Welcome + Opening Plenary: The Covid-19 Pandemic and Public Sector Labor Relations

Mr. Steven Greenhouse Related Seminars and Products

Author, Journalist

New York Times (formerly)

Steven Greenhouse was a reporter for The New York Times from 1983 to 2014 and covered labor and the workplace for nineteen years there. He also served as a business and economics reporter and a diplomatic and foreign correspondent. He has been honored with the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club award, a New York Press Club award, a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Reporting, and the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism for his last book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker.

Ralph Martire Related Seminars and Products

Center for Tax and Budget Accountability; Roosevelt University

Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (“CTBA”), a bipartisan 501(c)(3) think tank committed to ensuring that state, federal and local workforce, education, fiscal, economic and budget policies are fair and just, and promote opportunity for all, regardless of race, ethnicity or income class. He is also the Rubloff Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University. During his time at CTBA, Ralph has helped obtain numerous legislative successes (including passage of the Evidence Based Model of Education Funding in FY2018, a state Earned Income Tax Credit, creation of a bipartisan legislative task force to integrate workforce and economic development policies, passage of the 2011 Temporary Tax Increases, corporate accountability legislation that, among other things, requires public reporting of economic development benefits created through receipt of tax breaks and other subsidies, decoupling Illinois tax policy from both the federal bonus depreciation rules and the federal repeal of the estate tax). In 2018, Ralph was appointed to serve on the legislatively established “Professional Review Panel,” charged with monitoring the implementation of Illinois’ new evidence-based school funding formula. He was also appointed to the Transition Team of Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker.  In 2011-2013, Ralph served as a full voting commissioner on the Congressionally-established “Equity and Excellence in Education Commission,” which was housed in the Federal Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division. In addition to his professorship at Roosevelt University, he has taught fiscal policy seminars and education finance courses for various universities and the International Fulbright Scholar Program. Ralph has received numerous awards for his work on education policy reform, including: being named River Forest’s Co-Villager of the Year by the Wednesday Journal for his work promoting equity in District 90; the 2007 Champion of Freedom Award, presented by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to individuals whose professional work embodies Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, commitment to equal educational opportunities; and the Ben C. Hubbard Leadership Award given by Illinois State University to individuals who have greatly benefited education in Illinois. He also received the Adlai Stevenson Award for Public Service presented by the American Society for Public Administration to honor one individual with a connection to the Chicago area that has made outstanding contributions to government and public administration over an extended period of time. Ralph is also a regular columnist on education, fiscal and economic policy for the State Journal Register, the Daily Herald, and The News Gazette. He received his B.A. in History with highest honors from Indiana University, and his J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Laurence Msall Related Seminars and Products

President

The Civic Federation

Laurence Msall is the President of the Civic Federation. Msall joined the 125-year-old tax policy and government research organization in January of 2002. Before joining the Civic Federation, Msall was the Senior Advisor for Economic Development for Illinois Governor George H. Ryan. Msall was responsible for the oversight of eleven of the state’s economic development and infrastructure-related agencies including the Departments of Commerce and Community Affairs, Revenue, Transportation, and the state’s housing and other development authorities. Appointed as Senior Advisor in February 1999, Msall worked closely with the Governor and his staff on issues related to business climate, tax and transportation policy. Before joining the Governor’s staff in 1999, Msall served as the Vice President of the Commercial Club of Chicago. In addition to his work with the Commercial Club, Laurence Msall served as Secretary to the Commercial Club Foundation and Vice President of the Civic Committee. He has worked with the CEOs of some of Chicago’s largest corporations and service firms promoting regional economic development strategies related to airport capacity, urban redevelopment, and special projects including the Chicago Bears stadium, technology development, and the reorganization of the United Way of Chicago. Prior to joining the Commercial Club staff in 1990, Msall served as Assistant to the Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs with primary responsibility for policy development. From 1984-1988, Laurence Msall represented the Department and Governor Jim Thompson’s office on economic development and business issues before the Illinois General Assembly, serving as DCCA’s chief legislative liaison. Laurence Msall is a licensed attorney and 1992 graduate of Loyola University School of Law, Evening Division, where he was named to the Dean’s List of Distinguished Students in 1990, 1991 and 1992. He was a recipient of the 1992 Loyola Leadership and Service Award. Msall holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he was the 1984 recipient of the Umbeck Prize for the Outstanding Sociology Student. Msall is a member of the Board of Directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, the Chicago Civic Consulting Alliance, the Cook County Health and Hospitals System Nominating Committee and the Kennedy Forum of Illinois. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs and NPR Illinois Issues. He is an active volunteer with PADS Homeless Shelter and L’arche Chicago and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Knox College.

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.