LERA 2017 PRESIDENT ELECT - Back to Top

Kris Rondeau

Vision Statement: LERA must further its base outside the collective bargaining arena while remaining true to its original mission. As a union organizer and contract negotiator for over 35 years, I've seen that creating relationships and building community is the foundation for every healthy organization, and that kindness is the fundamental glue. I am particularly interested in non-traditional labor/management negotiating styles, alternative dispute resolution, workplace flexibility, and more. For LERA to continue to be relevant in these turbulent times, we will need to re-frame the conversation and conceive the systems that will move us forward together.

Current Position: Director of AFSCME New England Organizing Project

LERA Activities:  LERA Executive Board, 2014-2017; LERA Program Committee, 2016-17; speaker and meeting participant throughout the years

 

ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST ACADEMIC MEMBERS OF THE LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Sylvia Allegretto

Vision StatementI would like to help LERA to keep moving forward to address the changing economic and political climate surrounding the nature of work, collective bargaining and the plight of workers as they intersect with an economy that is unbalanced, unfair and unsustainable. We need to be bold as we plan for the future and expand our vision to capture the tide of the pro-worker, pro-women, pro-immigrant populist movement that questions inequality and the type of capitalism practiced in the U.S. I hope to be a part of the team that moves LERA forward with robust discourse, inclusivity, and solid management.

Current Position: Economist and Co-chair of the Center on Wage & Employment Dynamics, 2007 to present.

LERA Activities: LERA Member since 2010. Conference program committee 2012-16. I've presented at many meetings.

 

Virginia Doellgast

Vision StatementAs a member of the LERA board, I would seek to further advance its international and multidisciplinary focus and impact. At a time of increasingly divisive politics, LERA should promote scholarship that situates the interests and struggles of US labor and management in their global context; and should encourage international dialogue between labor, employers, NGOs, and academics. LERA occupies a unique niche as a meeting place where scholars and practitioners analyze recent developments in labor market policy, labor relations, and social movements. The quality of this dialogue could be further strengthened by encouraging scholars in fields such as sociology, anthropology, and political economy to attend LERA meetings and participate in multidisciplinary panels.

Current Position: Associate Professor, ILR School, Cornell University, 2015-present

LERA Activities: Coordinator, Work and Employment Relations Network, Labor and Employment Relations Association (with Alex Colvin), 2011-2013; winner, LERA Thomas A. Kochan & Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation Award (2006); winner, LERA James G. Scoville Best International/Comparative IR Paper Award, 2010; winner, LERA Dunlop Scholar Award, 2013.

 

ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST ACADEMIC MEMBER FOR A SCHOOL WITH A SMALLER
OR NO IR/HR PROGRAM OF LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Matthew Bodah

Vision StatementLERA's promotion of multidisciplinary perspectives and inclusion of both academics and practitioners are what make it a special organization.  These fundamental qualities need to be advanced through outreach to other academic organizations and greater cultivation of national membership among local chapters.  The latter of these goals has always proven difficult, but the effort must continue, particularly through the work of the National Chapter Advisory Committee.    I have been a national member for 30 years and am a past-president and current secretary-treasurer of the RI chapter.  I also served on the NCAC and am a regular attendee and presenter at national meetings.  I would be happy to continue my service to the association in this new role.

Current Position: Interim Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Budget, University of Rhode Island, 1992-present.
Arbitrator/Mediator.  Listed with AAA, FMCS, the Labor Relations Connection, and RI Department of Labor & Training, 1998-present.

LERA Activities:  Secretary-Treasurer, Greater Rhode Island Chapter, current. President, Greater Rhode Island Chapter, 1997-1999. Member, National Chapter Advisory Committee, 2000-2010. Member, Planning Committee, National Policy Conference, 2008. Frequent paper/poster presenter at annual meetings.

 

ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST NEUTRAL MEMBER OF THE LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Sheila Mayberry

Vision Statement:  I believe LERA is still the best forum in which the labor-management community can to come together and work on policies and strategies to improve our relationships with one another, which will, in turn, allow our economy to grow and thrive given its changing dynamics.

Current Position: Arbitrator, NAA

LERA Activities:  Founded LERA-Maine, Current Vice-President; Member - LERA-Boston; LERA Nomination Committee; LERA Dispute Resolution Interest Section - Former Co-Chair

 

ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST LABOR MEMBER OF THE LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Joan Husted

Vision Statement: I believe in these difficult times for labor relations, LERA can fill an even more valuable role in  helping the role groups in navigating these rough waters. Anti-collective bargaining laws, the generational divide and the political anger offers an opportunity for LERA to provide a platform for civil, literate and intelligent discussion.

Current Position: I am the retired executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association serving as the secretary of the Hawaii Chapter of LERA.

LERA Activities:
Winner of the Lifetime Achievement in Labor, LERA, 2015; Secretary of the Hawaii Chapter of LERA 1990-current; President of the Hawaii Chapter of LERA 1989

 

ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST MANAGEMENT MEMBER OF THE LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Bill Dirksen

Vision Statement: Against the backdrop of an economy that is continually changing, and with it the very nature of work, the role of LERA is more important than ever. Our organization serves as a meeting place for ideas, innovations, learning and best practice sharing, and derives its strength from the diversity of its members - labor, management, academia, neutrals. Given that conflict and its resolution is inherent in the labor/management relationship, I believe LERA has the unique opportunity to provide a model for collaborative problem solving that is needed across our larger economic and political system.

Current Position: Vice President, Global Labor Affairs, Ford Motor Company 2014-Present

LERA Activities: Keynote Speaker (with UAW VP Jimmy Settles), LERA Annual Meeting 2015; Speaker, OCLERA Meeting, 2016; Guest Lecturer, University of MN, Cornell University and Wayne State University, 2009-Present

 
ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, WEST REGION FOR LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

Jim Pruitt - (CA)

Vision Statement: LERA has a distinguished history of nearly 70 years. American society faces workplace issues as critical as those of one hundred years ago which created the Industrial Relations Commission of 1912-1915 (although the specific issues are different.)  I will work with others to link the supply of LERA's institutional experience and presence with the demand for improved labor relations.

Current Position: Vice President, LMP and Labor Relations for Kaiser Pemanente

LERA Activities: Trustee of the Oregon Chapter 2005-2006. Co-Chair of Health Care Industry Council 2007-2011. Member of the LERA Nominating Committee for national officers  2008. LERA  Executive Board 2011-2014. Lifetime Achievement Award from LERA 2015.
 
ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, MID REGION FOR LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top

John Budd (MN)

Vision Statement: LERA has been a key part of my professional life for over 25 years and I am indebted to the organization for helping my career in many ways. I want to make sure that LERA continues to thrive in order to continue its positive impact on other scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. I have been an engaged member of the LERA Executive Board for three years, and if elected I'd be honored to build on that experience to continue to help the organization.

Current Position: Professor and Director, Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

LERA Activities: LERA Executive Board 2014-2016; Co-Chair, 2016 Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Committee; Best International Paper Awards Committee, 2009-2017; Research Volume Co-editor, 2005; Annual Meeting Presenter, over 20 presentations between 1993 and 2017.

 
ANNOUNCING THE NEWEST REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, EAST REGION FOR LERA 2017 BOARD - Back to Top
 

Michele Hoymen - (NC)

Vision Statement: LERA provides an important forum for the labor and industrial relations community by bringing together practitioners and academics in a unique organization. This mix of research and practice gives the organization an advantage in advocating for informed policy research.  In the coming years, labor and employment relations policies are likely to undergo large changes. My goal is to better position LERA to face those challenges by helping open the lines of communication between labor and management, and contribute to the ongoing national dialogue on labor and industrial issues.

Current Position: Associate Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998-Current

LERA Activities: I am a Past President of the St. Louis Chapter of LERA (previously called the Industrial Relations Research Association/IRRA) and have served on the National Executive Board.
or Relations Review, 40(3), 1983 (with Lamont Stallworth); The Arbitration of Discrimination Grievances in the Wake of Gardner Denver: A Labor Management Perspective, Arbitration Journal, 39(3), 1984 (with Lamont Stallworth)