safety Complex. In my private life, I am a steward of Featherweald, a conservation property in Southern Washington County, NY; and I am a walker, birder and naturalist. With my experience and education, I believe I have skills to support the Creamery’s growth and Ends Objectives going forward.
Jesse Massaro – Worthington
Jesse Massaro is a local artist, who has lived in the area his whole life, almost entirely in Worthington. He has worked on and off at the Old Creamery for over a cumulative decade, in a variety of positions: from deli to prep cook, grill master, eventually, kitchen lead, and now Marketing & Member Services. He took a break from working at the Creamery to attend HCC in the fall of 2010 and from there went on to graduate from UMass with honors, and a BFA in Printmaking.
He returned to the Creamery in 2016. He has always had the future of the Old Creamery, and the community that surrounds it, in the forefront of his mind. Jesse is in a unique position to see the day-to-day operations in the store as well as connections with the community at large. He is very excited to bring his experience and insights to the board.
In his personal time, he enjoys nature photography, games with friends, and cooking delicious meals to delight the senses.
Seva Water – Cummington
I moved to Cummington in 2015 to start a nut farm with my partner, Kalyan. We are both committed to growing nutritious food and soil using regenerative farming practices and have felt very at home here in the Hilltowns. I grew up in Northfield and spent a few months traveling in South Asia after finishing school. Prior to finding land I worked with refugee and immigrant farmers in Worcester and West Springfield and was involved in anti-racism and food justice work. I now work part-time at the Hilltown CDC and serve on the Cummington Cultural Council. My hope for the Creamery is that it can provide access to good food for all Hilltowners while reflecting the unique values and character of our whole community. As a board member I am committed to improving outreach, communications and community engagement and I look forward to the opportunity to help set a new course for the future of our store.
Amy Tessier – Savoy
I was born and raised in Cummington on my family’s maple syrup farm. Through the many years of my childhood I would receive my education at the Central Berkshire Regional School District and graduate from Wahconah. Later I went on to get my bachelors degree in art history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a focus on American and German modern art, as well as American architecture and furniture.
When I returned back home after college (summer of 2013), an opportunity to work at the Old Creamery Co-op turned into many great years baking alongside Peri and the many bakers that came and went through the years. During that time, I started working with Alice Cozzolino, baking for her Community-supported food business, and I went on to work for Bread Euphoria, but ultimately I couldn’t stay away from the Creamery. I’ve been back at the Old Creamery Co-op for over a year now and am a part of a great team that feels like family. I now live a few towns over in Savoy, but I feel deeply connected to Cummington and the Old Creamery Co-op.
Board Terms
| Board Member | Year Elected | Term | Expiration | 2023 Annual Meeting |
| Paul DiLeo | 2021 | 3 years | 2024 | |
| Katy Eiseman | 2022 | 3 years | 2025 | |
| Ilse Godfrey | 2021 | 2 years | 2023 | |
| Jesse Massaro | 2021 | 3 years | 2024 | |
| Steve Schiff | 2021 | 3 years | 2024 | |
| Martin Schotz | 2020 | 3 years | 2023 | Vote |
| Sadie Stull | 2022 | 3 years | 2025 | |
| Seva Water | 2020 | 3 years | 2023 | Vote |
| Amy Tessier | 2022 | 3 years | 2025 |