Conference Presenters & Facilitators
Júlia Martins Rodrigues, PhD
International Centre for Cooperative Management at Saint Mary’s University, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
Júlia Martins Rodrigues, PhD, is a researcher and project coordinator at the International Centre for Cooperative Management at Saint Mary’s University, Canada. She serves as a governor-appointed commissioner on Employee Ownership at the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Her areas of expertise include cooperative law, multi-stakeholder cooperative networks, shared ownership and collective governance. Júlia is currently based in Boulder, where she also collaborates with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Media Economies Design Lab as a community fellow. Júlia earned her PhD in Legal and Social Sciences from the Università Degli Studi di Camerino, Italy. She also holds a Master of Law in Human Rights and Innovation from the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil, where she received her Juris Doctor and served as an Assistant Professor of Law. Additionally, she has obtained a professional certificate as a “Third Sector Operator: Serving Nonprofit Causes & Communities” from the Bottega del Terzo Settore in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. As a Latin woman born and raised in Brazil, she is dedicated to advancing economic democracy and social justice, viewing both as essential pathways to achieving shared prosperity and sustainability.
Russ Christianson
Co-operative Developer, on the CWCF Academy
For over three decades, Russ Christianson has been working with communities, co-operative enterprises, unions, environmental organizations and private businesses to meet their strategic goals and develop good governance practices. He has helped launch over two hundred co-operatives, with a seventy percent success rate (for which he gives the founders credit). Russ is the creator of the Co-operative Sustainability Scorecard, and in 2003, he received the Co-operative Spirit Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Ontario Co-operative Association (OCA). He has volunteered on the OCA’s Co-op Development Committee since the 1990s, he is co-chair of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation’s Business Succession Committee, and is the Treasurer of CoopZone. As a volunteer in his own community of Campbellford, Russ was the founding President of the Aron Theatre Co-operative and the Campbellford Seymour Community Foundation. He is currently the Chair of the Northumberland County Food Policy Council. Russ lives on a reforested farm with his partner, Heidi Schaeffer, just north of Campbellford, Ontario. He graduated from Queen’s Commerce in 1981 and received a Masters of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto in 1983.
Frédéric Plante,
Conseiller en développement des coopératives de travail ainsi que coach-coordonnateur au Parcours COOP chez RÉSEAU COOP
Frédéric Plante, MBA, CRHA, is a development advisor for worker co-operatives as well as a coach and the coordinator for the Parcours COOP at RÉSEAU COOP. He specializes in strategic development and business modelling. With his rigorous yet creative approach, he combines his expertise in human resources, marketing and organizational development to support the start-up, development and launch of cooperatives. In his 30 years of experience, he has supported more than 250 cooperative projects in the sectors of culture, recreational tourism, personal services, professional services and local development.