National Cooperative Business Association

The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is a United States membership organization for cooperatives, which are businesses that are jointly owned and democratically controlled.

National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International
TypeCooperative association
IndustryCooperative Business Association, International Development
FoundedMarch 18, 1916 (March 18, 1916)
Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
Doug O'Brien, President & CEO
Number of employees
HQ: 75 Worldwide: 700+
Websitencba.coop

The association was founded in 1916 as the Cooperative League of the United States of America. Its founding president was medical doctor James Peter Warbasse, who served in that role until 1941.[1]

NCBA members include some well-known United States consumer brands, such as Ace Hardware, Nationwide Insurance, Cabot Creamery, Organic Valley, Land O'Lakes, and CHS Inc.

History

In 1922, the League trademarked the twin pines symbol used to represent North American cooperatives. "The pine tree is an ancient symbol of endurance and immortality. The two pines represent mutual cooperation—people helping people."[2]

In its first few decades, it focused on consumer cooperation, and published a monthly magazine, "Co-operation".

After Warbasse, later presidents included: Murray B. Lincoln, former U.S. Congressman Jerry Voorhis, Stanley Dreyer, Glenn Anderson, Morgan Williams, Bob Scherer, Russell C. Notar, Paul Hazen, and Michael Beall.[3]

The organization changed its name to NCBA in 1985.[4]

In 2000 the group lobbied the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to establish a new top-level domain exclusively for cooperative organizations. The domain, .coop, became active in 2002.

In November 2015, after the resignation of Michael Beall, Judy Ziewacz became interim CEO until she was appointed by the board of directors as president and CEO effective February 1, 2016. Ziewacz was the first woman to hold the office of president and CEO in NCBA CLUSA's 100 years of service.[5] She was succeeded two years later by Doug O'Brien.

Mission

The association's mission is "to develop, advance and protect cooperative enterprise."[6] It is one of the oldest non-profit coop and trade association in the U.S. NCBA has been operating internationally since 1953 with a mission to "alleviate poverty through social and economic empowerment."[7]

References
  1. "Dr. James Peter Warbasse (1866–1957)". Cooperative Hall of Fame. Washington DC: Cooperative Development Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  2. Zeuli, Kimberly. "What is a Cooperative?" (PDF). United States Department of Agricultural Service. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  3. "Cooperative League of the U.S.A. Records, 1914-1982".
  4. Our History at NCBA web site
  5. "Michael Beall steps down as president and CEO of NCBA CLUSA; Judy Ziewacz named interim, interim CEO". ncba.coop. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19.
  6. "Our Mission & Vision - Advancing Co-op Enterprise". NCBA CLUSA. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  7. "International Community Development Projects". NCBA CLUSA. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
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