Closing Plenary: Illinois Public Pensions

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.

Richard Huszagh Related Seminars and Products

Illinois Assistant Attorney General

Complex Litigation Counsel

Richard S. Huszagh is an Assistant Attorney General and Complex Litigation Counsel with the Illinois Attorney General, where he has worked since 2001.  He earned his J.D. with honors from Northwestern University in 1983, and an LL.M. in comparative law with high honors in 1984 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.  Richard then worked for 13 years with the Chicago office of the legacy firm for DLA Piper.  In private practice, he represented the Illinois Education Association in various matters.  His main practice areas with the Attorney General are constitutional law, governmental powers, public pensions and benefits, federal civil rights, public revenue, charity regulation, administrative law, involuntary civil commitments, and federal energy regulation.  He has briefed and argued about 100 cases on appeal, including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit, the Illinois Supreme Court, and all Districts of the Illinois Appellate Court.

Stephanie Kifowit Related Seminars and Products

State Representative, 84th District

John Shapiro Related Seminars and Products

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLC