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Biographies of the Speakers

Congressman David E. Bonior currently serves as Democratic Whip, which is the second-ranking elected position in the House Democratic Leadership. As Whip, Bonior is one of his party’s principal legislative strategists and organizes Democratic efforts on the floor of the House. Since coming to Congress in 1976, Bonior has earned a reputation as a strong voice for working families. He has a staunch advocate of a stronger U.S. trade policy, leading the opposition to NAFTA and Fast Track. He championed the latest increase in the minimum wage, and has been outspoken on the right to organize, and the right of unions to participate fully in America’s political debate.

Bruce Colburn is Midwest Deputy Director, AFL-CIO Field Mobilization Department, and formerly the Secretary-Treasurer of the Milwaukee Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Co-founder and long-time chair of Sustainable Milwaukee.

Thomas W. Croft is the Executive Director of the Steel Valley Authority and Director of the Heartland Labor Capital Project. The Steel Valley Authority is a growing regional development authority in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, comprising 12 municipalities. The SVA manages one of the best regional manufacturing retention programs in the nation, having saved or created more than 7,000 jobs in western Pennsylvania. Tom also serves as the President of the multi-county Regional Jobs Corporation, created by SVA in cooperation with the USWA. Tom has managed economic development projects since 1978, working with lumber workers in Northern California, and he founded the successful Worker Center, now a department of the Seattle/King County Central Labor Council.

Robert Dean - A union executive. President CLSC Ste-Therese 1972-81. Member of Reg. Council for Health & Social Services, Laurentides 1973-75. Member of Committee for Family and Social Affairs, 1972-76. Member of Comm. Of colleges, 1981. Member of United Automobile Workers.

Fernand Daoust was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Quebec Solidarity Fund (QFL) from February 1994 to February 1996. He is now special advisor to the President of the Solidarity Fund. Prior to this, he had been President of the Quebec Federation of Labour since June 1991. The Federation is the largest central labour body in Quebec. From 1969 to 1991, he was elected Secretary General of the FTQ.

Rich Feldman is the executive director of the Worker Center, which serves as the economic development and workforce division of the King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The Center operates a Reemployment Support Center, Trades Mentor Network Program, Workforce Policy and Projects Office, and provides a range of other services. Rich is member of the board of the Cascadia Revolving Loan Fund, and has served as its president. He also is a member of the Washington State Labor Council’s Economic Development and Job Retention Committee. Rich received BS in Economic Geography from Oregon State University.

Leo Gerard is the International Secretary-Treasurer of the United Steelworkers of America, Afl-CIO, CLC. Prior to being elected to this position in 1994, Leo was the Canadian National Director of the USWA, where he was actively involved in creating the First Ontario Fund, a labor-sponsored investment fund. He led the union’s effort to restructure Algoma Steel as one of the largest manufacturing ESOPs in North America. He was also involved in the establishment and growth of the Quebec Solidarity Fund, and was an active leader in the New Democratic Party of Canada and in many social causes.

Douglas Greenfield has been engaged in the active practice of law in the employee benefit field since 1986. Mr. Greenfield joined the Washington, DC law firm, Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C. in 1990 as an associate attorney and became a member of that firm in 1996. Mr. Greenfield represents public and private sector retirement and welfare funds, international and local unions, and employee and retiree associations.

Jim Hill was elected State Treasurer in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. Mr. Hill serves as Oregon’s Chief Investment Officer and Oregon’s Chief Management Officer overseeing outstanding state debt and coordinating the central banking functions for state government. As State Treasurer, Mr. Hill serves on a number of state boards: The Land Board, the Municipal Debt Advisory Commission, the Oregon Investment Council and the Short-Term Fund Board. In addition, he is the current President of the National Association of State Treasurers and he also serves on the Board of Directors for the Northwest Health Foundation. Mr. Hill spent 10 years as a lawmaker in the Oregon legislature, serving both the House and the Senate. He has held positions as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice and as a Hearing Referee for the Department of Revenue.

Millicent Hodge, Esq. is the new Director of President Clinton’s New Markets Initiative. The New Markets program is a sweeping new public/private partnership designed to boost business opportunities in underserved rural and inner communities. Ms. Hodge’s former positions include: Senior Advisor of Government Contracting and Minority Development Enterprise, Deputy Director of Office of Public Liaison, Assistant Associate Counsel of 1996 US Olympic Games, and Worked in Mayor Dinkins Administration as the Associate Commissioner for Government Affairs.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur represents the Toledo area’s Ninth Congressional District in Northwest Ohio. She was sworn into her ninth term of office in 19992. Congresswoman Kaptur is a vigilant defender of the jobs of U.S. Workers. She strongly believes that in this post-Cold War area, America must use its trading power to promote democracy, create jobs and raise the standard of living of all people, not pit low-cost labor of non-democracies against U.S. workers and businesses. As a member of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, she has worked hard to streamline the federal bureaucracy to meet the needs of today while reducing spending and the budget deficit.

Sherman Kreiner has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Crocus Investment Fund, Manitoba’s labor-sponsored investment fund, since its inception, after having developed the fund concept and spearheaded the political initiatives to bring the fund into being. He has spent close to 20 years developing highly participative employee-owned companies. During the 1980s, Sherman assisted the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Philadelphia with the design and implementation of a pro-active capital retention and employee ownership strategy for the union’s 24,000 members. He has also been involved in the creation of worker-owned businesses in the service sector in low-income communities. Sherman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, presently residing in Winnipeg.

Senator Allen Kukovich is the Democratic chairman of the State Government Committee and is also a member of four other standing Senate committees: Community and Economic Development, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure; Judiciary, and Local Government. During his nearly 20 years in the House, Senator Kukovich’s legislative initiates and accomplishments have generally targeted economic development, unemployment, consumer protection child care, hunger, homelessness, ethics and government reform.

Ron Richman is an Attorney-at-Law with Schulte, Roth & Zabel who specializes in corporate finance, investment strategy and advised union pension funds.

Congressman Bernie Sanders came to Congress in 1992 as Vermont’s only Representative in the House and the first Independent elected to Congress in 40 years. Congressman Sanders focused his efforts during the 104^th Congress on the work of the House Progressive Caucus, which he founded and chairs. The purpose of the Progressive Caucus is to present thoughtful, practical solutions to the economic and social problems facing America. Its agenda includes job creating, increasing the minimum wage, eliminating corporate welfare, single payer health care reform, environmental reform, and women’s rights.

Phillip Singerman, Ph.D. has served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development since 1996, following his nomination by President Clinton and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Singerman serves as Administrator of the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Mr. Singerman served for 12 years as President/CEO of the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Mr. Singerman also served as a planning consultant for the City of Philadelphia, coordinating technology and business development re-use strategies for Philadelphia Naval Base Complex.

Kirsten Spalding is Deputy Chair, Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California-Berkeley. Ms. Spalding is a labor policy specialist and is currently doing research work on labor management partnerships, modular work and multi-employee pension funds. Prior to joining the UC faculty, she was a union-side labor attorney with a practice representing local unions in Northern California.

Linda Tarr-Whelan currently serves as the U.N. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women having been appointed by President Clinton. Her organizing and advocacy skills along with her policy expertise brought an appointment to New York’s groundbreaking health commission, founded to explore how to improve health care in the state. She was subsequently appointed as the Administrative Director of the New York State Department of Labor. She would go on to serve the Career Administration, joining the White House staff as Deputy assistant to the President for Women’s Concerns and to the National Education Association as Director of Government Relations.

Richard Trumka was elected in 1995 as the youngest secretary-treasurer in the AFL-CIO history, part of an insurgent campaign to reinvigorate the American Labor movement. In 1994, President Clinton named him to the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, where he represented the interests of working families in policy debates on Social Security, pensions and health care.

Chris Wallace is the Deputy Director at the Center for Working Capital. The Center for Working Capital is a new non-profit founded by the AFL-CIO to safeguard worker retirement assets and to assist fund trustees and staff, union officers, and union members in their capacity as stewards of retirement and other fund assets. Before joining the Center for Working Capital in 1998, Mr. Wallace was a pension fund consultant at the Marco Consulting Group, the nation’s leading consulting firm to Taft-Hartley pension funds.

Senator Paul Wellstone is the senior senator from Minnesota. During his first Senate term he has led the successful fight to raise the federal minimum wage, and he supported legislation that would protect the security of thousands of Minnesotans and their families by preventing corporations from raiding seniors’ pension funds. Senator Wellstone has traveled around the country to focus our nation’s attention on children, our most important national resource, and continues to be an outspoken national leader in the right for economic justice for all.