Our Team
WHO WE ARE
Meet the officers and staff on Michigan AFL-CIO’s team. The Michigan AFL-CIO is staffed by a team of folks dedicated to improving the lives of working families, bringing economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state and the nation.
Ron Bieber
PRESIDENT
Daryl Newman
SECRETARY-TREASURER
Derek Dobies
CHIEF OF STAFF
Conner Wood
DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
Stephanie Brown
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
Ryan Sebolt
DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Jasmine Kaltenbach
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Payton Ferris
DIGITAL DIRECTOR
Dylan Jordan
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR
Aaron Pelo
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Maxwell Lewis
FIELD DIRECTOR
Annabelle Hart
POLICY ANALYST
Courtney Towsley
HUMAN RESOURCES SPECIALIST
Jillian Dutch
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Ashley Temsey
ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST
Chris Palette
NATIONAL AFL-CIO SENIOR STRATEGIST & DATA TEAM LEAD
Luke Canfora
NATIONAL AFL-CIO SENIOR FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
Payton Kaiser
ORGANIZING SPECIALIST
Carly Rose
ORGANIZING SPECIALIST
Isaiah Minor
TRAINING SPECIALIST
Bridget Mcconaughy
ORGANIZING SPECIALIST
Timothy Marvin
ORGANIZING SPECIALIST
Advocates
Michigan AFL-CIO Advocates is our public advocacy nonprofit organization. Our mission is to unite labor leaders, policy makers, and the general public to educate and advocate around policies, programs and projects that can bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to communities across Michigan.
Labor Foundation
The Michigan AFL-CIO Labor Foundation is our affiliated charitable nonprofit organization. Our mission is to curtail generational economic and social injustice through long-term investment in the memorialization, education, and association of the Michigan labor movement within our communities.
Workforce Development Institute
The Michigan AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute is our affiliated nonprofit developing the next generation of Michigan workers. Our mission is to combat economic and environmental injustice by connecting the unemployed or underemployed with the training and resources necessary to find gainful employment and transition to a cleaner, greener economy.
Chong-Anna Canfora
Chief Executive Officer
As the Executive Director of the Workforce Development Institute (WDI), Chong-Anna and her colleagues work closely with the WDI Board of Directors to provide direction and leadership on a variety of workforce development grant programs and supportive services. Before joining WDI, Chong-Anna served as Executive Director of the Michigan Community Action Association, representing a statewide network of anti-poverty non-profit organizations.
Chong-Anna served as US Senator Debbie Stabenow’s Mid-Michigan Regional Representative, where she acted as liaison to provide strategic coordination of federal resources supporting workforce development programs, energy, environment, and higher education issues.
She later served as the Director of Rapid Response for the Michigan Department of Labor, leading the state’s Dislocated Worker Team to deploy a mix of public and private resources, including Trade Adjustment Assistance, Workforce Investment Act funding and Emergency Grants to assist workers impacted by mass layoffs during the Great Recession. She and her team partnered with local workforce development boards throughout Michigan to successfully usher more than 100,000 workers through the No Worker Left Behind re-training program.
From her years as a union member and working on both the state and federal level with organized labor advocates, policy makers, and forward-thinking business leaders, she knows how labor standards contribute to thriving communities by raising workers’ pay and benefits and improves their safety on the job.
Chong-Anna is part of an expert team of workforce development professionals committed to collaborating with communities to meet the challenges of emerging workforce issues and implementing innovative solutions that help bring people out of poverty, back into the workforce, and into the middle class.
She is proud to be a part of the Michigan AFL-CIO WDI’s efforts to stand with industry leaders and policy makers who support family-sustaining jobs.
Colleen Sullivan
DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Annette Donnelly
FISCAL / CONTRACT MANAGER
Walter R. Lodes
DIRECTOR APPRENTICESHIP & TRAINING
Russ Davis
WORKFORCE LIAISON
Ken Toll
TRAINING DIRECTOR
David Rowden
FINANCE DIRECTOR
Anne Fairchild
PROGRAM ASSISTANT
Michelle Fowler
MIS COORDINATOR
Rochelle Gray
ASSISTANT MIS COORDINATOR
Henrietta Hadley
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC OUTREACH
Nathan Walker
PROGRAM ASSISTANT
Southwest
Battle Creek, Coldwater, Kalamazoo, and Three Rivers
Blaine Farr
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, SOUTHWEST
Sandra Payne
PROGRAM TECH III
Julie L. Gregory
Program Tech III
Karen Knox
CAREER COACH
Geovany Ulario
CAREER COACH
Megan Tappenden
TRAINING COORDINATOR
Nikki Lumsden-Romeri
LEAD CAREER COACH
Amanda Pierce
CAREER COACH
Tina Ferguson
CAREER COACH
Trent Bronsink
CAREER COACH
Emma Robbins
CAREER COACH
Julie Wischmeyer
CAREER COACH
Southeast
Highland Park and Detroit
Sherry White
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Regina Jones
BUSINESS SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE
Daniel Mahoney
CASE MANAGER
Vanessa Lee
CASE MANAGER
Courtney Alexander
RECRUITER
Ivy Chandler
CASE MANAGER
Rayonte Bell
RECRUITER
Tarsha Works
CASE MANAGER
Freddie Kelly
CASE MANAGER
Troy Pearson
RECRUITER
Michael Greening
CASE MANAGER
Devon Ivy
CASE MANAGER
Chris Clissold
CASE MANAGER
Dana LaLonde
U.P. APPRENTICESHIP READINESS LIAISON
Grace Taylor
CASE MANAGER
Instruction Division
JoAnn Bailey
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER
David Gregory
INSTRUCTOR
Malik Rollins
INSTRUCTOR
Tyrese West
INSTRUCTOR
Zachary El Amin
INSTRUCTOR
Theodore Spencer
INSTRUCTOR
Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri
INSTRUCTOR
John Perkins
INSTRUCTOR
LaTasha Smith
INSTRUCTOR
Carol Cool
INSTRUCTOR
Larry Tolbert
INSTRUCTOR
Linwood Bailey
INSTRUCTOR
Community Services
The Michigan AFL-CIO Community Services Department represents the partnership between the Michigan AFL-CIO and the Michigan Association of United Ways. The convening provides education, training, and service opportunities for union members to join with local United Ways in developing powerful responses to challenges faced in communities across Michigan.
MICHELE BASEMORE
Metro Detroit AFL-CIO
RELLA BITNER
United Way of Washtenaw County
TONY BRAGGS
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
JESSIE CLOMAN, SR.
United Way of Genesee County
ALICIA DENNIS
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
RICHARD FRANTZ
Tri-County Labor Agency for Human Services
TANISE HILL
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
COLLIN KEEHN
United Way of Monroe/Lenawee Counties
TERESA MCGINNIS
United Way of Genesee County
DAVID PAWLOSKI
United Way of South Central Michigan
JANAVIVE L. ROUTT
United Way of the Lakeshore
DAN TENHOOPEN
Heart of West Michigan United Way
FRED THOMAS
United Way of South Central Michigan
JOSH WINIECKE
United Way of Saginaw County