Leslie Watson

Leslie Watson is the executive director of Cooperative Development Services, a regional co-op development center based in the Twin Cities that serves a wide variety of co-ops in MN, WI, and IA, and operates a 501(c)(3) subsidiary, the Cooperative Development Fund of CDS. Prior to joining CDS last fall, Leslie spent over a decade with Columinate, where she managed programs and provided governance support and leadership coaching to co-ops during all phases of their maturation, from startup to stabilized and expanding. Cooperation has been the foundation of Leslie’s civic participation in her own neighborhood as well as her professional career for many years. Her belief in the power of cooperation led her to become involved in two projects in her community of Northeast Minneapolis. She joined the board of the Eastside Food Co-op during its startup phase and served for over a decade. Leslie is also one of the founding organizers and current board president of the Northeast Investment Cooperative a co-op formed to make transformative investments in distressed real estate along her neighborhood’s commercial corridor. Leslie holds a JD (non-practicing) from the University of Minnesota Law School and a Master’s in Public Affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She was awarded a Bush Fellowship in 2015 and was a 2012 recipient of a Howard Bowers Award for Cooperative Board Service.