ICA Group’s Survey of Worker Cooperative Bylaws and Operating Agreements With Mike Sandmel and Khalif Nunnally-Rivera

Khalif Nunnally-Rivera is an Outreach Manager on the ICA Group’s New Ownership Opportunities Team. He joined the organization in May 2022. He was born and raised in Springfield, MA and lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has always had a passion for history, government, and social justice issues. Through the ICA, Khalif hopes to reduce wealth inequality, be an advocate for employee ownership, and create new opportunities for people of color and working-class communities. Khalif earned a B.A. in Human Geography from UMass Amherst in 2017. After graduation, he returned home to work for the Springfield Public School District. During his time at the district, he worked as an Attendance Specialist and a College Financial Aid Advisor. His experiences with the school district inspired him to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst.

Throughout his graduate school career, Khalif showed high interest in policy equity issues. In the Spring of 2021, Khalif was selected as a fellow for the Civic Action Project, a nonprofit organization with a focus on building future leaders in public service. Through this fellowship, he secured an internship with the Office of State Senator Eric Lesser. As a legislative intern, he worked on various projects surrounding healthcare, education, workforce development, and housing equity. During his second year of graduate school Khalif worked as a Graduate Assistant with the UMass Amherst Office of Student Engagement, where he advised dozens of student run organizations. Khalif recently earned a Master’s of Public Policy and Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Mike Sandmel joined ICA Group in 2023 after more than a decade in the cooperative movement and serves as a Senior Cooperative Business Consultant on ICA’s Cross Program Team. His work primarily includes assisting small businesses through the process of converting to worker-ownership as well as providing ongoing technical assistance to start-up and established worker cooperatives. Prior to joining ICA, Mike worked as the Membership Director at New Economy Coalition, a national network of solidarity economy organizations, and as a Senior Campaign Organizer at New Economy Project where he coordinated coalition efforts to advance cooperative and community wealth building policies in New York City and State. Mike holds a B.A. in Economics and Ecology and a Masters in Public and Nonprofit Administration, both from New York University. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.