Our Board of Directors & Member Representatives
The SCA Board is dedicated to serving the common needs of co-operatives and credit unions in the key areas of youth education and involvement; government relations and public policy; co-operative development; leadership and co-operative education; and member services and communications.
Each co-operative that is a member of SCA appoints one or two representatives to SCA; a voting representative and a non-voting representative. Voting representatives can vote at membership meetings and can be nominated for election to one of seven SCA Board of Director positions. Non-voting representatives participate in membership meetings, but do not vote. Member organizations generally appoint senior level management or elected representatives to SCA.
Beryl Bauer (Chair)
Vice President, Federated Co-operatives Limited
Beryl is a dedicated and enthusiastic member, leader and promoter of co-operatives. Beryl has served on numerous co-operative Boards and continues to serve on co-operative boards and committees. He is the current vice-chair of Federated Co-operatives, President of SCA, a Vice President of Canadian Co-operative Association, Director for Co-operative Development Foundation, President of the Lake Lenore Grocery Co-op which he helped found, and a director on several other local community co-ops. He is a member of over 20 retail co-operatives and credit unions. He also represent the co-op sector on Enterprise Saskatchewan. He has been recognized for his contributions to co-operatives and community with a Saskatchewan Co-operative Merit Award in 1999 and a Saskatchewan Centennial Medal for community involvement.
Beryl retired from teaching in 1997 after a 27 year career as an educator. He and his wife Phyllis have one son and two daughters and just recently celebrated the arrival of their second grandson!
Jim Deane (Vice-Chair)
President and CEO, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
Jim Deane is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Access Communications Co-operative Limited which serves over 200 communities across Saskatchewan. Jim first served on the SCA board when it was incorporated in 2003. A firm believer in the effectiveness and community-focus of the co-operative business model, Jim is also Chair of the Co-operative Sector Team for Enterprise Saskatchewan.
Jim was born, raised and educated in Saskatchewan. Provincially, he is a director and past-president of the Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan and President of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Nationally, Jim is currently the Chair of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, Vice Chair of the Canadian Council of Better Business Bureaus; and a director with the Cable Public Affairs Channel.
Mary Beckett (Director)
Executive Vice-President, Chief Governance Officer, Concentra Financial Services Association
Mary has been with Concentra Financial Services Association (formerly Co-operative Trust) for over 25 years. She began her career in Personal Trust Administration and has had administrative and management experience in the areas of Personal and Corporate Trust and Trusteed Registered Plans.
Currently, as Chief Governance Officer, she serves as Corporate Secretary and Compliance/Privacy Officer for the organization. She has Executive responsibilities for Concentra Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Concentra Financial. Additionally she has oversight and accountability for corporate communications.
Mary is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan and holds a Bachelor of Education (BA) and a Law Degree (LLB). Mary is involved in many community initiatives including Leadership Saskatoon, The Rotary Club of Saskatoon and the Sutherland-Forest Grove Community Association. Mary is married and has an adult son.
Michael Gertler (Director)
Acting Director, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives
(The Centre is a teaching and research unit located on the University of Saskatchewan campus)
Michael works at the University of Saskatchewan where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and an Associate Member of the School of Environment and Sustainability. Since January 2011 he has been Acting Director of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives. He serves on the board of the Community-University Institute for Social Research (CUISR) and teaches community sociology; rural sociology; organizations, communities and social change; and co-operatives and sustainable international development. Through research in Costa Rica, Mongolia, the USA, and Canada, he has studied the roles of co-operatives in rural development, agricultural diversification, sustainable food systems, and the social economy.
Michael has served as president of the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC) and is also a member of the Association of Co-operative Educators (ACE) and the Rural Sociological Society (RSS). He serves on the CCA Committee on Environmental Sustainability. He has been active in student housing, daycare, and food co-ops and has held membership in many other co-operatives. Born in the USA, he grew up in Montreal and on pedigreed seed farms in Ontario. His formal education includes Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Waterloo), MSc Renewable Resources (McGill), and PhD Development Sociology (Cornell). His partner, JoAnn Jaffe, is a Professor of Sociology and Social Studies at the University of Regina. They have two children, Maxim and Jardena.
Judy Grant (Director)
Regional Manager, Group Sales and Business Development, The Co-operators
Ken Sherwin (Director)
Director, SaskCentral
Ken enjoys working in the Co-operative Democratic Structure and the grassroots work that has been and still remains to be accomplished. He has been a Director on his local credit union (Yorkton, now Cornerstone) board since 1985 and has been President of the board for the last 10 years.
He was selected as a Delegate to SaskCentral in 2003, and elected to the board in 2008. Currently he serves on the Public Policy and the Delegate Engagement committees.
He retired in1998, after 31 years with the Yorkton School Division, spending the last 10 years as Principal and the previous 12 years as Vice-Principal of the Yorkton Regional High School.
He is a member of Cornerstone Credit Union and the Yorkton Co-op, since 1973. He has both past and current involvement in a number of school, sports, and community organizations.
Ken has been married to Merle for 42 years, and they have three children and four grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, sports and the arts.
Marla Carlson (voting representative)
Farmer Direct Co-operative Limited
Terry Morash (voting representative)
Publisher, Prairie Dog Magazine
Collette Robertson (voting representative)
Vice-President, Community Health Co-operative Federation Limited
Collette has been the member representative of the Federation to the SCA since 2008. Currently the Vice-President of the Regina Community Clinic, she has been part of the Board of Directors at the Clinic for several years.
She retired from the Ministry of Advanced Education, Labour and Employment at the Provincial government in August 2008. She served as the Aboriginal Liaison in the Universities and Adult Learning Branch, working closely with the First Nations and Metis post-secondary education institutions. She also worked in the Department of Economic Development promoting Aboriginal business and with the Department of First Nations and Metis Relations in training and employment for Aboriginal people.
Her past Board experiences include serving on the Board for Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan and the Social Development Grants Board for the City of Regina.
Collette has three married children, six grandchildren and her interests include golfing and traveling.
Myles Shaw (voting representative)
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
Herb Carlson (member representative)
Director, Federated Co-operatives Limited
Jason Freeman (member representative)
Farmer Direct Co-operative Limited
Andre Perras (member representative)
Director, Co-operators Insurance
Andre has been involved with co-operatives all his life; his parents were very strong co-operators and continually advocated on behalf of the co-operative sector. His involvement with co-operatives in Saskatchewan is rooted in the benefits of co-op membership and the important role they play in the development of the communities they serve. He first became involved in co-operatives when he joined a local Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Committee in 1972. He went on to serve as a delegate and was later elected to their board of directors. Andre sits on the board of Plainsview Credit Union, Regina Community Clinic and Co-operators Insurance.
Andre has a farm with his son and together they run a mixed farm operation. In his spare time he enjoys umpiring and coaching minor ball and once in a while you can catch him trying to bring a fish home for dinner.
Hugh Sampson (member representative)
SaskCentral
Hugh Sampson is presently a director of Advantage Credit Union, director for A.C.U. Insurance, director for Credit Union Central Delegate C.C.A., Governance Committee Central, and Public Policy Committee Central. In the past he served 6 years as director of Birch Hills Co-op. 10 years as director of Birch Hills Credit Union - 3 as Chairman of the Board, 4 years as Chairman of Board of Northgate Credit Union, the last 3 years as a director at Advantage Credit Union. He has been a delegate of Credit Union Central for 8 years.
