Board of Directors

Lisa DePiano is grounded at the intersections of agriculture, economic development, ecological design and social justice. She believes in the transformative power of worker democracy.  She brings with her two decades of experience in worker owned coops and the food system including 7 years as a worker/owner of Pedal People bicycle hauling and delivery service and as a co-founder of Parkways, a parklet manufacturing and installation company which she helped to transition into a worker coop after launching it during her time at the MIT Media Lab. She is currently a faculty member in the Sustainable Food and Farming program at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass and lives in North Amherst with her partner, their 7 month old daughter and dog, Walker.

Monica M. Garcia has been involved in community organizing for over 20 years. Her most meaningful work has been supporting and expanding the solidarity economy. Through a variety of roles, she has worked closely with worker cooperatives, community land trusts, community development credit unions and farmers markets. She strongly believes in the power and importance of community in all of its many forms and is very excited to be a part of the Common Share Coop community. Her strongest motivation for becoming involved in Common Share is the opportunity to build relationships with and among members and the broader community. During brief moments of downtime, Monica likes to dabble in hobbies that she isn’t particularly good at like birding and woodworking. She also spends an inordinate amount of time daydreaming about travel. Monica lives in Shutesbury with her family.

Madeleine Charney worked as a cashier at the food coop of her university from the start of her freshmen year. The place (and the people) became her second home as she fell in love with the generous spirit of the cooperative movement. In her 30+ year career as an academic librarian in the Valley, she co-founded two thriving groups: The National Sustainability Round Table: Libraries Fostering Resilient Communities and Blue Marble Librarians, a Massachusetts-based group that develops programs to support social resilience in response to climate change. Joining the Board of Common Share Food Coop allows her to direct her passion for community engagement and empowerment on a meaningful micro-local scale, in solidarity with nearby friends and neighbors. One of her favorite pastimes is crafting herbal remedies from her home garden and responsibly foraged plants. Madeleine lives in Amherst with her husband (a former organic farmer), their spunky teenager and a sweet feline friend. She will be up for an official vote by our membership at our next annual meeting.