Phoenix Local 769 Business Manager Mark Cunningham, who has led one of the IBEW's largest outside locals for the last nine years, was appointed Sixth District representative on the International Executive Council.

"I'm extremely excited," Cunningham said. "I was overwhelmed that our international president would consider me for this type of position with all the great business managers we have."

The IEC's Sixth District includes Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Cunningham replaces former Phoenix Local 640 Business Manager Dean Wine, who was named an international representative.

"Part of me couldn't believe that a groundman from Local 769 would go on to become an international officer for the IBEW, the most important thing in my life outside of my family," he said. "But at the same time, I feel confident that I can do the job. I'll work harder than I ever have before."

Born and raised in Phoenix, Brother Cunningham joined Local 769 when Sturgeon Electric hired him as a groundman in 1987. He began his apprenticeship in 1989, becoming a journeyman lineman four years later.

"Once I got on a crew, I fell in love with it," he said.

At first, it looked he might be destined for management. Cunningham was named a foreman early in his career and went on to work as a general foreman, superintendent and line division manager.

"That gave me the confidence to make decisions on the job and brought out some leadership skills," he said. "I think our industry is always looking for leadership, whether it's in the field or with the union."

During that time, he developed a friendship with fellow lineman Joel Bell, who was active in Local 769. He encouraged Cunningham to do the same thing.

He took Bell's advice. Cunningham served as a steward and was elected Local 769's president at the age of 28 in 1994, the same year Bell was elected business manager. He served one term and went on to serve as assistant business manager and on the negotiation and safety committees and the apprenticeship subcommittee.

He was elected president again in 2012 and was appointed business manager in 2013, when Bell left to become an international representative. He has been reelected three times since.

"Joel became my mentor," Cunningham said. "He is why I am where I am today."

Bell, who later moved to the Business Development Department before retiring in 2021, said Cunningham was instrumental in helping Local 769 improve relations with contractors and other business partners. That helped it improve market share and finances, which the two thought were critically low when they were elected.

"He taught me the importance of working closely with our contracting partners, putting the industry first alongside the Brotherhood," Cunningham said of Bell.

By the time of Bell's departure, Local 769 had $5 million in the bank and owned its new local hall outright. It now has about 1,300 members, which includes a smaller utility unit, and has jurisdiction over the entire state of Arizona.

"Mark thinks pretty quick on his feet and communicates well," Bell said. "He does a good job of reading people and isn't bashful about asking for help. He'll approach anyone he thinks can help.

"That fits into the Brotherhood quite well and is something that really favors him," Bell added. "He's had a real broad spectrum in his career, starting as a groundman to the apprenticeship to almost working in management to becoming a business manager."

In addition to his work at Local 769, Cunningham serves on the board of trustees for LINECO, the linemen's benefit fund; Labor's Community Service Fund in Phoenix, which assists union members in need; and the Council on Industrial Relations, which mediates disputes between IBEW local unions and management.

Cunningham and his wife, Barbara, have four children and six grandchildren, with a seventh on the way. Son Eddie is following in his father's footsteps. He's a groundman and getting ready to move into the apprenticeship.

Scott Cunningham, Mark's brother, is a journeyman lineman and Local 769 member. Three other relatives — a nephew and two sons-in-law — also are Local 769 members.

Edward Cunningham, Mark's father, is a retired firefighter who started a second career in electrical work. He worked under his son for Parr Electrical Contractors early in Mark's career and now is receiving an IBEW pension himself.

"I'm proof of how great the IBEW is and the opportunities it offers its members," Mark said. "I'm very thankful."

The officers and staff congratulate Brother Cunningham on his appointment and wish him much success.

The First District's most senior international representative, Brian Murdoch, retired Oct. 1, capping a career that began nearly 40 years ago.

"Brian helped me get to where I am today," said First District International Vice President Russ Shewchuk. "I wish there were more reps like him. He's going to be missed."

The brothers from Manitoba go back to the days when Shewchuk was an organizer with Winnipeg Local 2085 and Murdoch was business manager of Winnipeg Local 435, a position he held first in 1995 and again from 2000 to 2007, when he became an international representative servicing locals in his home province and northwestern Ontario. In that capacity, which included working with Local 2085 when Shewchuk was business manager, Murdoch earned a reputation as a knowledgeable leader who could be counted on for stern guidance when needed.

"He gives you the straight goods," Shewchuk said. "He was never afraid to tell you if you were veering off path."

As an international representative, Murdoch serviced a lot of small locals that didn't have a full-time business manager or staff, so they often relied on their representative to assist directly with membership issues that could range from grievances and negotiations to mergers and terminations.

"You really get to know the membership on an individual level when you deal directly with their issues, and you can help empower them," Murdoch said. "It's what I'm most proud of."

The former cable line technician was able to use his experience as a business manager, and before that as a shop steward and business representative, when dealing with his locals. As the head of Local 435, Murdoch had to make some tough calls, including to raise dues to help fund a lawsuit that it and two other unions brought against Manitoba Telecom Services.

"The membership was in decline at the time, but it's a good thing he did what he did," said retired Local 435 Business Manager Bruce Krause. "It ended up being a huge win for us."

The lawsuit, which began before Murdoch's tenure, involved the local's CA$43 million pension fund and went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was decided in 2014 in favor of the union. In the end, the company, now known as Bell MTS, was ordered to return the fund and repay the local's legal fees, amounting to roughly CA$140 million.

"It just goes to show that no one person could have ever been successful at this, but by joining together and fighting for what is rightly yours, the working person has their best chance," Murdoch said.

Like a lot of leaders, Murdoch said his initial term as business manager came about because others saw something in him that he didn't yet see in himself.

"I believe they saw someone who wasn't afraid to admit when I didn't know something but was always willing to learn," he said. "I have always found it better to give the right answer the first time around, even if it takes a while to get it."

That drive to always dig in and find the correct information served Murdoch well throughout his career, said fellow First District International Representative Cordell Cole.

"Brian brought a lot of integrity to the job, and he was extremely capable," said Cole, who's known Murdoch for close to 20 years. "A lot of reps sought him out for his knowledge."

Even when it wasn't what someone wanted to hear, Murdoch could be counted on to deliver what needed to be said, Cole recalled.

"Brian was never afraid to state his opinion. He was steadfast in what he did," Cole said. "He was always willing to speak up for the locals."

Indeed, it all came back to the members and the greater good for Murdoch.

"No one person is as strong as a group that bands together and works toward a common goal," said Murdoch, who also served as the IBEW representative on the Manitoba Federation of Labour's executive board. "In the simplest of terms, we represent working people, giving them a hand up, not only in their work but in their everyday lives."

When not servicing the membership, Cordell and Krause said, Murdoch could also be counted on for a good joke.

"He wasn't scared to take a poke at someone, and he could take one, too," Cole said. "You could have fun with him. At the end of the day, you knew it was all good."

Murdoch said he plans to spend this next chapter relaxing, traveling, and spending more time with family and friends.

On behalf of the membership, the officers and staff wish Brother Murdoch a long and fulfilling retirement.

Larry McCarty, a devout family man and devoted 73-year IBEW member who once was director of the union's Computer Services Department, died July 22. He was 92.

In 1950, shortly after McCarty graduated from Camden Catholic High School, the native of Camden, N.J., was initiated into the IBEW and accepted into an apprenticeship with Philadelphia Local 98. His father, two uncles and two cousins also joined Local 98.

McCarty's electrical training had to be paused in 1952 when he was drafted to serve a two-year tour during the Korean War as an X-ray technician with the U.S. Army's medical corps. Upon his return stateside, McCarty completed his Local 98 apprenticeship and then worked the tools for a few years as a journeyman inside wireman.

Like it is for so many people, electrical work was a solid, middle-class career choice for McCarty, helping him support his wife, Dolores, whom he married in 1956, plus their eight children, three of whom followed their father into the IBEW: Mike, with Local 98, and Ed and Tom, with Washington, D.C., Local 26.

"Our father was intensely proud of being a member of the union," said Ed, now president of J.E. Richards, consistently among the highest-billing electrical contractors in the Washington area. "That he had sons get in warmed his heart."

Larry also volunteered to work with Local 98's apprenticeship committee and later became the local's assistant training director. After illness forced the school's director to step down a few years later, Local 98's leaders tapped McCarty to head the training operation, which also served apprentices from nearby Norristown, Pa., Local 380 (recently absorbed into Local 98) and Chester, Pa., Local 654. Larry also earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering by taking night classes at Drexel University.

"He was constantly trying to learn," Ed said of his father, noting that Larry occasionally took computer classes in his spare time until retirement. Ed noted that Larry also had advised him: "Learn everything you can about the industry."

In 1976, McCarty moved his family to suburban Washington, D.C., after International President Charles H. Pillard made him an international representative and assigned him to work with what was then a combined Research and Education Department in the International Office.

Two years later, Pillard promoted McCarty to director of the I.O.'s Computer Services Department, at a time when computers were room-size and stored data on magnetic tape reels. Over the next 15 years, McCarty would help usher the department — indeed, the entire International Office — into the age of the personal computer and the internet.

Mike McCarty, Larry's eldest son, said his father firmly believed in working smarter instead of harder. "He was always a curious type, always trying to find ways to do things easier," Mike said.

"My father was also crafty," Ed said, doing things like soldering and programming his own control button onto a handheld calculator's circuit board. "He was MacGyver before there was MacGyver."

Their father also could be tough, Ed said. "He put us through some hard knocks, told us to go out and find jobs on our own," rather than relying solely on his help.

After McCarty retired in 1993, he and Dolores migrated to Maryland's Atlantic coast. There, he continued his lifelong devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, attending Mass daily, singing with the parish choir on Sundays and special occasions, and serving in the Knights of Columbus. Larry also lent his voice to local choral groups, was a member of the Elks Club and stayed active in Democratic Party politics.

McCarty enjoyed a variety of hobbies, too, such as making stained glass, and he liked boating, camping and fishing. "Last October, we went fishing together, and he was still casting lines," said Ed, who owns a house a block away from where his father lived. "I relished having him as a neighbor for all those years in retirement."

Mike described their father as consistently honest with a strong sense of integrity and said that he remained devoted to Dolores until she died in 2016. "She'd had some strokes and had dementia for the last 12 years of her life," he said. "Dad spent most of his time taking care of her."

Larry also loved spending time with his 21 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, several of whom also have become IBEW members. He remained interested in computers into his 90s, Mike said, working on projects like an updated online repository for his family's history and photographs. "He loved his faith, and he loved his family," he said.

The officers and staff of the IBEW wish the McCarty family strength in this time of sadness.