Board President, and Vice-President Election Results 2023

Board Election Results 2023

Central Co-op Members recently voted to elect to the Society’s Board of Directors.

Elections are a key part of our co-operative democracy, and it is encouraging to see that participation increased this year to 5,740 Members voting (up from 3,801 in 2022).

Members elected, Bob Burlton and Maryann Denfhy, each for a three-year term of office. Bradley Tuckfield was re-elected as an Employee Director for a further three-year term. Richard Bickle was elected for a one-year term. Elaine Dean was elected unopposed for a three-year term of office.

Thank you to all those who took part in our Board elections, to our Members for voting and having a say and to all our candidates for taking part in our democracy.

A full breakdown of the voting results is available here.

President and Vice President Election 2023

At the May Board meeting, our Board welcomed newly elected Directors and voted to elect the Society President and Vice President.

Elaine Dean has been elected to serve as Society President and will now chair the Board of Directors.

The President is responsible for leadership of the Board, to ensure the Society carries out its commitment to be a successful co-operative business and to serve the best interests of Members in line with our strategy and purpose of ‘creating a sustainable Society for all’.

Elaine Dean will be supported in the role of President by Richard Bickle who was elected to serve as Vice President for the coming year.

Elaine said: “It is an exciting time for our Society and I am honoured to be elected as President for a second term, having served previously between 2017 and 2020. I would like to thank outgoing President Jane Avery for her leadership over the last three years and our outgoing Vice-President Tanya Noon for her commitment and contribution to the Society. I look forward to working with Richard, my fellow Board Directors and the Executive over the coming year to help continue our work to be a successful co-operative in the interest of our Members”.

Andrew Seddon, Society Secretary, said:

“I’d like to thank all Members who voted in our recent Board elections, supporting our Society’s democracy, and to all the candidates who took part in the election process.

I’m looking forward to working closely with our new Society President Elaine Dean and Vice President Ricard Bickle

Elaine has a longstanding commitment and association with Central Co-op and is well known both across our Society and the wider Co-operative Movement.

Elaine and Richard and our Board of Directors will work closely with our Chief Executive Debbie Robinson and the Executive team in delivering our purpose of creating a sustainable Society for all”.