Jen Savas
View Jen's resume here.
Why would you like to serve on the City Market Board? What excites you about becoming a Board Member?
Today is August 21st...in ten days my son will be leaving for college in Connecticut. For the last 18 years I can truly say my personal life has revolved around him. From running South Burlington baby group when he was three months old to coordinating ALL the team uniforms in SB Little League to being his bookkeeper and stats person in an Ultimate Frisbee Team he started this summer. Any chance (well, almost any) to volunteer at school, sport, or anywhere, I signed up.
I'm now slightly panicked about what I'm going to do with my new free time. The other night I was whining about this to John Tashiro at a gathering, when he mentioned the City Market Board is looking for new members. This feels perfect! I love my job, but I work from home for a company based in Cincinnati. I believe a City Market Board position can help me with ties to the community, while also helping to fill the hole that my son is leaving me with (I'm super proud of him, I'm just going to miss him terribly).
Please describe any professional skills you have that will help you to be an effective Board Member. How would you help the Board to balance the business needs of a $50 million business with the need to meet our Global Ends as a community-owned cooperative?
I love the Global Ends initiative. I would be proud to be a part of each community outreach project. I have volunteered on and off at King Street for 25+ years, seeing childhood hunger first hand is heartbreaking.
I have experience in event planning, graphic design, project organization and most of all I'm a team player. During my RunVermont days, I was sitting at a desk one day and hauling traffic cones or water jugs down the street the next day. I'm thrilled to lend any skills and time I have to be an effect Board Member for City Market.
Describe your prior involvement with community organizations and/or cooperatives. What did you learn from these experiences?
I worked for RunVermont for almost ten years. RunVermont is a non-profit who puts on local road races, our biggest race being the Vermont City Marathon every Memorial Day Weekend. I loved being a part of this organization, not only because (most) runners are the nicest people ever, but also because the city of Burlington came together to put this race on; from the medical staff at UVMMC to the police and fire departments, local hotels and restaurants and just the 8,000 volunteers from the community that came out to help on race weekend. I loved how every piece came together in the end - even when we worried it wouldn't. Of course, it's not all rainbows and unicorns, I learned some people like having power to stall or dig their heels in. I learned that you can't make everyone happy and not to take it personally (I'm still working on that).
City Market, Onion River Co-op is a learning organization committed to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work. What opportunities do you see as a Board member to support these initiatives at City Market and how would you ensure that the Board’s work is grounded in these principles? Describe any prior involvement in JEDI work either personally or professionally.
I work at ImproveCareNow, we are a Learning Health Network, collaborating with over 100 children's hospitals around the world to care for kids with Crohn's Disease and colitis. For the last three+ years we've made a commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and speak about our progress twice a year at meetings. While I'm not on the DEI committee, I do support and value their initiatives.
I'm also Project Manager for a research project funded by the CDC called SaFR Kids (Social Factors with Racial Disparities). The purpose of this study is to determine whether race is associated with delay in diagnosis, patterns of follow-up care, trust in the healthcare system, and key outcomes including use of biologics, steroids, hospitalization and surgery. We also test whether socioeconomic status, frequency of follow-up and trust in the healthcare system confound or mediate associations between race and IBD outcomes. We just finished recruiting patients, so now people much smarter than me are analyzing the data. I'm looking forward to sharing the results with our IBD community.
As a Board member, I will do whatever it takes to support any City Market initiatives toward JEDI work.
What opportunities and challenges do you see in the future of City Market?
I believe making a difference and making a profit go hand in hand, I imagine this is a challenge AND an opportunity for City Market.