Dan Shirey, a member of the International Executive Council and the beloved business manager of Portsmouth, Ohio, Local 575, died April 24.

Known for his joyful personality, smart and compassionate leadership, and love for the IBEW, Shirey was appointed to the IEC in January 2022 during his fourth term at the helm of his home local.

"Dan brought laughter, joy and kindness into our workplace, and his leadership and service to his family, his friends, the IBEW and his community will forever be cherished in our hearts," Fourth District International Vice President Gina Cooper said.

The son and father of IBEW members, Shirey was a lifelong resident of the Portsmouth area in southern Ohio, growing up in the village of Otway. He served as class president in high school and went on to college at Shawnee State University.

After a year, however, he decided he'd rather follow his father into the electrical trade and applied to the Local 575 apprenticeship.

Shirey was initiated into the busy local in October 1997 and proudly remembered one of his earliest projects, working as a wireman on the East Kentucky Power Cooperative plant just upriver from Portsmouth. "It was a really big job for us," he said when he joined the IEC. "We had 150 members on it at peak."

Increasingly active in his local, he joined its executive board in 2005. He was hired as a Local 575 referral agent two years later and was serving as the assistant business manager to Austin Keyser in 2011 when Keyser moved to the AFL-CIO. Shirey was appointed by the executive board to serve out the rest of Keyser's term and won three subsequent elections.

"When I was just a young journeyman, I never envisioned running for office. It just kind of happened," Shirey said in a 2022 Electrical Worker article. "It's always been my goal to serve the membership. Somebody's got to step up."

No one could have done it better, said Keyser, now assistant to the international president for government affairs.

"Everyone gravitated toward Dan," he said. "He had an incredible ability to connect with members — he remembered everyone's names and details about their lives. At one point, we had over a thousand travelers, and I swear he knew every one of them."

Keyser was among hundreds of mourners, IBEW members and beyond, who attended the visitation for Shirey at Local 575's hall the week after his death. "The line was five or six hundred deep," he said. "People came from all over. He was high energy and loud and over the top, but in a way that made people love him. He was so smart and so fun and such a loyal friend."

Shirey was appointed to represent the IEC's Third District — covering Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia — when James Burgham's retirement left the seat open at the end of 2021. He was elected to a full term at the 40th International Convention in May 2022.

"Dan was always so eager to help the IBEW," said International President Kenneth W. Cooper, who worked closely with Shirey during his time as Fourth District international vice president and as international secretary-treasurer. "I watched him grow in his role, and I saw a leader who was full of energy and passion. I knew he'd be a creative and strategic voice on the IEC, and he lived up to every expectation."

He called Shirey "a good man in the truest sense — a good union man, a good family man, a good friend. I can't begin to express how much he'll be missed and how heartbroken we are."

Applauding Shirey's appointment in 2022, Fourth District Business Development Representative Jon Rosenberger said, "I couldn't think of a better person to take Jim's place on the IEC."

Among many good memories, Rosenberger — now director of the IBEW's Business Development Department — recalled the union needing a variance from Local 575 for work on a major southern Ohio solar project.

"Dan said, 'If it's going to provide work opportunities for IBEW members, then of course we'll do it,'" he said, adding that Shirey was "always willing to step outside the box to get those projects."

Advancing the interests of IBEW members and unions at large, Shirey held many leadership roles over the years. Those included chairing the Southeastern Ohio Business Managers Association, two terms as vice president of the Shawnee Labor Council in greater Portsmouth and serving as president of the IBEW's Ohio State Conference. His service to his community also included years as a volunteer firefighter.

He also made the most of his decade-plus as the city of Portsmouth's electrical inspector, calling the job "a very good organizing tool."

In tributes pouring in since his passing, Shirey's dedicated service and generous spirit shine through. IBEW members' condolences on social media include:

"A brother to everyone in the room, always a positive vibe."

"You touched more people than you will ever know."

"Dan didn't see anyone as a JW or apprentice or CW or a CE. He only saw us all as his brothers and sisters."

"I will never forget how he welcomed me as a new agent at my first IBEW conference. He was a great guy and always fun to be around."

"The first time I met him it was like we had known each other our entire life, that's how he made me feel."

Shirey is survived by his grown children, Daniel Shirey II, a Local 575 apprentice, and daughters Dakota and Kaela; four grandchildren; his parents, Thelma and Local 575 retiree Samuel Shirey; his brother, Steven; and a niece, nephew and great niece.

The IBEW family sends its deepest sympathy to Brother Shirey's family in this time of profound grief.

When Ann Miller joined the Political/Legislative Affairs Department a decade ago, the IBEW was running a respectable political operation with a modest war chest. The union had an important and effective voice in the federal government from within organized labor.

Today, the IBEW is one of the most influential political voices in the nation, and one of the most politically effective labor unions in U.S. history.

Much of the credit for that success goes to Miller, who retired as an international representative April 15.

"That's only possible because of Ann," International President Kenneth Cooper said. "The most important labor and infrastructure laws in generations — The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Butch Lewis Act — they have Ann's fingerprints all over them."

Miller was born and raised in Wakefield, Mass., north of Boston. Although neither of her parents belonged to unions, all six of her siblings have been union members their entire working lives.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1985, Miller was hired as a secretary in the Boston office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Within a year, she moved to the senator's Washington, D.C. office as a scheduler and was serving as Kennedy's personal secretary by 1987.

Democrats took the White House in 1992 for the first time since 1976, leading Miller to the Labor Department as personal secretary for Robert Reich, a man she called "a true champion for workers."

When Reich left after President Bill Clinton's first term, Miller joined the AFL-CIO for a brief stint as President John Sweeney's scheduler, then moved to the newly formed Alliance for Retired Americans.

She returned to the AFL-CIO in 2003 as special assistant to the political director and in 2011 was promoted to run the fundraising operation as assistant political director.

She joined the IBEW in 2014, first as a political analyst, then as department director. As the office transformed from a small operation into the critical policy shop it is today, Miller was appointed as an international representative with a unique portfolio that leveraged her decades of relationships and her keen nose for future political winners.

"There is no way we can replace Ann. She arrived at the IBEW as we were starting to modernize and professionalize our government affairs operation," said Austin Keyser, assistant to the international president for government affairs. "She was a catalyst, and we were lucky to have Ann teach the next generation."

Keyser said one of Miller's greatest contributions was identifying promising candidates early in their careers and helping them craft a compelling message about the value of helping working people. When they won and came to Washington, she was a mentor who helped them navigate D.C., a bewildering place for newcomers but one she knew thoroughly.

"Ann was very good at finding political babies that were going to be successful before anyone else did and giving them help at critical times," Keyser said. "You do that over 40 years, and you have a huge network eager to help move our agenda."

Miller wore many hats, but perhaps none was more important than liaison to the White House. President Joe Biden, who proudly calls himself the most pro-labor president in U.S. history, often says he owes his election to the IBEW and its early endorsement of him in 2020.

White House staff turned to Miller countless times. Each time Biden spoke at an IBEW worksite during her tenure, such as a factory being built with union labor, she was the one who arranged meetings for him with IBEW members. She was also the first call each time Vice President Kamala Harris's team needed a JATC to host a speech on the power of apprenticeships.

"We moved mountains in D.C. these last three years because of what members do," she said. "Biden saved union pensions. … without a single Republican vote. They bailed out the banks but wanted us to wither and die."

Miller also left an indelible impression on Capitol Hill.

On her birthday in April, after she had announced her retirement, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown took to the floor of the Senate and honored Miller and the legacy she leaves behind.

"Those who know Ann recognize her fearlessness and her tenacity," Brown said, crediting her with the [labor standards] section of the CHIPS and Science Act that is in effect at the $100 billion Micron plant under construction in Ohio and other U.S. building sites.

"It is because of Ann that we were able, with the CHIPS Act, to get a project labor agreement that means at least 7,000 union workers building that gargantuan plant, union workers across the board," he said. "When things get tough, Ann fights even harder for workers."

Miller said that was all energy on loan from the members. "I will miss what a privilege it was to walk into a room and say 'I represent the IBEW' and see how people reacted to that, how their faces changed. I wish I could show that every member the respect we are given," she said. "I will miss that."

Please join the officers and staff of the IBEW in wishing Sister Miller a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Newark, Ohio, Local 1105 Business Manager Bill Hamilton, whose decades-long leadership has helped his local handle its dramatic growth, has been appointed to represent the IBEW International Executive Council's Third District. The IEC unanimously approved Hamilton's appointment.

Hamilton, a Cadiz, Ohio, native, grew up eager to join a union. Both of his grandfathers were in unions. So was his father, a United Mine Workers coal miner.

"I wanted to be part of something bigger," Hamilton said.

In 1987, he became an unindentured apprentice at a coal-fired power plant in Conesville, Ohio, where workers were represented by Local 1105. Hamilton was initiated into the IBEW following his acceptance into the local's apprenticeship, and he topped out as a journeyman inside wireman in 1993.

Hamilton quickly became active with his union, serving as a shop steward and later becoming a full-time Local 1105 organizer. In 1996, he was elected to the first of two terms as chairman of the local's executive board.

When Hamilton was first elected business manager in 2001, Local 1105 had more than 200 members with several employers. Some relocated or closed, while the power plant began gradually deactivating in 2005.

"We saw all that change," Hamilton said. "It was hard."

By 2017, the explosive growth of data center construction had reached Ohio, bringing scores of new jobs and organizing opportunities for Local 1105. Construction and maintenance work on dozens of data center campuses popped up across the local's jurisdiction, which covers five east-central Ohio counties and parts of two others.

By the time Conesville fully closed in 2020, data center work already had helped boost Local 1105's membership to more than 400. "The timing couldn't have been better," Hamilton said.

Then, in September 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, containing billions of dollars in incentives for companies to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S. A month later, Biden came to Local 1105's territory to celebrate the start of construction on a $100 billion Intel microchip fabrication complex, which means at least a decade's worth of jobs for thousands of IBEW members.

"Everything busted wide and loose," said Hamilton, who was with the president for both events. "We had good work before, but not like this. By midsummer, we'll have over a thousand members."

One major advantage to Local 1105's historic growth, Hamilton said, is how it's expanding opportunities for apprentices.

"When I started as business manager, we used two classrooms in the union hall and the executive boardroom for training," he said. Since then, membership growth fueled one expansion of the Newark JATC, where Hamilton has been an instructor, to an 18,000-square-foot facility for training 250 apprentices. New plans call for two more buildings covering an additional 27,000 square feet.

"When I took over, we sometimes had to choose which bills to pay," Hamilton said. "We've been able to make good investments, and our market share has been on the rise over the last eight or nine years." Local 1105, he said, now provides well-trained workers for more than a dozen employers.

"So much of this should be credited to President Biden and his administration," the business manager said. "Every member should look at what's going on and know that's the reason."

Local 1105 President Dave Sprankle, who has known and worked with Hamilton for nearly 23 years, has nothing but praise for the business manager.

"Bill is very professional, very friendly and very helpful," Sprankle said. "We've developed a great rapport."

In addition to his Local 1105 duties, Hamilton chairs the Health Fund for the union's Fourth District and serves on several building trades councils and on the West Virginia-Ohio Supplemental Fund Committee.

"That man is busy 20 hours a day, but he makes time for the people he's talking to," said retired Local 1105 member Bob "Stoney" Stoneburner, a longtime friend of Hamilton's. "It was his tutelage that made all this possible. I have pure admiration for him being able to handle all that's been thrust upon him."

For fun, Hamilton maintains membership in the National Hot Rod Association and the Nostalgia Drag Racing League. "My father was a big automotive enthusiast who did stock-car racing. It sparked a lot of interest," Hamilton said. He also enjoys restoring the four vintage Ford Mustangs he owns.

Hamilton and his wife, Jane, have two adult children. "I attribute a lot of my success to my wife," he said. "She let me do this job and I always knew she had it covered at home. The way of life the IBEW provided meant she didn't have to go to work. I've been so blessed and so fortunate."

Please join the officers and staff of the IBEW in wishing Brother Hamilton continued success as he takes on this new role.