HANOVER — Hanover Co-op’s interim general manager Paul Guidone has resigned from his position, effective Sept. 25.
Guidone’s exit, described in a Friday web post from the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society’s board, comes on the heels of the resignation of Allene Swienckowski as the Co-op board’s president last week.
Board member Victoria Fullerton, chairwoman of the board’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, also resigned last week, citing personal reasons, according to a separate web post from the Co-op.
The Co-op, which has stores in Hanover, Lebanon and White River Junction, has been without a long-term general manager since Ed Fox left the post earlier this year.
In Friday’s post, the Co-op board, currently led by acting president Jessica Saturley-Hall, said that it had offered Guidone the permanent leadership position, but he declined.
He had asked that the board agree to 13 conditions before accepting the permanent position, some the board accepted but others it did not, because they said they “had potential long-term consequences for the organization.”
“Paul suggested there was turmoil at the Board level,” the board’s post said. “While true that there have been recent changes in the Board’s composition, we believe the Board is stronger, more cohesive, and nimbler as a result of the changes.”
Saturley-Hall, reached by phone on Friday, declined to comment beyond the board’s online statement. An email and phone call seeking comment from Guidone were not returned by deadline on Friday.
For her part, Swienckowski, a Quechee resident, said in late August that she left the co-op board in part because she felt Guidone deserved to be offered the permanent general manager’s job but some of her colleagues were dragging out the process.
Before being tapped for the interim general manager spot on March 8, Guidone, a former investment management and bank executive, held the post of strategic adviser to then-general manager Fox.
He previously held the post of CFO since first arriving at the co-op in 2016.
The board, in its post, credited Guidone with facing the challenges of COVID-19 “with ease and grace and a clear vision for what needed to be done.”
He first prioritized the health and safety of the Co-op’s employees, the board said, and then, “he quickly recognized and addressed the need to provide Co-op members and customers with a safe shopping experience, instituting new services such as curbside pickup for groceries, and ensuring appropriate sanitation and social distancing measures in all Co-op locations.”
Guidone did all this while also refinancing the cost of the Hanover store renovation and finding funds for necessary infrastructure changes at all of the Co-op’s locations, the board said.
In an August “State of the Co-op” update, Guidone told members that the Co-op was seeing “strong sales growth” in the areas of grocery, meat, produce, dairy and frozen foods. It also had seen a sharp dip in sales of gasoline, in accordance with national trends as people have stayed closer to home. The Co-op saw a loss of $73,700 in 2019, according to its audited financial report.
The board said it is conducting a search for a new general manager.
It has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Zoom to elect a new board president, determine how to fill the two vacant seats, select a chair for the search committee and hold an executive session for a personnel matter.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@ vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
