Sixth District International Representative Michael Clemmons, a first-generation trade unionist who learned about the labor movement working in a unionized grocery store as a teenager, is the district's new international vice president.

Clemmons replaced Paul Noble, who was appointed international secretary-treasurer. The move became effective Jan. 4

"It was a shock at first," Clemmons said of this appointment. "That was my initial reaction. But my next thought was: Let's get to work, let's address the issues in the district, and hit the ground running."

Those who know him say he's prepared to do just that.

"As soon as I met Mike, back when he was a [Local 176] business agent, I saw he had the best interests of the members at heart, whether on the jobsite or in the community," said Chicago Local 134 Business Manager Don Finn, a member of the International Executive Council. "He's going to be a phenomenal vice president."

Brother Clemmons did not grow up in a union household, but at age 16, he got a job at an Eagle Food Centers store in his hometown of Morris, Ill., and joined the United Food and Commercial Workers.

"I noticed how the union would come in and would fight for the store employees on issues they had with the company," Clemmons said. "The union stood up for them, and that made a lasting impression on me."

After high school, Clemmons enrolled in the electronics engineering program at Joliet Junior College and worked at a nearby Caterpillar plant, where he was a member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Throughout this time, he had his sights set on a career as an IBEW electrician after a family friend and Local 176 member recommended it to him.

It proved to be a study in perseverance. Clemmons wasn't accepted into the apprenticeship program until his third attempt — and even then, it was as part of the residential training program instead of the inside apprenticeship, which didn't come until one year later. He topped out in 2003 and quickly made up for lost time by joining Local 176's political action committee. Soon after, he found himself a member of the Christmas and picnic committees.

"I always had a sense of community, a desire to give back," he said. "If it included service to the community, I wanted to be a part of it."

Clemmons worked for six years as an instructor and as assistant training director in charge of curriculum at Local 176's training center. As a certified instructor, he trained apprentices and journeymen in many fields, including photovoltaics and instrumentation. He holds certifications in Instrumentation, solar and fiber optics.

He went on to complete the Electrical Training Alliance's four-year master program at the University of Michigan and was named UL apprenticeship instructor of the year in 2014. He also was a graduate of the first class of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program master instructors in 2013 and served as a trustee on Local 176's apprenticeship fund.

Clemmons was elected recording secretary of Local 176 in 2013, president in 2016 and business manager in 2019, with reelection in 2022. As business manager, Clemmons distinguished himself by overseeing the local's pension funds and health and welfare fund. The multilocal, multistate Decatur Pension Fund saw improved benefits for participants and achieved record funding levels while Clemmons served as chairman.

He also was a founding board member of the Union Wellness Center Coalition, under which seven unions collaborate to provide quality wellness and health care services to members and their families. Under his leadership, the coalition opened seven wellness centers throughout Illinois, providing eye care, physical therapy, urgent care and primary medical care with no out-of-pocket costs.

Over the course of his career, Clemmons has demonstrated sharp political acumen. A frequent presence in Illinois' state capitol, Clemmons was successful in urging officials to support working families and policies that supported labor.

Chicago Local 9 Business Manager Bill Niesman said Clemmons can "literally write legislation."

"There's probably not a legislator in the state who doesn't know him. He's just a guy that impresses you with his knowledge and memory," Niesman added. "He's great at everything that needs to be done."

Clemmons' efforts to forge institutional advantages for the IBEW have yielded long-term relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle, resulting in the passage of landmark bills, such as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which includes project labor agreements and prevailing wage requirements on almost all solar projects in Illinois. It also provides financial guarantees to Illinois' nuclear fleet, saving thousands of IBEW jobs.

He also worked with lawmakers to pass the 2019 Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan, the largest infrastructure bill in Illinois history, and the 2022 Workers' Rights Amendment, which bars right-to-work laws in the state constitution.

In 2022, Clemmons was appointed a Sixth District international representative shortly after being reelected business manager. He served in that role for seven months before being appointed international vice president.

"My goal is to bring everyone working in the electrical industry into the IBEW," Clemmons said. "A rising tide raises all ships."

Clemmons lives in Morris, about a one-hour drive southwest of Chicago. He has one daughter, Cassie, who is an intensive-care nurse. The officers and staff congratulate Brother Clemmons and wish him much success in his new position.

Seventh District International Vice President Steven Speer, whose career-long interest in training and organizing brought prosperity to countless IBEW electricians, has retired from the IBEW, effective Jan. 1.

"I've worked for 48½ years inside the IBEW," Speer said. "It's time."

Speer graduated from Cortez High School in Phoenix in 1971. Although his father was a Teamster, Speer was unsure about his own career path. That started to change after Speer had a heart-to-heart talk with the man who would be his father-in-law, who was an IBEW electrician. "He said, 'We can welcome you into the family, but what's your plan?'" Speer recalled. "'You need to start thinking.'"

After some consideration, Speer decided to enlist in the Arizona Air National Guard. "It helped me stall while I made a plan," he said with a laugh.

When he came home from basic training, Speer was able to spend some time with electrical workers on job sites. "I've always been mechanical, and I liked working outside," he said, "so after I got exposed to the work, I got interested in it." Never one to back down from a challenge, Speer was accepted into a journeyman wireman apprenticeship on his third attempt and initiated as a member of Phoenix Local 640 in 1975. He topped out of his apprenticeship three years later.

Speer first considered IBEW activism while he was still a second-year apprentice on a job at a hotel in downtown Phoenix, assigned to work with a steward. "I got to see the bigger side of the Brotherhood that way, helping out members," Speer said.

But when the economy in the Phoenix area sputtered during the late 1980s, "I went to work on the West Coast for a while," he said. There, "I really got exposed to how the IBEW banded together and took care of travelers like me."

When he returned to Phoenix in 1989, "friends started saying I ought to get more involved with the union," he said. And get involved he did.

In 1990, Speer was elected to the local's executive board, serving as its chairman for six years. But his ever-increasing participation as an IBEW activist didn't stop there: Speer also served as an apprenticeship instructor and trustee for the Phoenix Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, and he was a member of the Seventh District's Electrical JATC. Additionally, he was a trustee for Local 640's trust funds for pension and for health and welfare, and he served on the IBEW Codes and Standards Committee.

In 1996, the members of Local 640 elected him their business manager. Among the local's biggest wins during Speer's tenure were organizing Arizona's largest electrical contractor and negotiating a contract that raised the wages of the state's electricians to national industry standards.

Speer went on to serve as president of the Arizona State Association of Electrical Workers, as treasurer of IBEW Government Coordinating Council No. 1 and as a member of the Arizona State AFL-CIO's executive council. Additionally, he was tapped by the International Office to serve on the IBEW-NECA Council on Industrial Relations.

Speer was also a member of the City of Phoenix Development Advisory Board; in 1999, he chaired the board's committee for the adoption of the National Electrical Code.

In 2005, International President Edwin D. Hill appointed Speer as an international representative for the union's Seventh District, which services IBEW members in Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

When Jonathan Gardner retired as Seventh District international vice president in 2013, Hill, with the approval of the International Executive Council, appointed Speer to serve as Gardner's replacement. Delegates to the IBEW's convention in St. Louis in 2016 affirmed Hill's appointment by electing him to that office. At the 2022 convention in Chicago, Speer was re-elected.

"He was probably the most articulate rep I ever met. He's really good at his job," Gardner said. "He always had a persuasive ability, but he was not afraid to be tough. It's one of the reasons I recommended him to take my spot."

To be a leader in the IBEW, Speer observed, "you have to be willing to accept responsibility and take chances."

He added: "A vice president doesn't need to be the smartest guy in the room. I had the smartest people on staff. My job was to see the big picture, make decisions."

Speer also served on the Arizona State Registrar of Contractors, as a member of the Arizona State Energy Code Advisory Commission's labor advisory committee, on the Arizona Town Hall's board of directors, and on the National Fire Protection Association's NEC Code Making Panel No. 16.

His No. 1 goal for retirement is to be home and spend time with his wife, Gina, to whom he's been married since 1976. "I've been on the road a lot," he said. "She's been retired for 10 years, waiting for me to retire, too."

Speer has three sons, one of whom, Christopher, is a 20-plus-year member of Local 640. Eight years ago, Speer said, he and Gina had no grandchildren to dote on. "Now, we have seven." Christopher is the father of three boys; his older brother, Steven Jr., works in banking and has two girls, while Andrew, the youngest of the three, works for a local utility company and has two sons.

The retiring vice president also is rifle enthusiast who hopes to get in some more shooting practice — that is, when he's not in his garage, working on restoring his 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle.

"I'm just a working guy who got an amazing opportunity, more than a kid with just a high school diploma has any right to hope for," Speer said of his time serving his fellow IBEW members.

The officers, staff and membership of the IBEW wish Brother Speer a long and happy retirement.

Chris Wagner, who has served as an international representative for the Seventh District since 2017, has been appointed the district's international vice president, effective Jan. 1.

"It's a daunting position to take on, but I'm excited," Wagner said. "It's an incredible honor to continue to work with a staff that's all very smart and very good at their jobs."

Wagner fills the unexpired term of Steven Speer, who retired. His appointment, one of the final official acts of now-retired International President Lonnie R. Stephenson, was unanimously approved by the International Executive Council.

Growing up, Wagner was no stranger to the Brotherhood and the passionate fellowship of its members. His late father, Jimmy, had been a member of Austin, Texas, Local 520, serving on the local's executive board and leading the picnic committee.

"I knew that my father's four-wheel drive pickup trucks, our nice family vacations and comfortable life were all available to us because of the union," he said.

After graduating from high school, Wagner started his own career as a residential wireman trainee with Local 520 in 1982.

"In high school, I knew that I wasn't college-bound," he said. Although he was always planning to follow his father into the electrical trade, he also had decided while he was still in school to join the Army National Guard.

Wagner finished his journeyman inside wireman apprenticeship in 1987, around the same time he completed his National Guard commitment. It wasn't long afterward that he started following his father's lead to become an IBEW activist himself.

"Our local was going through some issues at the time," Wagner recalled, "I was young and had a big mouth, so one of my apprentice instructors, Mike Thomsen, said, 'Why don't you run for office yourself?'"

Wagner did, campaigning successfully in 1991 for a slot on Local 520's executive board, a stint that lasted six years. He also served on several of the local's committees, such as the annuity, new building, negotiations and joint apprenticeship training committees.

He quickly climbed the local's leadership ladder, as well, occasionally holding overlapping roles. For example, he was twice president of Local 520: from 1997 to 2000 and from 2009 to 2011. Meanwhile, he also served two separate terms as an assistant business manager, once from 1999 to 2003 and then from 2010 to 2011.

The Local 520 executive board appointed him as business manager in 2011. Among his proudest accomplishments in that role was the local's successful collaboration with the area's other construction trades and with Austin's Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit organization that recognizes the crucial role that immigrant workers play in the construction industry and helps to foster respect for their contributions. Through this collaboration, they were able to help get labor-friendly candidates elected and worker-friendly ordinances passed in right-to-work Texas.

"While I was a business manager, union participation quickly grew and was really inclusive, and I'm really, really proud of that," Wagner said. "It began when I was business manager, and it has only increased. Today, union meetings are full, and the affinity groups are active."

Current Local 520 Business Manager Ben Brenneman has known Wagner for almost 12 years. "Chris has amazing composure," Brenneman said. "He is really intelligent and thoughtful, and he's also able to give people space to take responsibility for their leadership."

In 2015, Wagner was appointed by International President Edwin D. Hill as an International Executive Council member representing the Sixth District. Two years later, Stephenson appointed Wagner to work in the Seventh District's office as an international representative, helping to service IBEW members in Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Retiring Vice President Speer is pleased that President Stephenson approved his recommendation of Wagner as his successor. "Chris has very similar work experience to mine," Speer said. "He is somebody who can make the right decisions. He's always learning. I can only hope that my character and integrity were as strong as his."

As Wagner assumes the office of international vice president, he is anticipating a vast amount of work coming to his Seventh District, including possibly thousands of semiconductor manufacturing jobs made possible by the $52 billion CHIPS Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in August.

"Our challenge," Wagner said, "will be organizing that work."

In his spare time, Wagner enjoys hunting, fishing and riding motorcycles. He is a graduate of the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., and is a member of the Masons. He and his wife, Yvette, have two children, one of whom, Coleman, is now a third-year apprentice with Local 520. The Wagners also have one grandchild and one on the way.

Please join the entire Brotherhood in wishing International Vice President Wagner the best of luck as he takes on his new role.

Retired Sixth District International Representative James "Jim" Greenwood died Nov. 14. "He was 88 years young and packed every one of those years full of laughter and life," his family wrote.

Born in 1934 on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa, Brother Greenwood started out as a paperboy and farmhand before being initiated into Local 499 in 1954. He eventually made his way to Minnesota, where he became a member of St. Paul Local 23 in 1967 and served on the executive board and as vice president. Then he moved once more, to Minneapolis Local 160 in 1976, where he served on the examining board and as a business representative. He was appointed international representative in 1981, a position he held until he retired in 1997.

"The IBEW was his life," said retired Sixth District International Representative Greg Shafranski, who worked with Greenwood for years and considered him a mentor. "He never missed a convention or a progress meeting, not until the very end."

Initiated as a lineman, Greenwood serviced both inside and outside locals, as well as utilities, in the Sixth District and was always willing to lend a hand when it came to organizing, even if it was in another jurisdiction.

"He loved to promote the IBEW," Shafranski said. "He'd even pull over when he saw other linemen in their trucks and ask if they were IBEW."

Known as a charismatic character who loved to socialize, Greenwood was the type who never had a bad word to say about anyone and no one ever had a bad word to say about him.

"Everybody liked him," said retired Sixth District International Vice President David Ruhmkorff. "He was just a good-hearted guy."

Greenwood was also known for his sense of humor.

"He always had a joke. Sometimes off-color," Ruhmkorff said.

Greenwood was laid-back in many ways but had strong beliefs when it came to unions and the IBEW, Ruhmkorff said.

"Jim could get worked up, and he was a big guy, but he was really a gentle giant," he said. "He was able to talk to most people and get them to understand where he was coming from."

That ability to talk to anyone served him well in negotiations.

"He was good at getting first contracts," Ruhmkorff said. "And that takes a lot of patience. It's not for everybody. But people listened to him when he spoke."

Greenwood, who served in the Army as well as the Reserves, was also known as a storyteller.

"Jim had more stories than anybody I ever knew," Shafranski said. "And most of them were about the IBEW. He was always promoting the union."

Greenwood was an active Democrat and a supporter of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who was known for promoting workers' rights.

"He strongly believed in unions, and he saw how politics impacted that, how politics affected people's lives," Ruhmkorff said.

A family man at heart, Greenwood was always appreciative of everything the IBEW gave him, Ruhmkorff and Shafranski both said.

"He gave a lot to the IBEW," Ruhmkorff said. "You could always count on him to put the IBEW first."

Greenwood was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years, Delores. He is survived by his five children, Cyndi, Karen, Kristi, Craig and Steven, and 14 grandchildren.

The IBEW officers, staff and membership extend their sincerest condolences to Brother Greenwood's family and many friends during this