In Collaboration with Cooperative Leaders, Everything Co-op Pays Tribute to Elizabeth "Liz" Bailey

Everything Co-op with Vernon Oakes

March 7, 2024 In honor of Women's History Month's 2024 theme of "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion," Everything Co-op in collaboration with Co-op Leaders pay Tribute to a dear friend, Elizabeth (Liz) Carolyn Allen Bailey, who recently made her transition January 25, 2024. Liz Bailey, a native of Chippewa Falls, WI, grew up in an extended large, active and musically inclined family, many of whom, like Liz, firmly believed in improving each of the communities in which one lives and works. Liz served as the Managing Principal of The Bailey Group LLC, a Washington DC-based consulting firm focused on economic and community development that includes member-owned cooperative business enterprises. She provided her clients the benefit of her career experience in strategic public policy that combined the private sector, the executive branches of state and federal governments, and extensive non-profit program management. For much of her professional career, Liz held leadership positions with the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International, including Interim CEO, VP for Public Policy & Cooperative Development, and almost eight years as Executive Director of the Cooperative Development Foundation, NCBA CLUSA's non-profit affiliate. Bailey held degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. After leaving the NCBA CLUSA, Liz remained active in the promoting of the cooperatives business model through her private consulting and as a member of Cooperation Works, and as a member of the board of a non-profit, Cooperatives Build a Better World, to raise public awareness of cooperatives. She consistently argued that those who support and build cooperatives spend too much time talking to each other rather than to those who would benefit from a better comprehension of the public value of cooperatives.