Tom Webb’s career has spanned cooperative industries and sectors in Canada and the United States of America ranging from grocery to IT, multistakeholder co-ops to credit unions, and beyond. Arguably, his most impactful contributions are to education, one of the key pillars of the Co-operative Identity. As Director for the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Webb led a team of people providing education about co-ops and community development. This experience led him to identify the need for a formal management degree program specifically for cooperatives, and he began to seek out a university that would provide accreditation. After much persistence, creativity, and collaboration, he established the Master of Management: Co-operatives, and Credit Unions (MMCCU) Program at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada, now the most internationally renowned, English-language master's level university programs in the field of cooperative business, offered fully online to cooperators around the world.
The early success of the program would have been impossible without Webb’s tireless networking and the support and leaders from the U.S., Canadian, and UK cooperative movements. From this foundation, the International Centre for Co-operative Management (ICCM) has grown to offer a variety of programs from degrees to certificates, executive education to learning tours, all centered on the cooperative model of business. The ICCM is also a major player in applied academic research, partnering with and convening research associations, organizing conferences and symposia, and issuing publications at the international level. An expression of the 6th Principle of Cooperation among Co-ops, the ICCM has from its beginnings been overseen by an international multistakeholder co-op, the Co-operative Management Education Co-operative (CMEC), which now includes 80 member co-ops, credit unions, associations, educational institutions and individuals in 10 countries. Recognizing the need for both financial and non-financial performance analysis specific to the co-operative business model, Webb also founded the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives (CEARC) at Saint Mary’s University, which develops Statements of Recommended Practice (SORPs) for co-ops, Sustainable Development Goals reporting for cooperatives, and other projects.
Webb continues to be involved in the work of ICCM, and for 15 years has led annual study tours for the Centre, introducing co-operators, researchers, educators from around the world to the successful co-operative complexes in the Basque region of Spain, and Emilia-Romagna in Italy. His mentorship has left its mark on hundreds of students and participants in the Centre’s programs, which boasts ~500 co-op and credit union leaders as alumni, many now in leadership roles in the cooperative movements not just in the U.S. and Canada, but around the world.
Though technically retired, Webb continues to contribute to the movement through his service on co-op and credit union Boards, the work of his consultancy, Global Cooperation, and countless articles. His book, From Corporate Globalization to Global Cooperation: We Owe It to Our Grandchildren, brings together the insights of a lifetime of researching, organizing, teaching, and practicing co-operation.
Webb’s servant leadership and commitment to the Co-operative Identity - and particularly the Principle of Education, Training and Information - has left an indelible mark on our movement.
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