meet the board

Meet the Co-op Board

Kathleen Jones - Chairperson
Kathleen first knew of the Co-op the year before it came to be, handing over $50 to be a member of something that didn't quite yet exist. Kathleen has been a volunteer in the shop since its early days, supporting the idea of organic and locally grown produce and products. She has greatly enjoyed the connections and conversations with fellow volunteers and staff over the years.
Kathleen has been committed to growing some of her own fresh food since she was a child. This has grown to become a passion for supporting and encouraging others to produce food locally. This led her to start growing vegetable seedlings for others - seedlings that are locally grown to local conditions. Some of these have been sold through the Co-op over the last few years.
It also led to a commitment to support the Co-op in various ways over the years.

John Monty - Treasurer
John retired and moved from Sydney to Rockley in 2016 and is currently restoring the old presbytery of St Patrick’s Catholic Church.
John trained as a horticulturalist and started teaching horticulture at the Ryde School of Horticulture in the 1990’s.
John was the Faculty Manager, Environment and Horticulture, for the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE for 10 years. In this role he was responsible for the educational delivery and managing the budget across a wide range of disciplines.
John is currently involved in a number of activities including the Rockley Artisan’s Market, Rockley Gardens and Art Festival and the Rockley and District Community Association.

Olga McKinnon - Secretary
Olga joined the Co-op two years ago as a supplier and volunteer. Now semi-retired after a long career in education Olga has time to devote to other interests. In combining these interests with her Italian heritage, it is no surprise that Olga loves all things associated with food and its production. Olga’s immigrant parents rarely bought any food, most of it being grown on their farm/vineyard. Olga’s Board profile photo shows her standing in front of a nectarine tree, a descendant of one grown by her parents and transported to her current garden. Olga says it represents a link with family and the values of growing and eating local produce.

“In my role as a member of the BWC Board I hope to encourage and help promote the Co-op’s mission of sourcing local and organic produce. The Co-op represents the potential within our community for sustainable food production and consumption, a goal shared by the Co-op membership”. Olga Mckinnon

Emily Cotterill
Emily has lived and worked in both major and regional cities across Southern Australia, enjoying a varied career with both the private and public sectors, including opening specialist environmental consultancy The Environmental Factor in May 2014.
Emily has worked in threatened species recovery, managing large scale revegetation projects for the habitat supplementation of nationally endangered flora, fauna and ecological communities, as well as managed natural resources management projects and provided environmental approvals, compliance guidance and oversight on multi-million dollar infrastructure projects. Emily is a lifelong learner, who enjoys keeping abreast of new best practice techniques for NRM, current environmental legislation changes and innovative ways for avoiding and mitigating environmental impacts. Emily is drawn to logical, achievable paths that ultimately lead to the 'Big Picture', which she is enjoying applying to her role as Director with the Bathurst Wholefood Co-op. She loves the challenge that Ecologically Sustainable Development presents, and enjoys finding new ways to engage others in her passion.
In her private life, Emily loves the great outdoors and gardening (natives, fruits and veggies), and her animals. Emily lives south of Bathurst on a small rural holding with her husband and two daughters. Roughly one third of the Cotterill property has been dedicated to sustaining local ecology, with a focus on Box Gum Woodland Endangered Ecological Community and the iconic Koala, which live in the area.

Alison Thompson
Alison is new to the Wholefood Co-op but has lived on a small rural holding in the Bathurst Region for the past ten years since relocating from Sydney with her family. Her property supports a range of small-scale sustainable farming enterprises including olives, grass-fed lamb as well as fruit production. 
Alison has worked in Local Government for over 20 years and currently works in waste management where her interest is in minimising food waste. 
She has qualifications in Applied Anthropology and Environmental Science and is a volunteer member of the Western Rivers Environmental Education Network.
Alison is committed to building a better future for her young children by living more sustainably and encouraging others to do the same.

Julian Woods
Julian currently works at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery as Audience Engagement Officer and is a practicing artist. Julian has experience working in arts and cultural organisations including festivals and events. He served as a co-director at Articulate Project Space developing a volunteers program. 
Julian has experience in developing and managing public programs, curating, running events, marketing and social media. He has been passionate about food and produce for many years, as a consumer enjoying visiting farmers markets in Sydney (really just anywhere) including a visit to a food co-op in Enmore. Since moving to Bathurst in 2017 Julian us a regular shopper and supporter of the Bathurst Wholefood Co Op. 
Outside of art and food he enjoys cycling.

Graham Stirling
Originally from Scotland, Graham has lived in Bathurst for 6 years. He holds a Masters in Environmental Management and currently works for Skillset where he manages their Land Works program.
Graham has a passion for environmental conservation and sustainability and loves cooking with fresh produce from the local region.
Graham has extensive experience managing teams in regional Australia and has worked in various roles in the service industry for over 10 years.