Aaron Dawson

Industrial Commons

Aaron Dawson is the Workplace Development Manager for The Industrial Commons where he leads efforts to create and sustain worker committees in manufacturing plants that are interested in shifting to a more engaged and millennial friendly culture. He has 15 years of experience as a worker owner at Equal Exchange, a Fair Trade Massachusetts company specializing in the sourcing and distribution of coffee, tea and chocolate. 

For ten of those years, Aaron held the role of Customer Service Manager, overseeing a team of 12. In addition, he was elected to serve on Equal Exchange’s Board of Directors for six years and was Chair of the Board for one of those years. Aaron holds a Masters in Management for Co-operatives & Credit Unions from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada. He served on the Board of the US Federation of Worker Co-ops for four years and currently is Board Treasurer for the Democracy at Work Institute.

Aaron became a Great Game of Business coach as he saw the Great Game as the missing link between being acting like an owner and actually feeling like an owner. Aaron helps coach the Great Game because it is the most comprehensive way he has found for workers to get off the bench and into the game.