Co-operative Conversations with Jane Powell

Jane is the Chair of Co-operatives East Midlands -  a regional body which promotes the co-operative business model and offers advise and support to co-operative enterprises across the East Midlands. She is also an associate with Co-operative and Social Enterprise Development Agency  (CASE), which started its life as the Leicester and County Co-operative Development Agency in 1982,  and a former Vice Chair of Co-operatives UK. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute, a non-executive director, and a solicitor.

With a 25-year career in consumer co-operatives, Jane previously served as the Society Secretary for the Lincolnshire Co-operative and Deputy Society Secretary for the former Plymouth Co-op in the South West. Having held these pivotal boardroom positions, Jane has had a front-row seat to the evolution of the retail co-operative model over the last quarter-century. 

Today, she channels this expertise into regional advocacy and support—driving awareness, campaigns, education, and peer-to-peer mentoring through Co-operatives East Midlands and providing hands-on advice for co-operatives and mutuals through CASE.