Since joining the National Cooperative Bank in 1980, Barry Silver has been an unstoppable force within the bank and industry in the development of cooperative programs. A walking educational resource, he is renowned for finding new and innovative ideas that benefit the cooperative community. Over the past 34 years, he has helped thousands of cooperatives obtain financing to succeed in business.
He is consistently working to expand the reach cooperatives have in the community and was a major force in the creation of the Purchasing Co-op Conference leading to his acceptance of the NCBA “Honored Cooperator Award” in 2005. It was Silver’s passion for education of the cooperative model that led to NCB’s Co-op 100 – a list that sparked the International Cooperative Alliance’s Global 300 report.
Barry demonstrates a strong dedication within the co-op sector and over the years has served on numerous boards. He has also taken his knowledge of and commitment to the co-op model around the world working with credit unions in the Dominican Republic, the World Bank in China on educating leaders within the agricultural sector and partnering with USAID on cooperative and capital enhancement projects in Peru. He is also currently active in the expansion of Spain’s Mondragon Cooperative to the U.S. and serves as a board member of the International Cooperative Alliance and the executive committee of ACI Americas, representing cooperatives from the United States.
Barry will be recognized at the annual Cooperative Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. “The roster of the Cooperative Hall of Fame tells the story of the U.S. cooperative community through the lives and accomplishments of extraordinary individuals. Induction to the Cooperative Hall of Fame is reserved for those who have made genuinely heroic contributions to the cooperative community,” said Gasper Kovach, Jr., board chair of the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), which administers the Hall of Fame.
The Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), the 501(c)(3) non-profit affiliate of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA), administers the Cooperative Hall of Fame. Nominations are received annually from across the cooperative community, with the final selection made by the NCBA CLUSA Board of Directors on the recommendations of a selection committee of national cooperative leaders. The Cooperative Hall of Fame gallery is on display in NCBA CLUSA’s offices in Washington, DC and can also be seen on the web at www.heroes.coop. For dinner attendance or sponsorship information, call CDF at (202) 383-5445 or email cdurand@cdf.coop.