Keynote Speaker: Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith is currently Director of Marketing & Communications for the National
Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), a business services cooperative for
consumer-owned food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCGA is owned by
114 food co-ops operating nearly 150 stores in 32 states with combined annual sales of
over $1.2 billion and nearly 1 million consumer-owners. NCGA helps unify natural food
co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing
power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op shoppers everywhere.

As Director of Marketing for NCGA, Smith works to develop marketing programs that
help raise the profile of retail food co-ops on a national and local level. Smith has more
than 15 years experience in brand management and cooperative marketing—including
positions with Frontier Natural Products Co-op, Matrix, Earthgrains and Alliant Energy—
and was instrumental in NCGA being awarded a 2009 dotCoop Global Awards for
Cooperative Excellence.