UL&STD Executive Board

Richard Kline began his labor career as a member of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. He taught in New York City public schools and at Federal City College in Washington, DC. For many years he was an instructor at the George Meany Center in Silver Spring, MD.

A graduate of Lafayette College, Kline served as Director of Communications for the  Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union for 31 years.

Richard assumed the office of President for the Union Label and Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO in 2008.

Debby Szeredy was elected in October of 2013 to the position of Executive Vice President of the APWU. She is proud to be the first woman elected to this executive position in the history of the APWU and now works in DC at the APWU Headquarters. She is very proud to be a part of a great inspiring team of leaders that want to make a difference in this movement and to be a part of the people’s revolution. Prior to her leadership move she was the first woman president for Mid-Hudson Area Local in Newburgh, NY for three terms. She was also the Vice President of the Hudson Valley Area Federation, AFL-CIO and New York State Research and Education Director and actively involved in the three Central Labor Councils in the three counties where she represented a plant and over 124 Associate Offices of APWU Members.

A union activist since she graduated from high school, Debby was active in the Retail Clerks Union in Southern California and later tried to organize a union at a school for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Arizona, eventually being fired for the attempt.
Debby was hired by the USPS in 1977. She met and was inspired by Moe Biller (then NY Metro President, later APWU President) on a picket line for a fired president in Phoenix Metro Area Local. Moe Biller had her sign on that day to become a union steward, the first of her numerous and invaluable union activities. She later met and was inspired by Joyce B Robinson, Research & Education Director of APWU during the founding years of APWU/POWER (Post Office Women for Equal Rights). Debby became the APWU/POWER Western Region Coordinator and she helped to bring women into the movement, encouraging women to reach for leadership roles. She spent 17 years in Arizona where she held the position of State President of Arizona as well as the first woman Local President of Phoenix Metro one of the larger APWU locals in the country. She was a delegate to the Phoenix Central Labor Council and was involved with the CLUW, OSHA, Arbitration, Negotiations, EEO, OWCP, and labor law. Debby left Arizona and transferred to Newburgh, NY in 1992. While in NY she again became heavily involved in the APWU union movement. In 2009 National APWU Union President Bill Burrus awarded her the 2009 Leadership Award as she had been elected and displayed great leadership in two different parts of the country. Debby has a beautiful son Matthew who grew up sharing her union inspiration at hundreds of union meetings, rallies, and conventions and is her heart and joy.

James B. Wood has been a member of the International Alliance of the Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada, AFL-CIO, CLC since September 1979, first joining the Motion Picture Studio Production Local 873 as a grip and then the International Cinematographers Guild Local 667. Mr. Wood is a second-generation member of the Alliance.

Prior to joining the International on a full-time basis, Mr. Wood served as the Business Agent for IATSE Local 873 in Toronto and was returned to office in eleven consecutive elections. Mr. Wood continues to hold the distinction of being the longest-serving elected officer in the history of the Local.

In 1995, Mr. Wood was elected as Eleventh International Vice President, becoming the youngest Vice President in the history of the Alliance. Mr. Wood was twice re-elected at International Conventions in 1998 and in 2001, and was appointed Director of Canadian Affairs in 1999.

During their 2002 mid-Summer meeting, the General Executive Board unanimously elected Mr. Wood to fill the vacated position of General Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. Mr. Wood continues to serve as General Secretary-Treasurer, having been elected, unopposed, at the International’s 66th Quadrennial Convention held in Orlando, Florida in July 2009, and again re-elected unopposed at the 67th Quadrennial Convention held in Boston the week of July 22-26, 2013.

Mr. Wood serves as a Labor Trustee for the IATSE National Benefit Funds (comprised of pension, health, welfare, annuity and vacation). Wood also serves as the co-chair of the Administrative and Finance Committees of the Funds.

Mr. Wood graduated from York University in 1985 with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. He and his wife Heather are the proud parents of two daughters, Kate and Alexandra.

Nicole R. Rhine was elected NALC secretary-treasurer by acclamation in 2014 during the union’s 69th Biennial NALC Convention in Philadelphia.

Rhine, a member of Lincoln, NE Branch 8, became a member of the NALC as soon as she joined the letter carrier craft, attending branch meetings and state conventions regularly.

“I couldn’t wait to become a member of the union,” she said. “I learned at an early age what unions stood for and could accomplish because my mother worked at a packing plant and belonged.”

At the branch level, Rhine served stints as assistant steward and steward. She was elected branch secretary in 1998, a role she held until her election as branch president in 2004. For three years starting in 1998, Rhine was also the Nebraska State Association of Letter Carriers’ legislative representative, until her election as state association president in 2001.

Rhine was a St. Louis Region 5 arbitration advocate from 1999 to 2006. In 2006, she was appointed as a regional administrative assistant (RAA) by NALC President William H. Young to fill a vacancy. Then, in 2009, NALC President Fredric V. Rolando appointed her national assistant secretary-treasurer to fill a vacancy. That appointment was affirmed in 2010 when Rhine was elected assistant secretary-treasurer in 2010 during the 67th Biennial Convention in Anaheim.

“It was my desire to educate letter carriers of their rights and to defend them when those rights were violated that inspired me to assume my other union roles over the years,” she said. “I am excited about the opportunity to serve the membership as a whole after being able to do so previously at the local, state and regional level.”

Rhine holds a journalism degree from the University of Kansas.

The General Executive Board unanimously approved Administrative Assistant to the General President Derrick Kualapai on January 22, 2024, to take over the role of UA General Secretary-Treasurer, effective April 1, 2024. Brother Kualapai had been elected unanimously to the position of International Representative at the 40th General Convention in August 2021. He has been an Administrative Assistant to the General President since November 1, 2021, working on projects assigned by General President Mark McManus.

On July 1, 2019, Brother Kualapai had been appointed International Representative. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Derrick Kualapai to join The Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery.

Before his position as International Representative, he had been named Special Representative for California and Hawaii, effective September 17, 2018. In 2016, Brother Kualapai was elected Business Manager of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 342 in Oakland, CA. In 2013, he was elected Assistant Business Manager, and in 2012, as a Business Agent.

He also served his local as an Executive Board member of the California State Pipe Trades Council and as a Contra Costa County Building Trades Council Trustee. He has served as an Executive Board member of the California State Building and Construction Trades Council. Brother Kualapai has attended five UA General Conventions.

Derrick Kualapai has been a Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 342 member for 29 years. He completed his apprenticeship as a steamfitter/welder with Local 342. In 2000, he was elected Recording Secretary, and in 2007, he was elected President of his local.

Brother Kualapai worked in refineries and power plants for almost two decades. In 2006, he participated in the UA/EPRI Rigging Certification program and successfully completed this pilot course, which led him to establish a new rigging program in his home local. He later graduated from the Instructor Training Program in 2011.

Richard McClees has been working in the industry for over 40 years after starting as a production worker in Local 206 in San Diego. Since that time he built a career that saw him immersed in every facet of the sheet metal industry while h held virtually every position at every level of our union. McClees followed his father, a proud 65 year member, and two brothers into the trade – all of whom served as models of hard work and commitment. After his time as a production worker in the sign industry, McClees became a building trade apprenticeship in 1970. He then became a journeyman four years later. In 1979 he became an instructor for the local JATC, where he taught evening classes for 20 years. In 1994 when he was elected to serve as a Business Representative for Local 206. In addition to his duties as Business Representative, he was appointed to serve as Training Coordinator in 1996. He served in both roles until 2000 when the members of Local 206 elected him as the Local 206 Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer. During his time as Business Manager, he served as President of the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, Executive Board member of both the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers and the San Diego AFL-CIO Council and trustee on health and pension trust funds. Brother McClees came to the International in 2004 when he was selected to serve in the position of Chief International Representative for the Sheet Metal Workers. In 2006, he was appointed to serve as Assistant to the General President/Chief of Staff where he oversaw a large segment of the day to day operations of the International. In addition McClees currently serves as chairman of the Local Unions and Councils Pension Plan, a trustee of the National Pension Fund, administrator of the Sheet Metal Workers Scholarship Fund as well as a trustee and member of numerous other national funds and committees.

Brother Kenneth “Bill” Dean was initiated into the Local 549 (Wheeling, W.V.) apprenticeship program on December 1, 1977. He was elevated to journeyman status on July 1, 1980. He quickly rose in rank within Local 549 becoming FST/BA in November of 1994. In November of 1997, he was elected FST/BM and served in that position until being appointed by General President Joseph J. Hunt as a general organizer effective March 10, 2008. He has also served as second and first vice president of the Northern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Northern West Virginia District Council. Effective September 30, 2013, General Organizer Bill Dean was appointed general vice president. General President Eric Dean appointed Third General Vice President Kenneth “Bill” Dean as general treasurer effective April 1, 2018.

Kenneth Cooper was appointed IBEW International President in 2023. He resides in Clarksburg, Maryland, with his wife, Gina. Together they have raised five successful and intelligent children, three daughters and two sons.

Cooper began his career in 1985 at Local Union 688 in Mansfield, Ohio, where he served a four-year apprenticeship to become a journeyman wireman. He served many roles at his local union, including steward, vice president, president, chairman trustee for the Pension Fund, chairman trustee for the Annuity, and chairman of trustees for the Health and Welfare Fund. In 1993 he was elected business manager.

Under his leadership, the local prospered, market share for construction grew, and organizing increased, including a successful organizing campaign at a manufacturing plant that added nearly 200 members to the small local. He was also active in his community, taking on roles such as vice president of the Richland County AFL-CIO, co-chairman of the Richland County Building Trades, board member for the American Red Cross, United Way, Catholic Charities and Richland County Woman’s Shelter.

In 2002, Cooper relocated to Las Vegas, where he worked for Local Union 396 as the assistant business manager. While there, he was instrumental in organizing five new units of workers at Nevada Power Company and a new power-generating plant in Apex.

In 2006, IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill recognized his leadership skills when he asked him to serve as an international representative for the Fourth District of the IBEW, which covers Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

In May 2011, his hard work and dedication to the IBEW was again recognized when President Hill recommended to the International Executive Council that Brother Cooper be appointed as the international vice president for the Fourth District.

Delegates to the 38th International Convention elected him to a full term in September 2011 and re-elected him in 2016 at the 39th International Convention in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2017, through his persistence and leadership, the IBEW celebrated one of the biggest organizing wins in its 125-year history when 1,418 Baltimore Gas and Electric Employees voted to be represented by our great brotherhood. He also successfully organized 39 out of 42 elections in 6 states for Asplundh tree workers.

In May 2017, then-International President Lonnie R. Stephenson asked Kenny to join him as International Secretary-Treasurer and serve the IBEW as his partner. Delegates to the 40th International Convention overwhelmingly elected him to a full term in 2022.

Under his stewardship, the National Electrical Benefit Fund grew from $13.9 billion to $16.1 billion. It earned an average investment return of 7.2%, placing the NEBF in the nation’s top ten percent of Taft-Hartley pension plans during his time in office.

IST Cooper also spearheaded NEBF’s investment in $650 million of infrastructure and private equity funds that generated superior investment returns and created jobs in the electrical industry.

Brother Cooper headed up the IBEW’s successful campaign to pass the Butch Lewis Act, which ensured the retirement security of millions of working people enrolled in troubled multi-employer pension plans.

He serves on the Executive Committee of the AFL-CIO and the Governing Board of Presidents for North America’s Building Trades Unions.

Amy Wiser is Director of Communications for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and has more than 20 years of experience in the ever-evolving communications industry. Prior to joining the Boilermakers, Wiser was Chief Communications Officer for Kiwanis International, where she led the global organization’s overall communications, branding, social media, public relations, publications and marketing efforts. Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, Wiser brings experience from the nonprofit, state government, membership and for-profit sectors, including working for Indiana’s leading public relations and advertising agency. Wiser holds a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism from Franklin College and earned Accreditation in Public Relations designation from the Public Relations Society of America. She is a 2019 graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program and is a member of Local 693 (Pascagoula, Mississippi).

Frank V. Líma has dedicated his life to family, firefighting and organized labor. As a former professional boxer, Los Angeles City fire captain and grassroots labor leader, he lives by his personal credo, “UNITE, FIGHT and ORGANIZE.”

Growing up in Los Angeles, California, Frank Lima has worked three jobs in his life – all union jobs – as a truck driver, a building trades carpenter apprentice and a fire fighter for the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD), which he joined in 1992.

Hired into his dream job in the LAFD at the age of 19, he began his career as a proud Los Angeles City Local 112 union fire fighter, working at one of the busiest stations in the nation.

He rose through the ranks of the LAFD as a fire fighter, apparatus operator, engine captain and for the past 17 years a truck company captain. Now, in his 29th year of service, Líma continues to be active in the field. He worked in specialized companies, including hazardous materials and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). He was deployed to New York City on September 11 to work as a rescue worker at ground zero after the terrorist attacks, along with another deployment to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

Once on the job, Líma saw the difference the union made in the lives of his sisters and brothers and answered the call of union leadership, where he has been able to further protect fire fighters by advancing legislation, negotiating strong contracts, protecting retirement security for members and successfully lobbying to remove a hostile, anti-union fire chief who sold out our members during a financial recession. His activism in the union began after his job was threatened and he was almost terminated over bogus accusations from a vindictive fire chief. Líma has never been afraid of a fight, but this experience taught him the value of the union firsthand and, most importantly, led him to dedicate the rest of his career in the fire service to protecting and fighting for other union fire fighters who unjustly come under attack.

Just as he worked and earned his way through the ranks of the LAFD, Líma put the same dedication into the work of the union, starting as a station steward and later elected to the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC) Local 112 Executive Board as a director, vice president, lead negotiator and eventually president in 2012.

As Local 112 president, Líma led the effort resulting in pay parity with Los Angeles police, as well as a fight against the cell phone industry, stopping a plan to put cell phone towers at firehouses, which would have jeopardized the health and safety of our members. That victory is now the model for all IAFF locals to follow that have opposed towers at their firehouses. As president of Local 112, Líma brought solidarity and unity to a divided local and became one of the most battle-tested union presidents in the history of UFLAC and the IAFF.

Local 112’s assets increased by over 200% under Líma’s transparent, fiscally prudent leadership. He also served as a vice president for the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and is very supportive of the state and provincial associations. He has served for over 12 years as an elected Executive Board vice president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, one of the largest and most diverse county labor councils in America. Líma continues to be active on the California State Board of Fire Services, a Board that he was appointed to by both Governor Brown and Governor Newsom. He still serves as a principal member of the NFPA 1710 Technical Committee for career fire fighters, where he served the past 14 years.

In 2016, Líma was unanimously elected as IAFF 10th District Vice President, where he unified members from California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona and Guam – the largest district in the IAFF under the Team 10th banner. In this position, he represented IAFF members in collective bargaining states and an anti-union/non-collective bargaining right to work states, as well as members in the private sector. Líma led one of the most powerful, victorious strike sanction campaigns in the IAFF in the past 25 years, collaborating with other organized labor unions, politicians, our Canadian IAFF family and federal mediators who all stood together in solidarity ready to shut down a major airport to obtain a fair contract for a 17-member local because no local is ever left behind on his watch.

Líma has always believed in union solidarity across the board and learned from a young age that labor needs to work across sectors to maximize their true power as a coalition of working families. That’s why he helped to lead and organize a rally in support of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) during an IAFF training conference in Los Angeles, where 1,800 fire fighters marched in support of the teachers to let them know that labor and IAFF fire fighters stood with them. Just a few months later, the UTLA secured a long-term contract for more than 35,000 public school teachers with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Líma’s work on the frontlines for our members during floods and wildland disasters has provided much-needed disaster relief assistance to IAFF families. He has also expanded our IAFF by organizing dozens of new affiliates, bringing in hundreds of new members. He’s also successfully fought to get IAFF union leaders their jobs back after they were unfairly terminated for protected union activity. Líma was honored to serve as an Electoral College voter in the past 2020 U.S. presidential election, the first IAFF member ever to serve in this capacity. He was also elected to serve as the secretary of the California Electoral College by his peers. In his spare time, you might find him walking a picket line supporting union workers, running, playing handball, camping or gardening.

Líma is able to do all this work on behalf of our union because of the incredible love and support provided to him by his beautiful wife, Lisa, four children – Nico, Sophia, Lucia, Joey – and grandson Lorenzo.

Líma is humbled and honored to have been elected in 2021 to serve as only the 12th General Secretary-Treasurer in the history of the IAFF. He is committed to leading the office with integrity, transparency and fiscal prudence on behalf of all IAFF members.

#Unite, Fight, Organize

On April 16, 2020, the BCTGM General Executive Board (GEB) elected David Woods to serve as International Secretary-Treasurer.

Woods was reelected to serve as International Secretary-Treasurer on July 29, 2022 by delegates to the 41st BCTGM Constitutional Convention.

Woods became a member of the BCTGM Local 165G (Knoxville, Tenn.) in August 1989 when he went to work at White Lilly Foods Co. as a maintenance mechanic. Woods served as the Principle Officer of Local 165G until the Local merged into Local 25 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in 2004 and he was elected as Assistant Business Agent of the newly merged Local Union.
In 2007, Woods was elected Business Agent/Financial Secretary of Local 25, a position he served until 2012 when International President Frank Hurt named him as a Southern Region International Representative.

On December 6, 2019, the General Executive Board elected Woods as the Southern Region International Vice President.

While he was a local union officer, David served as a Trustee of the Chattanooga Central Labor Council and Committee Member of the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council. He has a long and active history serving various roles with the United Way and the Boy Scouts of America.

In 2017, Woods graduated from the Harvard Trade Union Program.

Trade unionism runs in Wood’s blood. His father, Harold Woods, was President of the Tennessee AFL-CIO and his mother, Sylvia, was a local and regional leader for the Office and Professional Employees Union.

Dora Cervantes became the IAM’s 12th General Secretary-Treasurer on August 1, 2015. She is the first woman to direct the IAM’s finances as General Secretary-Treasurer.

Cervantes initiated into IAM Local Lodge 2198 in Houston, Texas, in 1989 as a Reservations Agent for Southwest Airlines. She served in many capacities for her Local Lodge, including Organizer, Shop Steward, Recording Secretary, and Vice President.

In 1999, Cervantes was chosen to serve as an Organizer for Airline District Lodge 142 and became a General Chairperson for that District the following year. By appointment from International President Tom Buffenbarger, she served on the IAM’s 2002 Blue Ribbon Commission.

In 2005, Cervantes was appointed to the Grand Lodge staff in the Transportation Department as a Special Representative and later promoted to a Grand Lodge Representative. It was in July of 2012 when Cervantes was selected by General Secretary-Treasurer Robert Roach, Jr. to serve as Assistant Secretary to the GST.

Cervantes first joined the IAM Executive Council on July 1, 2013, as the first Latina woman to serve as a General Vice President. As General Vice President, Cervantes worked in partnership with the General Secretary-Treasurer to administer the IAM’s financial operations.

Cervantes is actively involved in various community issues that are important to the working class. Currently, she serves as a National Board Member on the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), is an active member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), and a member of United Against Human Trafficking. She also serves as a Trustee for the National IAM Benefit Trust Fund, IAM National Pension Fund, and the IAM National 401(k) Plan. In 2021, she was elected to serve as a Board Member of SUNY Empire State College Foundation.

Fluent in English and Spanish, Cervantes was part of the pilot program to bring forth Spanish Leadership Classes at the William W. Winpisinger Education Center. She uses her bilingual skills to teach and translate IAM documents. She also served as an Instructor and chaperone with the Aviation High School and IAMAW partnership.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Work and Labor Policy, and Women’s and Gender Studies from SUNY Empire State College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Labor Studies from the National Labor College.