Learn about our Team
Richard O’Leary
Richard became the Chairperson of the Federation in 2015 and previously held the role of Secretary. He is a representative of the Hastings Co-op, a community-owned co-operative, operating since 1916. Hastings Co-op employs 400 people across eight diverse business areas including retail. Richard has been involved with producer, retail and childcare co-operatives and the Co-operative Research Group at Sydney University.
Richard is a member of the Executive Council of NSW Farmers and a beef cattle farmer. He is a long-standing member of Rotary and the University of Newcastle’s Science and Technology Challenges.
He is a Director of a Kempsey accountancy practice and involved with Regional Development Australia (Mid North Coast NSW).
Marissa Costello
Marissa is the General Manager of Killarney Co-operative Ltd, a multi-departmental retail Co-op in Killarney, South-West Queensland. Marissa was appointed to the position of GM in 2018 after 18 years as the Administration Manager. Marissa holds a Diploma of Management and believes strongly in the potential of retail as a career opportunity to offer local employment opportunities.
Marissa has served on a number of a number of regional boards and local committees and served two terms as Chair of the Queensland Co-op Federation.
Nick Sabel
Nick is CEO of Common Equity, a registered housing provider and peak body for housing co-operatives in NSW. Nick has worked in the social and affordable housing sector both in government and NFP organisations for over 25 years. He has previously undertaken governance training through the AICD and been a Director on a number of NFP Boards.
Peter Calabria
Peter is the Managing Director of Yenda Producers Co-operative (YPC) and has been in charge at
Yenda since 2003. Prior to this Peter was Company Secretary for YPC for 8 years. Peter holds a Bachelor of Business degree in Accountancy and is CPA qualified. He is passionate about building strong sustainable communities and supporting local organisations and businesses. YPC is a rural based agricultural co-op operating alongside many cropping and livestock production systems within the Riverina region of NSW. The YPC Group employs around 70 staff and is involved in irrigation design & installation, transport, cropping, animal health & livestock, agronomic advice, spreading services and supply of farming inputs.
Rebel Black
Rebel is the founder and Chair of THE Rural Woman Co-operative, an online community dedicated to the empowerment of rural women and girls. Based in Lightning Ridge, NSW, she helps rural entrepreneurs and organisations achieve lasting legacies through partnership, consultancy, and energetic activation.
With over 20 years of experience in community and enterprise development, Rebel focuses on working with rural and remote, socially driven clients. She provides a range of services, including masterclasses, consulting, and agency work, all aimed at guiding clients toward their goals and enhancing their impact.
Robert Gauta
Robert is a former professional fisherman of 15 years who has formal qualifications in Business, majoring in Management, Industrial Relations and Human Resources.
Robert has previous experience as a manager with ANZ, and held executive positions with Bridgestone Australia. Currently Robert is the General Manager of the Commercial Fisherman’s Co-op. He has held this position for the last 5 years and continues to lead a successful and profitable Co-operative.
Robert is also currently a director of the NSW Fishermen’s Co-operative’s Association and OceanWatch Australia.
Benjamin Sporton
Benjamin Sporton is the former chief executive of two international business associations and has broad experience in leading and growing non-profit membership organisations, developing organisational strategy, and advancing the interests of members through communications and advocacy.
Benjamin was inspired by the co-operative model as the most effective way to facilitate a community led re-establishment of Balgowan Kiosk on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. Using the cooperative model has engaged the community in bringing this key local landmark back to life. He is currently Managing Director of the Balgowan Clifftop Kiosk Community Cooperative and vice president of the local progress association.
Peter Tregilgas
Peter Tregilgas has skills and experience in creative and social innovation encompassing regional development, arts management, festival coordination, capital projects and social enterprise. Peter is a Master of Business Arts and Cultural Management University of SA.
Peter’s specialist focus is Cooperatives and Social Enterprises and has produced the definitive publications “Social Enterprise in Australia” and “Cooperatives in Australia”. He is the Chair of Mercury Co-operative Ltd and founder of Social Enterprise Services Australia encouraging sustainable market based trading with a social outcome and an operating philosophy of Mainstream, Make Money and Make a difference.
Nick DeGroot
Nick De Groot joined Hastings Co-operative as CEO in May 2023.
With over three decades of diverse management experience, Nick has held senior leadership roles at organisations such as KPMG, Essential Energy, and the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW.
He holds a Bachelor of Financial Administration and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment.
Nick’s extensive background includes serving as a non-executive Director with various entities, including Bundaleer Care Services and Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce.
He is deeply involvement in the Hastings community, coupled with his strategic planning acumen, makes him an invaluable leader to Hastings Co-operative.
Carolyn Lambert
Carolyn joins the Co-op Federation with a multidisciplinary background in program management, communications and administration across a range of membership-based not-for-profits, including Regional Arts Victoria, Water Stewardship – Asia Pacific and the urban renewal strategy, Renew Australia. She has a passion for supporting place-based initiatives and strengthening community resilience, with qualifications that include a Master of Communications majoring in public relations (Deakin University), a Master of Disaster, Design and Development with distinction honours from RMIT, and is currently a PhD Scholar with the Queensland University of Technology researching fair and just approaches to climate-related relocation. She is also a current member of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Emergency Management Community of Practice and a member of the Creative Recovery Network. Carolyn can be contacted at carolyn@fed.coop
Sam Byrne
Sam has been an active member and director in the co-operative sector for more than 25 years. He became a director of the Federation in 2013 and secretary in 2016.
He is also a former Mayor, and a director of Local Government Super. Sam holds a Masters of Management from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
He is passionate about the co-operative enterprise model that delivers benefits to members and their communities rather than simply profit to often distant shareholders.
Sam can be contacted at sec@fed.coop, in the office on 02 9057 5155 or on 0408 231 509.
Molly Kendall
Molly is passionate about co-operatives and sharing systems. Before joining the team at The Co-op Federation, she spent seven years as Coordinator of Resource Work Cooperative, a waste management worker-owned co-op in Hobart, Tasmania.
Molly holds an Honours degree in Social Science at the University of Adelaide, volunteers to convene several co-operative networking groups, and in 2020 completed the ‘Platform Co-operatives Now’ Course with Mondragon University in Spain and The New School University in the United States.
From her experience working in co-operatives she has witnessed that when we participate in true democratic governance, it makes us happy. She believes in the power of co-operatives to transition the economy to a fairer model: local, circular and distributive.
Molly can be contacted at molly@fed.coop