This episode launches our tribute to the 2025 Cooperative Hall of Fame Inductees with a special conversation featuring Randy Lee, former CFO of Puget Consumer Co-op (PCC Community Markets). Randy will reflect on his career, share insights from his nearly 50 years in the food co-op sector, and offer his thoughts on the future of food cooperatives.
Randy’s journey with PCC began in 1970, when the co-op had just one storefront, 650 members, and $66,000 in revenue. Rising quickly from store manager to CFO, Randy helped transform PCC into the nation’s largest consumer-owned grocer, now serving over 100,000 members across 16 stores with $450 million in annual revenue. His leadership extended beyond finance—he championed farmland preservation, helped launch the Washington Farmland Trust, and supported initiatives that provided 1.5 million meals to communities in need and brought cooking classes to more than 7,000 students.
Randy’s vision for cooperation reached beyond PCC. He was a founding member of the National Cooperative Grocers Association (now National Co+op Grocers), where he served on the board for nearly two decades and played a pivotal role in securing groundbreaking purchasing contracts that strengthened co-ops nationwide.
For his lifelong dedication and personification of cooperative values, Randy Lee will be inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame on October 9 in Washington, DC. For tickets visit Heroes.coop website.
