Ah, I did a poor job conveying what I meant. You are correct of course.
I was referring more to a change in the culture of the board and methods members could use to nominate board members.
Also to clarify we were talking about MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) which was inspired by REI and is no longer a coop.
Changed how? It was always a consumer co-op, never a worker owned co-op. I joined in 1981.