This week’s episode features the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development’s (SEC4CD) Co-Executive Directors Benny Overton, and Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger. Together, they will highlight pathways to empowered work groups and cooperative housing.
Benny Overton is the former president of United Auto Workers Local 737 in Nashville, Tennessee. His other roles have included vice chairman of Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH), president of the Dickson County Branch NAACP, a vice president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO, executive board member of the Nashville Area-Middle Tennessee Central Labor Council, and adjunct professor at the Tennessee State University College of Business. Benny holds an M.B.A. from Tennessee State University. Prior to his involvement with cooperatives, Benny was responsible for planning and instituting self-directed work groups in an automotive supply facility (in which he co-led the development of over 70 self-directed groups); in these groups, workers had decentralized operational decision-making authority.
Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger combines scientific training, education, and grassroots organizing in her work advancing cooperative development. She holds advanced degrees in biology and education and began her career as a molecular biologist researching diabetes and plant genetics at Duke University and in biotechnology. After teaching in Montessori and homeschool settings, she turned to social justice advocacy, spending over a decade with North Texas Jobs with Justice and the Dallas AFL-CIO, where she built coalitions and organized large-scale worker rights campaigns.
In 2018, she co-founded the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development (SEC4CD) with Benny Overton, helping secure more than $8 million in funding for co-op programs such as a 10-week Co-op Academy and workshops serving underserved communities. She now helps lead Nashville’s first publicly funded cooperative housing project, the Cottages at Drakes Creek.
