Data Commons Co-op Board 2026

Noémi Giszpenc

Noemi began working on the Data Commons Project as an outgrowth of her master’s thesis at the Southern New Hampshire University School of Community Economic Development. She has helped steward the vision for over two decades. In her work at co-op development centers Cooperative Development Institute in the Northeast and Keystone Development Center in the mid-Atlantic, she has maintained a focus on how information-sharing, and sharing the burden of technology development, can make our cooperative and solidarity economy ecosystems stronger. She lives in New Jersey and enjoys cooking and the outdoors. 

Steve Ediger

Currently acting as President of Data Commons, Steve has been involved with the cooperative since 2018.

With 45 years in a technology-based career, Steve has touched most facets of the industry. For the past 10 years, he has been shifting his life to one based on cooperation. Steve, lives, shops, works, banks and supports cooperatives all over the world.

He currently works with ChiCommons LWCA, a business and technology workers cooperative that he co-founded. He is also involved with local, regional, national and international projects

Chris Lepre

Chris currently acts in the role of Secretary for Data Commmons Cooperative. His day job is _______ for the Cooperative Development Institute

Arda Ungun

Arda is has been DCC Board member since 2025. Arda is Program Manager of Services and Special Projects at Start.coop, and a freelance software developer and educator. His experience includes software engineering for startups and political campaigns, as well as managing and instructing at an AI education company. Arda received a B.S. in Computer Science from U.C. Santa Barbara, and is currently based in NYC. Arda is also a member with DAWI’s Workers To Owners Collaborative, and an organizer for the New York Cooperative Summit.

Deborah Farrell

Deborah Farrell has devoted her career to helping progressive organizations access affordable and appropriate technology to better advance their causes. After leading her coworkers’ initiative to convert their workplace, a technology business in the San Francisco Bay Area, to a worker-owned cooperative, Deborah now consults with other businesses on workplace democracy and worker ownership conversions.

Deborah’s entry into the technology-for-good sector came via IGC/PeaceNet, the first nonprofit focused exclusively on giving activists around the world access to digital organizing tools. In addition to DCC, she currently serves on the board of Aspiration, an organization dedicated to the principle that technology and technologists should be in service to nonprofits and their missions, not the other way around. 

How We Work

Our working board members and volunteers collaborate to propose, plan and maintain our various projects.

We maintain communications with our members to get feedback on what they are looking for from Data Commons Cooperative, as well as how they can support the mapping and standardization of the ecosystem.

We often meet on a weekly basis and work together throughout the week to accomplish our agenda.