MEET THE CANDIDATES

ANN GENTRY

Incumbent

STATEMENT:

I am honored to seek your vote for my final term on the Co-Opportunity Board of Directors.
Since joining the Board in 2017, I have devoted the past nine years to our community, serving as Secretary, Vice President, and, for the last three years, Board President. I am eager to continue leveraging this governance experience to ensure long-term stability and growth for our Co-op.
As a pioneer in Los Angeles’s plant-based food movement, I founded and operated Real Food Daily—LA’s 1rst organic vegan restaurant—from 1993 to 2016. This background gives me a deep appreciation for healthy, sustainable food systems. On the Board, I apply this practical expertise to support our governance model, focusing on General Manager oversight to fulfill our mission across the Westside.

If re-elected, I will focus on ensuring that Co-Opportunity Market:
● Serves as a robust, independent alternative to commercial grocery chains.
● Maintains financial health while championing local sustainability initiatives.
● Meets and exceeds the changing needs of our member-owners.

Throughout this final term, I am committed to providing visionary leadership grounded in operational insight, operational integrity, and full alignment with the Co-op’s core values, principles, and overall mission.
I ask for your vote to continue serving on the Co-opportunity Board of Directors. Your support means a lot to me, and together, we can build an even stronger, more resilient community.

Thank you!

FARZAD NOORI

Incumbent

STATEMENT:

As a Santa Monica native, the community, local businesses, and long-term success of the Co-op are deeply important to me. I have been an active member and supporter of the Co-op since 2008 and have proudly served on the Board since 2020. During my tenure, I have held the roles of Treasurer and currently serve as Vice President. These positions have given me the opportunity to work closely with fellow Board members and
management on the Co-op’s financial strategy, operational priorities, and long-term sustainability.

Over the past six years, I have been actively involved in helping guide the Co-op through a variety of opportunities and challenges. Throughout my time on the Board, my focus has been on maintaining financial discipline, strengthening the Co-op’s balance sheet, supporting management, and ensuring that the Co-op remains well-positioned to serve members for generations to come.

My professional experience includes financial strategy, budgeting, forecasting, risk management, operational improvement, and long-term planning for complex organizations. I believe these skills have been valuable in helping the Co-op navigate an increasingly competitive and challenging retail environment.

The Co-op has been an important part of that journey, providing access to high-quality organic foods and products that support a healthy lifestyle.

For my next term, I would like to continue building on the work already underway by focusing on:
● Further strengthening the Santa Monica store’s financial performance and long-term sustainability.
● Continuing to improve the customer experience through targeted investments in the store environment, services, and operations.
● Supporting initiatives that grow membership, increase community engagement, and reinforce the Co-op’s unique value proposition.
● Partnering with management to increase sales, improve profitability, and ensure the Co-op remains financially strong in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
● Maintaining prudent financial oversight while pursuing strategic opportunities that create value for members.

SAIED KARAMOOZ

NEW

STATEMENT:

Credentials Board Membership
– City of Oakland (Privacy Advisory Commission)
– City of Oakland (Jack London Improvement District) – President,
VP, and Treasurer
– Coaliton for Police Accountability
– Various HOAs – President, Secretary, and Treasurer
Professional Experience
– Senior Executve at two publicly traded companies, Accenture and
SAP subsidiary
– Current business owner-operator
– Current commercial building investor
Academic Background
– MBA and MS in Informaton Sciences

Reason for Running: Contribute to an enterprise that my family values dearly

How I Plan to Contribute: Employ my extensive past experience to help address immediate needs and position the Co-op for long-term success

SUSIE DUFF

NEW

STATEMENT:

Eat.
Listen.
Represent.
Negotiate.

Listening to what you Co-Opportunity Member/Owners want to eat and then listening to our Co-Opportunity Board as to how to best represent you while we negotiate on your behalf is what I will do as your Board Member and why I thank you for your vote.

A proud Co-Op Owner/Member since 1995, I am into my fourth decade of spreading the good word that our Co-Op is the best deal in town: a great-news-you-can-use bargain in our increasingly tumultuous and confusing economy.

All of my prior board work—be it on the notoriously contentious National and Local Boards of SAG-AFTRA, or The National Council of Actors Equity Association, or Malibu’s Poet Laureate Board—convinces me that a robust, participatory membership is the truest measure of any organization’s strength. That my priority is to grow our younger Co-Op Member/Owner demographic is quite the substatement.

As a proud child of Big Labor, I was an eleven-year-old kid sitting alone in the upstairs gallery of our United States Supreme Court watching my father, attorney Jerry Duff, plead–for what was to become his first time–on behalf of The International Brotherhood Of Teamsters. Witnessing the brilliance of my father’s spectacularly researched and meticulously prepared responses to the beyond demanding questions of nine black robed, grim-faced Justices taught me that the most effective advocates are wizards who re-define the art of how to listen. Working weekends in his downtown law office, my fierce, hilarious Da—the Irish term of endearment for the word “father”—taught me how to represent and negotiate.

Eat.
Listen.
Represent.
Negotiate.
That’s what I will do for you as your Co-Op Board Member.

Thank you for your vote.

TIBBY ROTHMAN

NEW

STATEMENT:

We’ve never needed the Co-op more. 

That’s why I’m running to serve Co-opportunity through its Board of Directors. The Co-op is a precious resource, with decades delivering a triple bottom line: organic foods that support people and planet; profit retained in the community; and, in an era of corporate ghost owners—we control it. 

I’ve been committed to the Co-op—eating organically, spending money locally, supporting sustainable farming—since I completed university and the Co-op was across the street. (One of my longest adult relationships—pretty funny.)

But the future is what drives my candidacy.

The Co-op presaged Whole Foods, Erewhon, and the expansion of farmers’ markets. Given increased competition and new market trends, how do we position this community treasure—ensure future generations benefit from it?

If it’s the Board’s responsibility to oversee the Co-op’s financial well-being, one tool is: a meaningful strategic plan. I excel at strategic thinking.

My experience demonstrates leadership skills, commitment to common good, and proven success in organizational strategy. 

It includes: eleven years as a marketing & communications director for member-driven not-for-profits American Institute of Architects California and AIA LA—where I collaborated on strategic plans; a decade on a non-profit board; seven years as an L.A. Weekly investigative journalist; and Founder/Editor, VenicePaper—a community-serving newspaper.

I rapidly assimilate new information, combining it with my innate talent for crafting win-win solutions that serve multiple perspectives.

I am adept at entwining what consumers want and how the organizations I guide fulfill those desires. The former results in business success; the latter keeps the organization centered on its core values.

How does the Co-op stay true to its vision while flourishing economically and addressing changing generational interests? I hope you’ll let me work to make this happen. The Co-op is us. We’re not ghost owners.

Charles Baldridge

Incumbent

STATEMENT:

I have been serving on grocery cooperative boards for almost a decade. Before the Co-Opportunity Board, I was board member and Treasurer at City Market Onion River Co-op in Burlington, Vermont. City Market similarly expanded from one very successful, high volume per square foot, store to into a second store that met the needs of the greater Burlington area. I helped drive long term vision through ends statements and policy governance, gave back to the local community, and contributed to the national cooperative community.

I am currently CEO of Sol Analytica, a data consultancy serving small and mid-sized businesses across the country. As CEO, I am intimately familiar with reading standard financial statements like balance sheets and profit and loss statements. I navigate long-term strategic planning while addressing short term needs. Prior to Sol Analytica, I was Director of Data at a leading online grocery ordering and delivery service provider. I managed a team of data engineers, scientists, and analysts. Personally, I strive to live a low-impact, sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyle that supports community and brings people together.

Co-Opportunity is a dynamic organization. As a board, we will be making important decisions in the months and years ahead. My skills reading financial statements, understanding, and navigating commercial real estate, growing community engagement, and experience in the grocery industry will help me contribute on the board and help the co-op thrive in the future.

I look forward to continuing to serve this community and to helping our co-op grow to meet the needs of our membership.