Audra Krueger featured guest for Ralph K. Morris Foundation Tom Lyon Family Leadership Symposium

The Ralph K. Morris Foundation hosted its 22nd Anniversary Tom Lyon Family Leadership Symposium at the Cooperative Network Summit and Annual Meeting on December 2, 2025.

Featured speaker Audra Krueger, executive director of Co-operatives First, reflected on a Western Canadian story of how one of the big co-op players made a bold decision to fund the creation of a new co-op support organization. In her presentation, "What connections are worth keeping and which need ditching," Audra spoke frankly about how this decision created some turmoil and fear in the Canadian co-op ecosystem, but has resulted in a new generation of modern and relevant co-ops and spurred the education of thousands of people.

As the cooperative advocacy, education, and developent ecosystem in the US reels due to recent policy and funding changes, support organizations have noted some big players and funders walk away from long-established relationships. Audra noted that while some view their disengagement as a threat to the co-op movement, perhaps we are better served by asking ourselves: are we connected in the best ways? Or do we need to build something new?

Within the first few years of operations, Co-operatives First has delivered educational products to thousands of people. Under Audra Krueger's leadership, the organization has helped to create over 140 co-ops in western Canada, and its community engagement team has directly engaged thousands of community leaders and business, economic and community development professionals with the co-operative model.

During the Symposium, the Ralph K. Morris Foundation also announced the 2025 recipients of The Elroy Webster Cooperative Studies Scholarship, which provides funding to graduate students studying agricultural cooperatives. Support of cooperative education is a key part of the Morris Foundation’s mission, along with land and water stewardship. 

Since its renaming in 2021, the Tom Lyon Family Leadership Symposium honors the family of the late Tom Lyon, who was a dedicated agribusiness, cooperative, and farmland preservation leader in Wisconsin and across the country. Previous leaders who’ve addressed the symposium include Sheryl Meshke, President/CEO of AMPI, John Piotti, Executive Director of American Farmland Trust, former USDA Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland, and Secretary Tom Vilsack.

At the December 2 event, Foundation chair William Nelson was pleased to introduce members of the Tom Lyon family in attendance, including Tom's sons Scott Lyon and Jeff Lyon (a Foundation board member), and their mother Barbara Lyon.

The Ralph K. Morris Foundation was established in 2001 to carry on the legacy of cooperative leader and attorney Ralph Morris. The foundation provides development opportunities for emerging leaders expressing interest in applying and advancing the principles of cooperation, and in promoting farmland preservation, land stewardship, and sustainability. Gifts are deductible for federal income tax purposes as charitable contributions. For more information visit www.ralphkmorrisfoundation.org.