41st Annual Public Sector Labor Relations & Labor Law Conference

Gary Bailey Related Seminars and Products

Attorney

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council

Gary Bailey has served as a labor attorney for the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council for over 35 years. Gary is involved in negotiations, grievance arbitrations and interest arbitrations on behalf of sworn peace officers and law enforcement personnel across the State of Illinois.

Gary is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law. Gary served on the LEL Section Council for eight years and is currently a Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. Gary has been a member of the Section’s State and Local Government Bargaining and Employment Law Committee since 1992 and was the Union Co-Chairman of the Committee from 2009-2012. Gary contributes each year to the Committee’s Annual Report on Interest Arbitrations that occur across the country.

Gary received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and his juris doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Gary was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2008. 

Steven M. Bierig Related Seminars and Products

Attorney-Arbitrator-Mediator

Steven M. Bierig is engaged in the full-time practice of arbitration and mediation specializing in labor and employment disputes on a national basis. He has received both Ad Hoc appointments as well as being a member of numerous arbitration panels. Those panels have included the USPS and its constituent Unions, the City of Chicago and its constituent Unions, the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Teachers Union, the State of Illinois and AFSCME, the National Elevator Bargaining Association, the NTEU and IRS, the FAA and NATCA, the AFA, IBT, ALPA and United Airlines. Mr. Bierig has served as a contract mediator for the EEOC and as the mediator of medical disputes between the City of Chicago and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7. Mr. Bierig has served as the Fact-Finder for the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union. Mr. Bierig is a referee for the National Mediation Board and is affiliated with FMCS, AAA and the Illinois Department of Labor. He serves on the roster of arbitrators for the Illinois Labor and Educational Relations Board. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Mr. Bierig has served as an Adjunct Professor at IIT/Chicago Kent College of Law and the UIC School of Law. He currently serves as an instructor at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He has written numerous articles on labor and employment issues and lectures frequently on the topic.

Mr. Bierig received his J.D. with high honors from IIT/Chicago Kent College of Law. Prior to becoming a full time neutral, Mr. Bierig was engaged in the practice of labor law on the management side as a Senior Attorney Supervisor at the City of Chicago Law Department and was an attorney in the Labor and Employment Department at the Chicago Office of Katten Muchin & Zavis.

Mr. Victor Blackwell, JD Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board

John Brosnan Related Seminars and Products

Special Counsel

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board

Robert Bruno Related Seminars and Products

Professor & Director, Labor Education Program (Chicago)

University of Illinois Chicago

Robert Bruno is Director of the Labor Education Program and a Professor of Labor and Employment, as well as the director of the Project for Middle Class Renewal in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles on a diverse range of labor relations subjects, Professor Bruno has also co-authored numerous research reports on labor unions, workplace practices and labor and employment policy topics.

He is also the author of five books; Steelworker Alley: How Class Works In Youngstown (1999), Reforming the Chicago Teamsters: The Story of Local 705 (2003), Justified by Work: The Meaning of Faith in Chicago’s Working-Class Churches (2008) and A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike (co-author 2016), which was awarded the United Association for Labor Education Best Book award in 2017 and What Work Is (2024).

Professor Bruno has given expert testimony to the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well as the Illinois House and Senate Committees on Labor and Commerce.  He has also been a frequent commentator on labor relations for both regional and national media and has served as a commentator for numerous newspapers.

Professor Bruno has taught many different labor relations courses, specializing in collective bargaining, labor history and American politics, as well as given numerous public presentations on labor relations.

He is the co-editor of Labor Studies Journal and is an executive board member of the United Association for Labor Education and Chicago Chapter of the Labor Employment Relations Association.

Kevin Camden, Arbitrators Related Seminars and Products

Attorney

Camden Law Office, LLC

Kevin P. Camden is the owner of Camden Law Office in Downers Grove, Illinois. Camden Law Office, established in 2008, has a significant real estate practice, estate planning practice, and probate practice. Kevin graduated from Norther Illinois University with honors in 1994, earning his juris doctor from John Marshall Law School, Chicago, in 1997. In November 1997, Kevin was admitted to the Illinois bar.

Kevin is a member of the DuPage Couty real estate committee (co-chair 2022-23; chair

2023-24), an ISBA member, and a member of the real estate section council and task force on the unauthorized practice of law.

Also a labor arbitrator and mediator, Kevin draws over 27 years of experience in public sector labor and employment, particularly related to law enforcement.

Nicholas Christen Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel & Director of Field and Organizing

Illinois Federation of Teachers

Nicholas Christen is the General Counsel and Director of Field and Organizing at the Illinois Federation of Teachers. He advises leaders and staff on issues affecting the 100,000+ members of the union, including collective bargaining, organizing, discipline, discrimination, organizing, healthcare, and retirement. Nicholas has successfully advocated before private and public sector labor boards, resolved difficult legislative and administrative roadblocks impacting workers’ rights, led negotiations for units large and small in high-stakes negotiations, and advocated for union members from the shop floor to the Court of Appeals. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Miami University and his J.D. from Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Athena Christofalos Related Seminars and Products

Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn LLP

Brian Clauss Related Seminars and Products

Arbitrator Mediator Attorney

Clauss ADR, Inc.

Brian Clauss is a neutral arbitrator and mediator who has served on numerous arbitration and mediation rosters and panels since 2004. Brian has issued over a thousand reasoned arbitration decisions and mediated hundreds of disputes in a wide range of industries and professions. A seasoned attorney who has conducted hundreds of trials, his legal career began as a prosecutor in Chicago, and he later represented Cook County, Illinois in labor, employment, and civil matters.

In 2009, Brian was inducted to the National Academy of Arbitrators and has served on a number of committees, including Chair for the Central Midwest Region and twice as Chair for the Program Committee for the Fall Education Conference.

Brian is also a frequent lecturer at local, national and international continuing legal education events. He has presented numerous training programs, webinars, and workshops for many law schools, bar associations and other organizations. Brian is a frequent author on a variety of legal topics. 

In addition to his dispute resolution practice, Brian was also the Executive Director of the Veterans Legal Support Center at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago – a pro bono legal clinic that provides assistance to veterans in VA benefit appeals. Brian is also part of the team that developed the new ADR Concentration at the University of Arizona Rogers School of Law. His civic and professional activities include: Labor & Employment Relations Association Board of Directors, Chicago and Arizona chapters, North Suburban Bar Association Board of Directors, Lake Forest College Alumni Board, Lutheran General Hospital Oncology Advisory Board, and the German American Cultural Center.

Robb Craddock Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

University of Illinois

At the University, Mr. Craddock serves as chief spokesperson and is responsible for the administration of twenty (20) different labor agreements covering university employees.  Mr. Craddock represents the University’s Chancellor in grievance matters. Prior to working for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Robb Craddock served as the Deputy Director of Labor Relations for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services from September 2008 through January 2015. In that role, he successfully handled labor relations matters on behalf of the Office of the Governor.  Mr. Craddock represented the largest employer in the State of Illinois.  His tenure as the State of Illinois’ chief labor negotiator exposed him to multiple labor unions including American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union, Teamsters and various trade unions.  In 2019, Robb Craddock returned to Illinois Department of Central Management Services in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to serve as Chief Labor Relations Negotiator and Executive Branch Labor Relations Advisor.  While in that capacity, he successfully negotiated an agreement with AFSCME Council 31; ending a four (4) year labor dispute.  In October 2013, Mr. Craddock accepted on behalf of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services the James Baird Leadership Award for 2013 presented by the Illinois Public Employer Labor Relations Association (IPELRA).  This annual award recognizes leadership and achievement in Illinois public sector labor relations.  Robb is an at-Large Member of the IPELRA Board of Directors, and a member of the Legislative Advocacy Committee. Mr. Craddock received his Master of Public Administration with a graduate certification in Public Sector Labor Relations from the University of Illinois at Springfield.  Mr. Craddock received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western Illinois University.

Tamara Cummings Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council

Tamara Cummings serves as General Counsel to the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, a large public sector union representing law enforcement bargaining units in all areas of labor and employment relations. She is also a fellow of the ABA College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Previously, she was in private practice and represented Chicago Police Officers in administrative, criminal and civil matters.   She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and her Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

James Daniels Related Seminars and Products

Deputy General Counsel – Labor Relations

Illinois Department of Central Management Services

James Daniels has worked for Central Management Services at the State of Illinois for seven years, and is currently the Deputy General Counsel over Labor Relations, where he administers all grievance arbitrations arising out of the 40 agencies under the Governor’s Office. Before that he worked as labor counsel at the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council for eleven years, negotiating over a hundred contracts and arbitrating numerous grievances arbitrations and interest arbitrations. He is a graduate of John Marshall Law School.

Michael K. Durkin, Attorney Related Seminars and Products

Storino, Ramello & Durkin

Michael K. Durkin is a founding partner of the law firm of Storino, Ramello & Durkin, and has been in practice since 1978.  Mr. Durkin represents a wide variety of public sector management clients, in the capacity of both corporate counsel and special counsel with respect to a wide variety of collective bargaining and employment law matters.  Mr. Durkin is listed as a Leading Lawyer and by Super Lawyers in Illinois.  Mr. Durkin received his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Sharon Fairley Related Seminars and Products

Unviersity of Chicago

Sharon Fairley is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and has taught at the Law School since 2015. She became a Professor from Practice and began teaching full-time at the law school in 2019. Sharon's teaching responsibilities include criminal procedure, evidence, policing, and federal criminal law.

Before joining the Law School, Professor Fairley spent eight years as a federal prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, investigating and trying criminal cases involving illegal firearms possession, narcotics conspiracy, bank robbery/murder, murder for hire and economic espionage, among other criminal acts. She also served as the First Deputy Inspector General and General Counsel for the City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General. In December 2015, following the controversial officer-involved shooting death of Laquan McDonald, Professor Fairley was appointed to serve as the Chief Administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency responsible for police misconduct investigations. She was also responsible for creating and building Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

The focus of Professor Fairley's academic inquiry is criminal justice reform with an emphasis on constitutional policing and police accountability. She frequently writes and speaks about use of force by law enforcement, civilian oversight of law enforcement, and various police reform strategies.

Professor Fairley graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a BS degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and also holds an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice.

Shawn Flaherty Related Seminars and Products

Senior Partner

Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd.

Mike Fredendall Related Seminars and Products

Associate General Counsel

Illinois Education Association-U

Thaddeus H. Goodchild Related Seminars and Products

Deputy General Counsel

Chicago Teachers Union

Thad has served as in-house counsel for the Chicago Teachers Union since 2012, and as Deputy General Counsel since 2019.  He represents the CTU and its members in collective bargaining, grievance arbitration, discipline and discharge proceedings, labor board proceedings, and related litigation.  The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in schools funded by City of Chicago School District 299, and by extension, the over 300,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third-largest teachers local in the United States. Thad holds a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and a law degree and certificate in labor and employment law from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Nick Gutierrez Related Seminars and Products

Staff Attorney/Investigator

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board

Keith A. Karlson Related Seminars and Products

Metropolitan Alliance of Police

Helen J. Kim Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Illinois Labor Relations Board

Helen Kim has been the General Counsel for the Illinois Labor Relations Board since November 1, 2016.
Prior to her position at the ILRB, she was General Counsel at the Illinois Department of Labor, the state
agency charged with administering and enforcing various labor laws, including the Illinois Minimum
Wage Law, the Wage Payment and Collection Act, and the Prevailing Wage Act. Helen began her state
service as labor relations counsel with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services,
representing state agencies in arbitrations as well as cases before the ILRB. She was also an Assistant
State’s Attorney in the Civil Actions Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office where she
represented Cook County and its elected officials in labor and employment matters. Helen received her
undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her law
degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Michael Kuczwara Jr. Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Laner Muchin

Michael joined Laner Muchin in 2015. He concentrates on representing public and private sector employers in numerous areas of labor and employment law, including collective bargaining negotiations, grievance and interest arbitrations. He also represents employers before administrative agencies such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Department of Labor. Additionally, he represents public employers in representation petitions and unfair labor practice charges filed before the Illinois Labor Relations Board and National Labor Relations Board.

Michael has tried fifteen jury trials to verdict, both in state and federal court, and he has successfully argued in the Illinois Appellate Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

HONORS, MEMBERSHIP, PUBLICATIONS

● DePaul University College of Law: CALI Award Winner - Legal Writing,

Journal of Sports

● Law and Contemporary Problems - Periodicals & Articles Editor, Business

Law Society – Vice President of Communications & Marketing

Maureen Lemon Related Seminars and Products

Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd.

Martin H. Malin Related Seminars and Products

Chairman

IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law

Martin H. Malin is Professor Emeritus at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, where he taught for 41 years, founded the Institute for Law and the Workplace, and served as Director of the Institute for 25 years. He joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in 1980 after serving as law clerk to United States District Judge Robert E. DeMascio in Detroit and on the faculty of The Ohio State University. A renown scholar on the law governing the workplace, he has published more than 80 articles and seven books on labor law. Professor Malin has served as National Chair of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Secretary of the ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law, member of the Executive Committee of the Labor Law Group, member of the Board of Governors and Vice President of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and member of the Board of Governors of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. In October 2009, President Obama appointed Professor Malin as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. President Obama reappointed Professor Malin in 2014 and Malin served until May 2017. In 2016, the ABA presented Professor Malin with the Arvid Anderson Award for lifetime contributions to public sector labor law. He has a B.A. from Michigan State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Mr. Jerry J. Marzullo Related Seminars and Products

Shareholder

Asher Gittler & D'Alba Ltd.

Jerry Marzullo is a shareholder in the firm of Asher, Gittler & D’Alba Ltd. and concentrates his practice in the representation of Labor Unions and Pension Funds.  He has successfully represented clients in both pension and labor matters, including collective bargaining, discipline, arbitrations, pension hearings (representing Pension Boards), administrative review, and declaratory judgment proceedings at Administrative, State, and Federal Levels.  Jerry has considerable experience in both litigation and appellate work with numerous decisions. He also serves as Deputy General Counsel for the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association and the Metropolitan Alliance of Police.  He serves as an Advisory Committee Member for the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Illinois Public Sector Labor Relations Law Conference and on the Board of the Chicago Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association.

Jerry received his Juris Doctorate from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law and his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a dual concentration in Strategic Management and Managerial and Organizational Behavior.

He has previously taught undergraduate, Master’s Degree, and Law School courses in various labor and employment law topics. Jerry has been a frequent speaker on both labor and pension-related issues for the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association, the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, the Associated Firefighters of Illinois, the Illinois Professional Firefighters Association, the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association, and the Chicago-Kent Illinois Public Sector Labor Relations Conference and the American Bar Association. Jerry has authored legal articles for publication, including, most recently, the Illinois Public Employee Relations Report (A Statement of Facts: The Reality of Public Safety Employee Pension Funds in the State of Illinois; Vol. 37 No. 3; Possible Wisdom and Wit regarding the Arbitration of Discipline; Vol. 39 No. 3). He has also helped train command staff police officers and firefighters at the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA).

Jerry is a City of Berwyn Battalion Chief (IAFF-AFFI Local 506), where he currently has 24 years of creditable service and is former President of the City of Berwyn Firefighter's Pension Fund and former Vice-President of IAFF-AFFI Local 506. He is a Certified Fire and Arson Investigator, Advanced Technician Firefighter, and Chief Fire Officer.

Finally, and most importantly, he is happily married to one of Chicago's finest Police Lieutenants and has two evil pugs that he barely restrains from taking over the world.

Susan M. Matta Related Seminars and Products

Shareholder

Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C.

Susan is a shareholder with Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C.  Her union career began in 1995, when she entered the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute’s Apprenticeship Program, and later became a staff union organizer at UFCW Local 951, where she worked on NLRB election campaigns and corporate pressure campaigns.  After graduating from law school, Susan served as a Law Fellow with Service Employees International Union on a corporate pressure campaign against a local hospital chain, where she represented individuals who were sued for medical debt.  Susan then served as the General Counsel for Service Employees International Union, Local 73 for almost ten years, where she represented both public and private employees.  As in-house General Counsel, she gained invaluable and extensive knowledge of the institutional concerns and needs of unions, conducted numerous trainings for both staff and members, and gained extensive experience representing the various types of public and private sector employees in negotiations, arbitrations, State and Federal Court, the National Labor Relations Board, Illinois Labor Relations Board, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.   

In 2013, Susan transitioned to private practice with Carmell Charone Widmer Moss & Barr, where she became a partner and focused on representing firefighter clients.  She is also experienced at representing firefighter unions in contract negotiations, contract enforcement, interest arbitration, unfair labor practice proceedings, and court litigation. In 2019, she joined Asher, Gittler & D’Alba, Ltd. as a partner. She joined Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C. in 2022, where she continues to represent firefighters and other public and private sector clients.

Tom Mazur Related Seminars and Products

Attorney at Law and Firefighter/Paramedic

Village of Oak Park

Joe Moriarty Related Seminars and Products

Arbitrator and Mediator

Moriarty Mediation

John Motylinski Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd.

Taylor Muzzy Related Seminars and Products

Jacobs, Burns, Orlove & Hernandez LLP

Mike Newman Related Seminars and Products

Deputy Director

AFSCME Council 31

Mike Newman is the Deputy Director of AFSCME Council 31 and an AFSCME International Vice President. He is also a Vice President of the Illinois AFL-CIO. Newman joined Council 31 as Legislative Director in 1982, playing an important role in the passage of public sector collective bargaining laws.

AFSCME Council 31 represents more than 90,000 active and retired employees of state, county and city governments, state universities, local school districts and nonprofit agencies across Illinois.  Newman has been involved in every facet of the union’s work, including overseeing the negotiation and administration of hundreds of collective bargaining agreements and supervising the union’s legal and contract administration teams.

Newman previously taught in the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois where he also earned a Master of Labor and Industrial Relations degree. Prior to that, Newman was a union organizer in the garment industry in the Southeastern United States. 

Tyler Redd Related Seminars and Products

Legal Counsel and Research Director

Illinois Federation of Teachers

Abby Rogers Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Engler, Callaway, Baasten & Sraga, LLC

Abby Rogers maintains a broad-based labor and employment practice, with decades of experience representing governmental entities and private sector clients.  Ms. Rogers focuses on general employment relationship issues, labor relations matters and collective bargaining.  Ms. Rogers divides her practice equally between counseling clients and defending clients in litigation, including labor arbitration, administrative and judicial proceedings.  She has extensive experience with the FMLA and with medical and disability issues in the workplace.  In addition, Ms. Rogers regularly lectures and conducts workforce training on issues related to non-discrimination and anti-harassment, managing medical issues and leaves of absence in the workplace, and managing other workplace concerns. She is a contributing author on “Sex Discrimination and Harassment,” to the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education publication Employment Discrimination: Unlawful Grounds and Prevention (2021) and a contributing author on “Freedom of Speech in the Public Workplace,” to the American Bar Association publication Municipal Law Desk Book (2015).

Joe Scally Related Seminars and Products

Clinical Director

Lawyers' Assistance Program

Daniel J. Siblik Related Seminars and Products

Vice President

Segal

Rebekah Smith Related Seminars and Products

Arbitrator & Impartial Neutral

Seven Tree Solutions

Melissa Sobota Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Franczek P.C.

Melissa concentrates her practice in both labor and employment law. Her labor experience includes collective bargaining for schools and higher education institutions, municipalities, and county employers. She has experience handling union certification petitions, severance petitions, as well as litigating unfair labor practice charges and grievances before the Illinois Labor Relations Board and Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. She has also advised employers on medical and insurance benefit plan issues in relation to contract negotiations and employee disputes.

Her employment practice includes the defense of employers against discrimination cases filed state court, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. She has also defended employers before the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, the Illinois Department of Labor, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and the Illinois Labor Relations Board.

Her higher education practice includes negotiating collective bargaining agreements, as well as handling grievance arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, and representation petitions before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and National Labor Relations Board on behalf of colleges and universities.

Prior to private practice, Melissa worked with the corporation counsel of the City of Chicago in the Labor Division and defended the City in grievance arbitrations regarding contract disputes, discipline, and medical and benefits plans.

Melissa is a member of the American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section), the Illinois State Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section), and the Illinois Public Employer Labor Relations Association.

Kimberly Stevens Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

Illinois Labor Relations Board

Kimberly Stevens is the Executive Director of the Illinois Labor Relations Board. Prior to her current position with the Labor Board, Ms. Stevens was most recently Deputy General Counsel at the Illinois State Board of Education. Ms. Stevens has also worked for the Illinois Labor Relations Board as an Administrative Law Judge, and she previously served as labor relations counsel for the Department of Central Management Services, representing the State of Illinois in contract negotiations, arbitration hearings, and cases before the ILRB. Ms. Stevens began her legal career at the Illinois Attorney General’s office in the civil trials bureau, where she was responsible for government defense litigation in State and federal courts as well as administrative matters before State merit boards and commissions. Ms. Stevens received her Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in history, political science, and humanities from Valparaiso University and her Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude from the Valparaiso University School of Law.

Ellen Maureen Strizak Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board

Ellen Maureen Strizak is the General Counsel of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. She began working for the Illinois Educational Labor Relations as a Board Writer in 2002. Ms. Strizak was Staff Counsel for the Illinois Labor Relations Board from 2006 until 2010. She returned to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in 2010 as Associate General Counsel and became General Counsel in 2019. Ms. Strizak received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Iowa and her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School. Prior to law school, Ms. Strizak organized tenants as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Austin, Texas.

Chuck Sullivan Related Seminars and Products

President

Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois

Chuck is President of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois.  He has served in that role since January of 2020.  The AFFI represents over 15,000 firefighters and paramedics in 225 locals across the state.

Prior to becoming the President, he served as the AFFI Central District Legislative Representative from 2008-2020.  During that time, he worked extensively on legislation and rules within Article 4 of the Illinois Pension Statute that affects Downstate and Suburban Firefighters. Chuck Sullivan was appointed to the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund Board on January 31, 2020. Chuck has served as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees since the Board’s inception.

Chuck has an Associate’s degree in Fire Science and a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University. He was a firefighter with the City of Champaign from 1995 until his retirement in March of 2022 at the rank of Battalion Chief.  In addition he is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and served in Desert Storm.

Joe Sweeney Related Seminars and Products

President

IUOE Local 150

Dr. Diana Uchiyama Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

Illinois Lawyers' Assistance Program