Council Leadership

Executive Director - Roberta Lynch

Roberta Lynch became Executive Director of AFSCME Council 31 in 2014. She previously served as Deputy Director for more than two decades, playing a central role in all aspects of the union’s activities. In addition to overseeing the union’s policy, educational, legislative and political programs, Lynch has been a key strategist in dozens of critical labor battles. She also serves as a Vice President on the AFSCME International Executive Board and a Board Member of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

A Philadelphia native, Lynch is a graduate of Duquesne University. Before joining AFSCME in 1984, she was involved in grassroots community, labor and political organizing efforts in Pittsburgh and Chicago, including serving on the staff of the Calumet Community Religious Conference, the Chicago Area Committee on Occupational Safety and Health and the Harold Washington mayoral campaign.

Lynch is the co-author of Rusted Dreams: Hard Times in a Steel Community (University of California Press), which chronicles the decline of the steel industry in the Calumet region.

Deputy Director – Mike Newman

Mike Newman joined Council 31 as the Legislative Director in 1982, playing an important role in the passage of collective bargaining laws in 1983 that won public employees the right to organize into unions and to engage in collective bargaining.

As Associate Director from 1996 until his appointment as Deputy Director in 2014, Newman has been involved in virtually every facet of the union’s work, including overseeing the negotiation and administration of hundreds of collective bargaining agreements. He has been particularly key in negotiating and administering Council 31’s comprehensive Master Agreement with the State of Illinois. Newman supervises the union’s legal and contract administration teams, and serves as the chief negotiator with the City of Chicago and Cook County.

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

Council 31 Executive Board Officers

State Sector Executive Vice-President

Crosby Smith

Local 2645

University Sector Executive Vice-President

Charles Carver
Local 1110

Private Sector Executive Vice-President

Yurvette Simmons
Local 3237

Local Government Executive Vice-President

John Rayburn

Local 1215

Secretary

Miguel Vazquez

Local 3297

Treasurer

Terrence Boone

Local 672

Board Members

State Conference Board Co-Chairs
Arnold Black, Local 2971
Cody Dornes, Local 46
Tim Worker, Local 993

Region I Vice-Presidents
Arnold Black, Local 2971
Cody Dornes, Local 46
Tim Worker, Local 993

Region I Vice-Presidents
Martha Bernice Stroger, Local 55
D. Safiya Felters, Local 2854
Susanne Littlefield, Local 2912
Timothy Olaosebikan, Local 3492
Kobie Robinson, Local 3835

Region II Vice-Presidents
Tom Opolony, Local 89
Tamara Rietman, Local 3693
Loretta Soresie, Local 2615
Alice Sutherland, Local 448
Danny Williams, Local 29

Region III Vice-Presidents
Jack Matthews, Local 1964
Nicholas McLaughlin, Local 2856
Kimberly Pope, Local 981
Trudy Williams, Local 3433

Trustees
Bonnie Brimm, Local 3280
William Lee, Local 494

Retiree Chapter 31 Representative
Larry Brown