Tune into WOL 1450 AM, 95.9 FM or the WOL Livestream on Thursday, September 4 at 10:30 a.m. EDT for Everything Co-op, hosted by Vernon Oakes. This episode launches our tribute to the 2025 Cooperative Hall of Fame Inductees and features a special conversation with Randy Lee, former CFO of 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. Visit heroes.coop for tickets and sponsorship info.