Dear Co-op Community,

After an extensive national search, we are pleased to announce the hiring of our new General Manager, Mike Bowen.

Mike has been a part of the Southern California Natural Foods landscape at the operations and strategic level for 30 years, having served the majority of his career in senior management positions at Whole Foods Market. Most recently as Store Director at Erewhon Market, Mike oversaw the Hollywood store operations and was key in quickly improving weekly store sales.

"Our Board is very excited about Mike Bowen joining our team and we hope you will give him a warm welcome," remarked Board President Steve Bornstein. "Mike has already demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm about improving our performance to solidify our position in a very competitive market and ensure the future sustainability of our co-op and everything that makes us special. We're confident Mike's unique, extensive and impressive track record of successfully starting and managing new stores in our market will be a tremendous benefit and guarantee Co+opportunity's continued success."

An experienced leader, Mike has a proven track record with budget maximization, team building, customer service and merchandising and an enthusiasm for natural foods - he started his career in the early days of Mrs. Gooch's, a store that set industry standards for quality service and products.

"I'm both thrilled and honored to be joining Co+opportunity, a cooperative organization that shares in my values, supports our farmers, lifts up staff and prioritizes providing the best food to our community," said Mike. "I look forward to meeting the co-op's Owners and working closely with the Board and staff to continue to position the co-op as the pioneers of the organic food industry."

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Mike has three sons and lives in Sherwood Forest with his wife of 21 years.

Mike will take up his new position towards the end of the month, collaborating with Interim General Manager Wynston Estis during a transition period to last until the end of the year.

"Co+opportunity and the Board owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wynston Estis who served as our Interim General Manager for the past 8 months," enthused Steve Bornstein. "During her time here, business performance and culture have steadily improved and we are now poised for a successful future. Wynston achieved or exceeded all of the critical benchmarks required and set for her by our stakeholders and has also made an invaluable contribution to the professional development of our staff and our Board. Everyone at Co+opportunity is better for having had Wynston with us and we wish her well in her future endeavors."

The Board will host meet and greet events in January at both locations, with details to be announced in the coming weeks.

In Cooperation,

Your Co+opportunity Board of Directors