Eric DeLuca chairs the Bylaws Committee of the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society’s (HCCS) Board of Directors. Operating as Co-op Food Stores, HCCS is the second largest food co-op in the U.S. With over $88M in annual revenue, it creates a $17.3M market for 411 local producers.
He managed the U.S. Program for the 2012 UN-declared International Year of Cooperatives and guided the development of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association—a federated cooperative composed of over 40 food co-ops and startups in New England and New York State. He served as Board Secretary of Franklin Community Co–op and led its multi-stakeholder Food System Security Work Group.
DeLuca is the Food Systems Expert-in-Residence at Food Finance Institute, training and coaching both business technical assistance consultants and food/farm entrepreneurs nationally. He has engaged in $10+ million in funding decisions since 2010 and serves on the national Food Systems Finance Advisory Council of the Council of Development Finance Agencies. Starting in 2024, he is the facilitator of the Food Systems Leadership Network’s Value Chain Coordination Community of Practice.
For 12+ years, Eric has played leadership roles in the VT Farm to Plate Network, currently curating its Priority Strategy Team focused on Equitable Financing for Farmland Access. He served nine years–four as vice-chair–on the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board, a state-based funding program serving the food, farm, forest, and wood products sectors, as well as on the Executive Committee of the VT Agriculture Innovation Center Board of Directors. He co-founded the University of Vermont Food Hub Management Professional Certificate program, the first in the country.
Eric is Principal of Leverage Point Consulting.