Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op

Ryan Betzler

Candidate for the Board of Directors · 2026

Maintaining the Co-op's mission with financial stability and sustained growth.

I'm a Sacramento native with a young family, and I've spent my career helping organizations use their resources responsibly to serve their communities. As the Co-op prepares for its next chapter, I want to help it stay strong for the generations to come.

How to vote →

Why I'm running

I value what the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has meant to our community, and I want to help it stay strong as it grows.

As the Co-op prepares for its next chapter, I want it to remain financially sound, focused on its members, and true to the values that make it what it is — owned by the people it serves, rooted in this community, and answerable to its members. None of that holds together on its own. It takes people who take the financial side as seriously as the mission.

My career has taken different paths, but the common thread has been the same: helping organizations use their resources responsibly to serve the people who depend on them. That's the perspective I'd bring to the board.

What I'd bring to the board

A board is responsible for the health of the organization over time — its finances, its direction, and its mission. That's work I've done my whole career, in one form or another.

Food business owner

Owned a scratch organic restaurantMy wife and I founded and ran a high volume scratch organic restaurant in Big Bear Lake for five years: a team of 30, ten percent growth a year, and the hardest stretch of COVID. It taught me what thoughtful budgeting and careful planning take in an industry where the margins are tight.

Disaster response

FEMA disaster loss verifierAfter natural disasters, I assessed residential and commercial losses so communities could receive the federal resources they needed to rebuild. It was careful, high stakes work, done close to people at the hardest moments of their lives.

Nonprofit & funding

Worked across the nonprofit sectorI connected corporate and government funding with nonprofit organizations, organized events, and developed community campaigns. It showed me how the best organizations balance financial responsibility with a real sense of purpose.

Member & employee

A firsthand viewBack home in midtown, I've taken a position at the Co-op. It gives me a firsthand understanding of the member experience and the daily work that supports it — a perspective I'd bring to the board on behalf of the whole membership.

How I think about the board's job

The board governs — it doesn't manage

The people who run the store do it well. The board's job is a different one: to set the direction, guard the finances, and make sure the Co-op stays true to its purpose. I'd contribute thoughtfully while respecting that role.

The cooperative model works when it balances financial responsibility with community purpose. If elected, I'll listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and work alongside fellow members to keep the Co-op strong for this generation and the next.

How to vote

By Aug 10Check your membership. Be current on your investment, have shopped in the last 12 months, and — the one people miss — make sure your email is on file. No email, no electronic ballot.
Jul 25Annual Meeting / Meet the Candidates, 11am–1pm at the Co-op. Come say hi.
Aug 25Voting opens — electronic ballots go out; paper ballots available at Customer Service.
Sep 3Second Meet the Candidates event — ballots are already live by then.
Sep 15Last day to vote. Electronic, or drop your paper ballot at the Co-op.

Get in touch

Have a question, or something you'd like the board to hear? Send a note — it comes straight to me.

Understanding what matters to members is the whole point of running. I read every message.