Kristen Barker
Kristen Barker is a social entrepreneur and the President and Co-Founder of Co-op Cincy and is a Co-Founder of 1worker1vote. She designs and leads participatory education events with English- and Spanish-speaking co-op workers, and helps worker-owners make their businesses more successful. Kristen also helps our design team determine the feasibility of potential co-op businesses, helps retiring business owners determine whether they can sell their business to their employees, and helps viable co-ops access the capital they need to leverage their ideas.
Kristen has done groundbreaking work in adopting the Mondragon model to the U.S. context, and hosts delegations from around the country, including the participants in our semi-annual Union Co-op Symposium. Kristen is a 2016-2018 Business Alliance for Local and Living Economies (BALLE) Fellow.
Before becoming Co-op Cincy’s Executive Director, she worked for 12 years fostering partnerships between people of faith, union members, and community members of diverse backgrounds. Kristen is a graduate of Xavier University and a lifelong Cincinnati resident—except for two years in El Salvador! Kristen is a single mother of a resilient daughter with special needs.
Jason Soza
Jason Soza has over 20 years of experience in public procurement and served as Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) for the State of Alaska from 2013-2019. As Alaska’s CPO, Jason was responsible for the oversight of over $1 billion in annual goods and services purchases as well as inventory and property disposal by all executive branch agencies and worked with local governments across Alaska. In 2018, the State of Alaska’s procurement office was awarded the NASPO Gold Cronin Award–the top national honor in state procurement–and Jason was recognized as Change Agent of the Year by the Center for Procurement Excellence.
In his current role as Vice President with Government Sourcing Solutions, Jason continues to work closely with state and local governments across the country to understand their needs, challenges, and initiatives, and find creative ways to increase efficiencies, savings, and innovation through their procurement function. He does this from right here in Juneau, Alaska, where he continues to reside with his family.
Jason holds both Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) professional procurement certifications issued by the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council along with a Six Sigma Black Belt certification issued by the American Society for Quality (ASQ).
3 Afternoons 1 PM- 5 PM