NASCO has four full-time staff positions – Director of Development, Director of Education, Director of Operations, and Director of Properties. These four positions work together to ensure that NASCO can provide services and programs for its members. NASCO is a family of organizations with three boards and half a dozen committees, dozens of member cooperatives who we visit, an annual training Institute, a development consulting program, and a network of cooperative properties.
Each of the staff positions is tasked with working on different parts of NASCO’s programs and operations. As a collective, the four positions also work together on the overall operations of the organization, and collaborate on particular projects. The staff hold weekly meetings to discuss issues that concern multiple program areas and to make decisions about things that fall into more than one person’s job.
The Director of Education, Morgan Crawford, is the primary person responsible for planning the annual NASCO Cooperative Education and Training Institute (more commonly just called “Institute”). This is a large program that aims to serve a variety of member needs. Morgan also liaises with cooperative movement organizations and manages NASCO's other educational programs, such as the Cooperative Internship Network, the Shared Resource Library, and the Co-op Staff and Managers' Conference.
The Director of Development, Corrigan Nadon-Nichols, works with cooperatives that are either purchasing property or refinancing and supports cooperatives that are interested in expanding. Corrigan travels around the United States to visit with newly forming cooperatives and shepherds them through the cooperative development process. Corrigan also plans a specific track at NASCO Institute for attendees to learn in-depth about developing new cooperatives.
The Director of Properties, Daniel Miller, spends much of his time working as the General Manager for NASCO Properties, which is a “co-op of co-ops” with branches (cooperative houses) in eight cities around the US. NP has a total of fourteen houses and 250 members. Other NASCO staff work with Daniel to regularly visit these cooperatives to provide training and education about cooperatives in general, and about NP in specific, and to work with the NP cooperatives around maintenance needs and plans. Each of these NP coops is represented by a seat on the NP board, and shares access to financial reserves and other pooled resources. Daniel also assists Morgan with the planning of the Co-op Staff and Managers' Conference and provides general support with NASCO's other educational programs as needed.
Every NASCO member cooperative gets a regular visit from NASCO staff as one of the benefits of membership. These visits and other member services and benefits are coordinated by the Director of Operations, Rek Kwawer. Rek works with Morgan, who is key in developing the trainings that we bring to our members, and both of them work with the NASCO Board around our programming. Rek also manages many of NASCO's day-to-day administrative tasks.
This collaborative approach means that NASCO staff can flexibly respond to our members’ needs, while ensuring that our key programs and services continue to improve and grow.