Sara Nelson has served as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014, and she is currently serving her third four year term. She first became a union member in 1996 when she was hired as a Flight Attendant at United Airlines and today she represents 50,000 of aviation’s first responders at 19 airlines.
Everett Kelley is the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. He began his first term of service as national president in February 2020 and was elected to another term during the 42nd National Convention in June 2022.
Everett Kelley has been a member of AFGE since 1981. He worked at Anniston Army Depot and retired from there after 30 years of service.
Lee Saunders is the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, with 1.4 million members in communities across the nation, serving in hundreds of different occupations – from nurses to corrections officers, child care providers to sanitation workers. He was elected at the union’s 40th International Convention in June 2012.
Saunders, the first African American to serve as AFSCME’s president, was previously elected secretary-treasurer at the union’s 39th International Convention in July 2010.
Fedrick C. Ingram is secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, serving 1.7 million members, including pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; and nurses and other healthcare professionals.
As the twelfth president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), Capt. Jason Ambrosi leads the world’s largest airline pilot union and nongovernmental aviation safety organization, proudly representing more than 74,000 airline pilots in the United States and Canada. ALPA’s Board of Directors elected Capt. Ambrosi on Oct. 19, 2022.
John A. Costa was re-elected International President at the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 60th International Convention in Las Vegas, NV, on September 20, 2022. Costa was elected International President at ATU’s 59th International Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2019. After the untimely and tragic death of ATU International President Larry Hanley in May 2019, Costa was elected as International President by the ATU General Executive Board.
Edward A. Hall is National President of the 57,000-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was nominated to office at the BLET’s Fifth National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 12, 2022, and he was subsequently elected by acclamation to the union’s highest office in an election that was certified on December 19, 2022. His term of office became effective January 1, 2023.
Tony Cardwell started for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1999 at 22 years old. He served as a Local Chairman of Lodge #1054 from 2005 to 2010 and became a full-time Officer for the Unified System Division of the BMWED-IBT in 2010. In 2018 Tony was elected to the principal officer position of General Chairman of the Unified System Division and remained in that position until he assumed the office of President.
Michael Baldwin was elected BRS president in 2021 following the retirement of Jerry Boles. Mr. Baldwin most recently served as BRS's secretary-treasurer, and was appointed a Grand Lodge representative in 2010 and director of research in 2011. He served as vice president West from 2015 until his election as secretary-treasurer in 2019.
Elected the IAFF’s 10th General President at the IAFF 55th Convention in March 2021, Edward A. Kelly is the son, grandson, brother, nephew and cousin of fire fighters. Kelly previously served as the IAFF’s 11th General Secretary-Treasurer from 2016-2021. A proud military veteran, Kelly served as a fire fighter in the U.S. Air Force.
Richard Johnsen has been an IAM member for more than 33 years and has served in many positions at the local and state level. In February 2021, Johnsen was appointed Special Assistant to the International President. In June 2021, Johnsen was appointed Chief of Staff to the International President. On May 1, 2022, Richard Johnsen joined the IAM Executive Council as General Vice President of the Air Transport Territory.
John Mansker is Director of Railroad
Lodge Services and an Assistant Director
of the Industrial Sector Operations.
He began his railroad career with
Union Pacific Railroad in 1994 as a
Boilermaker apprentice and eventually
became a journeyman. Mansker served
in multiple capacities with Local 66
(Little Rock, Arkansas), such as shop
steward, trustee, vice local chairman and
local chairman.
Kenneth W. Cooper was appointed IBEW International President in 2023 after six years serving as International Secretary-Treasurer. Cooper began his career as an inside wireman apprentice in 1985 at Mansfield, Ohio, Local 688 and has served at nearly every level of union leadership in the almost 40 years since, including terms as business manager and international vice president.
He resides in Clarksburg, Maryland, with his wife, Gina. Together they have raised five successful and intelligent children, three daughters and two sons.
Harold J. Daggett was unanimously re-elected to a third four-year term as International President of the International Longshoremen’s Association at the union’s quadrennial convention in July 2019. As International President, Mr. Daggett serves as chief negotiator for the ILA representing 45,000 ILA members at port areas from Maine to Texas, Great Lakes region, Puerto Rico, major U.S. Rivers and Eastern and Central Canada.
The general executive council unanimously elected Eric Dean as general president effective July 1, 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Dean served as general vice president and general secretary for the union. President Dean has been a proud member of the Iron Workers since 1984, when he completed his apprenticeship in 1984 and became a journeyman ironworker in Local 63 (Chicago).
James Callahan was elected General President in November 2011. He previously served as IUOE General Secretary-Treasurer and was elected International Vice President in 2008. He has also served as President and Business Manager of Local 15 in New York City since 2003. A member since 1979, Mr. Callahan was one of the many operating engineers who responded immediately to the September 11 tragedy and worked the entire recovery effort at Ground Zero.
Jim Williams Jr. took office as General President of the International Union of Painters and
Allied Trades on September 1, 2021. Williams is a fourth-generation glazier from District Council 21/Local Union 252 (Philadelphia,
PA). He began his career with the IUPAT in 1998, was appointed as the Assistant to the
General President in 2002, and also served as the Regional Organizing Coordinator for the
IUPAT Eastern Region. In 2011, he was appointed to the position of Organizing Director, and
remained in that role after being elected as General Vice President At Large in 2014.
Brent Booker became the 11th General President of the LIUNA on May 1, 2023. Prior to his appointment as General President, Mr. Booker served as LIUNA Vice President and Special Assistant to the General President. As Secretary-Treasurer of North America’s Building Trades Unions from 2012 to 2022, Mr. Booker helped strengthen and modernize this broad federation of 14 building trades unions in the United States and Canada.
Adam Vokac has been MEBA's District and National President since January 2021. Previously he served as Executive Vice President for seven years. He also served as Representative in Honolulu for three years and shipped out for years with MEBA aboard various vessels. Mr. Vokac has an unlimited Chief Engineer’s license. He graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point as Valedictorian in 2000. Immediately after the ceremony he drove to the MEBA. New York/New Jersey hall and joined the Union.
Don Marcus has served as president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots since 2013. Don has been a union member throughout his working life, having joined MM&P upon graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY, in 1979. During his seagoing career, he sailed in all licensed deck officer capacities aboard U.S.-flag ships in the international trade. Originally from San Francisco, he resides in Baltimore County, Md. He is married with three children.
Brian Renfroe was elected president by mail balloting of NALC members in 2022. He is a second-generation letter carrier who began his career in 2004 in Hattiesburg, MS, where he joined NALC as a member of Hattiesburg Branch 938. Mr. Renfroe is a graduate of the NALC Leadership Academy, having attended Class 6 in 2008.
Rich Santa is serving his first three-year term as the seventh president of NATCA. He was elected by acclamation and took office on Sept. 1, 2021. Santa, a veteran air traffic controller, previously served on NATCA’s National Executive Board as Eastern Regional Vice President from 2018-2021. He began his career as a controller at New York TRACON (N90) in 1997 before transferring to Washington Center (ZDC) in 2001.
Michael Pistone has been an NCFO member since he started at the Long Island Railroad in 1998. In 2004, he became NCFO shop steward, eventually becoming Local Chairman of Chapter 311.
Michael became an NCFO Vice General Chairman in 2013. In 2014, he became a General Chairman for many of the commercial and Railroad properties. In 2020, Michael was elected as a member of
the NCFO executive board and appointed Assistant to the President in addition to General Chairman.
In October of 2023, the NCFO Executive Board voted Michael Pistone to fill the remainder of the current three-year term of then President Dean Devita after he announced his retirement.
Dan Reynolds became President after having served as the elected Secretary-Treasurer of the National Federation of Public & Private Employees since 1994. His work with the Federation of Public Employees began in 1985. In addition to his involvement with the Federation, he has been the President of the Broward County AFL-CIO since 1995 and is a Florida native whose family roots date back to the early 1800s.
Richard Lanigan was elected to serve as president of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) at its 27th Convention in June 2016 and was re-elected in 2019. After working his way through college as a union member, Mr. Lanigan joined OPEIU Local 153 as an organizer in 1980. In 1987, he enrolled in law school as an evening student and upon admission to the bar served for a time as assistant to the OPEIU general counsel. In 1994, he was elected international vice president.
David Spero was elected national president in September 2021. He previously served six terms as vice president of PASS Region II. Following four years in the U.S. Air Force, Spero joined the FAA as an electronics technician in 1988. Prior to being elected regional vice president, Spero served as a chapter vice president, local union representative and regional member of PASS’s National Legislative Committee. In 2009, he graduated from the National Labor College with a bachelor’s degree in Union Leadership and Administration and was recognized with a Distinguished Senior Paper Award.
Michael Coleman assumed the position of SMART General President on June 1, 2023, having been elected by the SMART General Executive Council following the retirement of former SMART General President Joseph Sellers. In all, Coleman has more than 20 years of dedicated leadership at the local and international level. Coleman began his career as a SMART sheet metal worker in 1985, when he joined what was then Local 65 in Cleveland, Ohio (Local 65 merged with Local 33 soon after).
Jeremy Ferguson was elected local legislative representative in 1995; local chairperson in 1996, and secretary of the CSX/B&O General Committee, GO 049 in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2007.
He was elected second vice general chairperson in 2008 and first vice general chairperson in 2011. At the first SMART Transportation Division convention in 2014, Ferguson was elected to the position of vice president.
At the Second SMART TD Convention on August 11, 2019, he defeated two other candidates and was elected president — Transportation Division.
Dave Connolly is President/Secretary-Treasurer of the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific, one of the oldest maritime unions in the country, and headquartered in San Francisco. He was first elected in 2019 and previously served as Vice-President since 2000. Prior to elected office, Connolly was an able seaman working in U.S.-flag merchant ships.
Artie Maratea was elected by the TCU Executive Council as National President effective August 1, 2020. He was previously elected to National Vice President in 2011 and re-elected to that position at the 2014 and 2018 TCU/IAM Conventions. In 2018 he was also elected to the position of Special Assistant to the President. He began his career as a Carman at the Long Island Railroad in 1988 and was promoted to a Telegraphers Position in 1989.
John Samuelsen was sworn in as TWU’s 10th International President on May 1, 2017. He is also the former President of TWU Local 100 in New York City – the union’s largest Local. A Brooklyn native, Samuelsen was hired by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) in 1993. He still maintains an active public role in New York politics and advocates on behalf of all TWU members.
Shawn Fain was sworn into office on March 26, 2023, following the UAW’s first-ever direct election of top leadership. Mr. Fain has served the UAW at every level for over 20 years, primarily for 5 terms as a Skilled Trades Committeeperson and Shop Chair at Local 1166 (Stellantis Kokomo Casting Plant), and 10 years as an International Representative.
Prior to Brian Sanson’s appointment as the International Secretary-Treasurer, he held the position of Director of Research. In 2005, he was hired by the United Mine Workers of America International to work in the Research Department. In 2000, Mr. Sanson began employment with the United Mine Workers of America Career Centers where he counseled laid-off coal miners and assisted them in retraining and job placement. He began his career in the coal industry with the United Mine Workers of America Local Union 1582, where he worked performing construction and maintenance for employers that made up the Association of Bituminous Contractors.
Gwen Mills will succeed Taylor as the first-ever woman in the Union’s history to be elected International Union President, effective April 1. Mills has served as UNITE HERE Secretary-Treasurer since 2017 and previously as UNITE HERE’s Political Director.
David McCall is the USW’s International President. McCall served as USW international vice president of administration since July 2019. In that role, he bargained contracts with some of the union’s largest employers in steel, aluminum, rubber and other industries.
Before his election as vice president, he served for 21 years as the director of USW District 1, a job in which he represented 70,000 USW members and retirees throughout the state of Ohio and bargained some of the union’s biggest contracts.