WHO WE ARE

We are individuals, couples, and families feeling the squeeze of living in one of the most expensive regions in the country.

We're using our skills, knowledge, and passion to create The Cooperative Grocery to provide some relief from the high cost of high-quality foods and goods. Most importantly, we are part of this community, just like you.

The Cooperative Grocery Steering Committee

The issues of food, sustainability and affordability resonate strongly with our steering committee members, who have donated hundreds of hours to developing this exciting enterprise. The founding members include:

Michael Weiler is building relationships with distributors and producers. He currently works in Education, and is a former purchaser for New Leaf Markets in Santa Cruz, where he has maintained strong ties with the natural foods industry. His goal for the CoG is to create access to organics and healthy food for all.

Elisa Edwards oversees our community outreach and public relations efforts. She is a teacher and former co-director of the Muscota New School in New York.

Martin Edwards creates our branding and outgoing communications. He is a creative director with the ad agency Grey SF and, along with Elisa, a former member of the Park Slope Food Co-op.

Julia Carpenter manages member relations and organizes meetings and events. She works as a holistic health care practitioner specializing in acupuncture.

Jon Witort heads up our IT department, which runs both the online store and member database. During the day, he works as a software architect at Openwave trying to bring the online store and the rest of the Internet to your mobile phone.

Matthew Green organizes our outreach efforts. He is a freelance journalist, teacher and city planner. Much of his writing is focused on food policy and food justice issues.