Ethan Alden-Danforth
Why would you like to serve on the City Market Board? What excites you about becoming a Board member?
I would sincerely appreciate your vote for the upcoming Board of Directors’ position because as a young Vermont professional, I believe you, the member owners, deserve better board representation in this critical but underrepresented age demographic. I would be excited and honored to apply my professional training and business leadership experience to help guide the strategy and future direction of City Market and give voice to a growing segment of member owners.
Vermont is a truly special place filled with hardworking farms and wonderful small food producers. I’d love the opportunity to serve you as an integral part of this cooperative, one deeply rooted in the Burlington community, that connects these amazing businesses directly to the local economy. I also want to help foster the next generation of essential programs like the Patronage Seedling Grants to maintain a thriving and healthy community.
Lastly, and without getting too political, I’m not satisfied with the current state of our democratic process at the national level and so I want to do my part to actively participate in a truly democratic system, a cooperative, at the local level to help ensure the member owner system is respected and continues to flourish.
Please describe any professional skills you have that will help you to be an effective Board Member. How would you help the Board to balance the business needs of a $42 million business with the need to meet our Global Ends as a community-owned cooperative?
I received a doctorate in organic chemistry which, more than anything else, prepared me to work incredibly hard towards my goals and to use limited resources in creative ways to achieve innovative results. I’ll use my technical training make sure the board is working hard for the member owners every day to deliver on the City Market’s mission and principles.
I moved to Vermont to assume a senior management role at a small but rapidly growing business that produces natural and organic cosmetic products. As such, I’m familiar with what it takes to grow a successful small organization such as City Market Co-op. I’ve become adept at navigating periods of turbulent change like City Market is currently undergoing as it prepares to open a second store location. I’ll use this professional experience to help set a strategic agenda and empower City Market’s General Manager to fulfill that plan.
I will bring passionate enthusiasm and commitment to the director position to ensure current as well as future programs and services maximize their benefit to our community. Above all though, I will work to make sure you continue to have a sense of pride in your cooperative.
Describe your prior involvement with community organizations and/or cooperatives. What did you learn from these experiences?
My two philanthropic passions revolve around working with humane societies and with organizations that bring fresh, healthy food to those who do not have easy access. Two statistics that have always bothered me are that in America, on average, 50% of all produce is thrown away and that food is the single biggest occupant in American landfills. Considering how many people do not have affordable access to healthy produce, a huge unmet need becomes clearly visible.
I’ve volunteered at food shelters and, most recently, worked with a group that recovers produce and other perishable items from restaurants, grocery stores and a meal-delivery service company. We repackaged the items and handed them out weekly at community centers in rural and impoverished neighborhoods. We would also make deliveries to nursing homes and senior centers for those who were immobile.
This experience opened my eyes to the attitudes that exist in America about healthy food availability and scarcity. I’ve vowed to do what I can to change the above statistics and to help give communities tools like basic cooking skills that have been shown to bring families closer together and can have far-reaching impacts on things like healthcare costs and children’s education.
What opportunities and challenges do you see in the future of City Market?
This November, City Market will open a second store location and I see this is as the largest source of both opportunities and challenges. Customer demographics in this new location will be different which affords access to a new segment of the Burlington population and should bring growth in new membership & sales. This, in turn, will help spark new community programs and services aimed specifically at this community. The challenge here will be to figure out how to attract these new customers with competition from other traditional grocery stores nearby and to determine the most needed types of programs and services.
Recruiting new customers is critical in working towards profitability now that City Market’s operating expenses, overhead and risk have all increased. Turning a profit, especially from member sales, is the major way to ensure continuity of such well received programs like the Patronage Dividend and donations to local non-profits and community events.
Lastly, the new store location will bring dozens of new jobs at various skill levels as well as to provide additional opportunities for member workers. In any growth situation, new employee recruitment, retention and engagement can be significant challenges that require careful consideration.
Click here to view Ethan's resume!