We are happy to announce the results of Deep Roots Market’s first (ever!) runoff election for a Board of Directors seat. Lisa Hinton Donkor received the most votes though there were a lot of votes cast for Benjamin Free as well. Thank you to these fine candidates and to all the owners who voted for them.

The final list of the 2025-2026 Board Members (with their term expiration date) includes:

• Brittany Peters (2026)
• Debra Smith El (2026)
• Lisa Hinton Donkor (2026)
• Khaila Daye (2027)
• Drew Dix (2027)
• Mollie Blafer (2027)
• Cecelia Allen (2028)
• Spoma Jovanovic (2028)
• Andrea Li (2028)

A BIG thank you to the more than 200 Deep Roots Owners who attended our Annual Meeting and/or who voted in the recent election. The Annual Owners Meeting’s energy was boosted by our Benefit Concert that followed, with electric music all afternoon provided by the talented rock and Americana musicians of College Hill Kids. The band donated their services and attendees opened their wallets, raising money for our co-op. THANK YOU!!

The Annual Owners Meeting is a time when the co-op’s decision making is in our owners’ hands, and you spoke out! We are pleased to present here the election results for new board members and by-law changes.

2025 Board Members Elected: The top vote getters this year were incumbents Spoma Jovanovic and Cecelia Allen, so they have been re-elected to three-year terms. Andrea Li was also elected to a three-year term, her first on our Board of Directors. Congratulations to all three and welcome aboard to Andrea! And, for the first time in Deep Roots’ history, we will have a run-off ballot for the fourth board seat which will be for a one-year term (to fulfill an early vacated board seat). Benjamin Free and Lisa Hinton Donkor both received the same number of votes on the first ballot. Active owners (those who’ve made purchases in the last year), please look for the email soon providing instructions for how to cast your vote in the run-off election. Remember, you can read more about Ben and Lisa here.

Our deep appreciation goes to all the other candidates, all of whom were exceptional people with talents and interests that made voting difficult for us all. We hope to see them run again for a board seat—we have openings every year. Better yet, we hope they and all other owners will consider investing time on one of our board committees (or propose a new project or committee). Thanks again to the other candidates: Lisa Blakley, Hanna Garner, Brandon Martin, Jonathan Stephens, Rykiell Turner, and Pennington Vanstory.

By-Law Changes: All the proposed by-law changes passed with wide margins. Please see here for the proposed changes and rationale: Proposal #1: 197 for, 5 against; Proposal #2: 196 for, 3 against; Proposal #3: 192 for, 9 against; Proposal #4, 194 for, 8 against.

Thanks to the 2024-2025 Board Members: As we wind up the board’s working year, I want to extend my personal thanks to the 2024-2025 board members for their service this past year. They were exemplary in every way and continually put the interests of all owners at the front of the oversight and planning as directors.

Though all board members contribute to deliberations, planning, and decision making, they also take on special tasks. Brittany Peters and Mollie Blafer led our Board Development Committee which yielded a record 11 candidates this year for the Board of Directors. Their attention to the legal requirements of the process and needs of the candidates displayed care and kindness throughout. Cecelia Allen, Joel Landau, and Khaila Daye did the meticulous, thorough, and important work of updating policy governance and by-laws documents. Drew Dix and Mollie Blafer managed with staff members GM Matt Davis and Outreach Coordinator Genesis McCarty many new promotional videos, fundraising programs, and planning for our successful Annual Owners Meeting. Joel Landau, Debra Smith, and Khaila Daye spearheaded research and investigated options and discussions for among other financial issues, our LIMe program, owner equity, and the owner loan pay-back process. These matters are critical to the long-term financial well-being of the co-op. A big round of thanks as well to our board members who served Deep Roots for several years but had to step aside before their terms expired, Eric Smith and Suzanne Wilcox.

In addition to providing oversight and feedback to the General Manager and abiding by proper governance procedures, your Board of Directors moved $100,000 off the debt side of our balance sheet this year. We have more to do, but due to the generous support of owner-lenders, who forgave interest and/or portions of their original loans, we were able to pay back more owners than ever. We are committed to continuing an accelerated pay back schedule to owner-lenders, as store finances permit.

The co-op relies on active owners to cast their votes in determining who will be on the Board of Directors to work with the General Manager and to set policies for Deep Roots Market to ensure its financial position for the future and service to the community. Additionally, so that owners’ voices continue to have impact, owners approve any proposed by-law changes regarding the operations of the co-op.

Thank you to all those owners who attended the recent Annual Owners Meeting to learn more about this year’s candidates and by-law changes, and to those owners who read about these matters on the website to inform their voting which was open from 5/4/24 to 5/11/24.

New Board of Directors

This year we had a robust slate of candidates for three open positions on the Board of Directors.

We applaud all our candidates this year who invested time and talent in attending recent board meetings and preparing materials for the owners’ consideration. We were delighted that every candidate was well qualified for serving as a director. Please join us in welcoming the following who secured the most votes to serve on the Board of Directors for the next three years:

• Mollie Blafer, who returns to the board after previously serving for one year as an elected replacement for a resigning board member.
• Khaila Daye, a new member of the board and former employee of Deep Roots Market.
• Drew Dix, a returning board director who served the last two years as vice president of the board.

We also want to give a well-deserved shout-out to our other candidates, Meredith Davis and Debra Clark Smith who demonstrated those valuable qualities of the best Deep Roots Market owners—commitment to the co-op and interest in ensuring its vibrant role in our community for the future.

Finally, we thank Ashleigh Odom for her service on the Board of Directors for the past 3- 1/2 years as she transitions off the board. For the past two years, she served as President of the Board leading with vision and grace.

By-Laws Amendments

We thank the owners for overwhelmingly approving three by-law amendments recommended by the Board of Directors.

An Invitation to Serve on the Deep Roots Market Board of Directors

Every year, the terms of some board members expire. For the coming year, the Board is looking to fill three board seats. To be nominated for the Board, you must be an owner prior to 1/1/23. Interested in being a part of Deep Roots’ future? Send an email to the Deep Roots Nominating Committee at drmnomcom@gmail.com and request a Board Candidate Application packet, which contains some good information about what is required to serve on the Board and what the Board does.

We are also happy to meet with you at the store or talk to you over the phone to give you more details and answer any questions you might have. Just let us know in that email.

The voting is done and the results are in! Spoma Jovanovic, Kathleen Donohue, and Joel Landau were elected to 3-year terms. Sheldon Herman was elected to fill out the one year remaining on a vacated seat.

Congratulations to all and a hearty welcome to new Board members Spoma and Sheldon! They will be seated at our next Board meeting, on June 1. And a large thank you to all the Co-Op owners who took the time to participate in our governance by voting; approximately 150 ballots were cast.

We also give a large thank you to departing Board members Haley Matthews and Eric Smith! They served the Co-op well and their efforts have been much appreciated.