Update: General Manager Search

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Rachel Jolly
By Rachel Jolly, Board Member and Search Committee Chair

As January’s edition of the Onion Skin reported, the Board is conducting a search for a new General Manager after Pat Burns notified us of his plans to step down in June. We want to let you know of our progress.

Board members feel that we have been blessed with excellent leadership in our past two General Managers. When Clem Nilan stepped down in 2013 the then Director of Operations, Pat Burns, was a natural fit and seamlessly took on the role of General Manager. Over the last two years, he has helped lead City Market to be the top grossing single-store co-op in the National Co-op Grocers network. Pat’s announcement of his decision to step down was graciously given six months before his end date, giving us plenty of notice to reach one of the most important decisions we will make as representatives of our members.  

Drawing on advice from co-op consultants, we formed a Search Committee and hired a search firm to help us cast our net broadly for a pool of fabulous potential leaders. We found a top-notch local choice in Frank Sadowski of Gallagher Flynn Human Resource Services. The Search Committee then worked with Meredith O’Neil, City Market’s Human Resources Manager, and Frank to describe the job and put out the call for applicants.

In February, we invited all City Market staff to a series of “Open Town Meetings” to share their priorities for the next GM, and roughly 50 staff members attended. The Board, likewise, took time to define our vision of the essential qualities in our next GM, at a full-day Board retreat in March. We were very pleased to find that our priorities aligned closely with those of the staff and we have begun interviewing top candidates with those priorities in mind.

All nine Board members and the Leadership Team of the co-op will participate in the interviewing of candidates. The Board hopes to identify our top candidate at our April Board Meeting and make an offer by early May. This will allow a bit of overlap with Pat in June, prior to his last day as General Manager.

City Market is at an exciting juncture in its evolution. With almost 11,000 members (and growing), a vibrant role in the local food systems, and expansion in our future, our store deserves an incredible leader. With a thorough, transparent and inclusive search process, we are confident we’ll be able to deliver just that. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Board if you have any questions about our search process.

On behalf of the Board,

Rachel Jolly
Board Member and Search Committee Chair