Patty Viafara (she/her), has been working with small businesses and nonprofits for over 14 years in a variety of roles, primarily focused on the people side of operational change. As a first-generation immigrant, she’s done it all from making coffee and serving food, to running the family mortgage business. She started working as a cooperative developer in 2016 after receiving her MBA in Social Enterprise.
A skeptic at first, she joined Project Equity to launch the financial feasibility product, and became a believer after helping two companies transition to worker cooperatives and seeing the positive impact that cooperatives can have on workers’ finances and social activism. Since then she’s worked with over 50 companies at various stages in their journey to employee-ownership, and has supported the launch of three funds aimed at financing cooperatives.
She truly takes pride and joy in helping groups envision and implement their future. She is on the board of the Miami Workers’ Center where she has served as Chair and Treasurer; is a member of the Investment Committee for the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective; and is a Good Jobs Advisor for Pacific Community Ventures.