Twenty-four thousand new members.
International President Kenneth W. Cooper shared this stunning figure, which represents the IBEW’s growth over the past 12 months, with attendees of the union’s annual Membership Development Conference in August.
“That’s more than we’ve organized in any year in the last half-century,” Cooper told the Chicago gathering of organizers. “That’s 24,000 men and women whose lives have been made better thanks to the security and stability of IBEW membership.”
When Cooper took office in 2023, he set a goal to get the union to 1 million members by the end of the decade.
“That is now closer to reality than ever,” he said. “After decades of playing defense and clinging to what we had, we’re finally going on the offense, taking back work that’s rightfully ours.”
The three-day organizing conference closed by honoring organizers and business managers who distinguished themselves over the past year in support of the union’s effort to grow its ranks.
Here are some of those winners and their stories.
IBEW Business Managers of the Year

See an IBEW-made video about Jeff Wheeler’s accomplishments.
Indianapolis Local 481’s Jeff Wheeler, the IBEW’s 2025 Inside Construction Organizing Business Manager of the Year, practically fell into electrical work when he joined the union 35 years ago.
“When I came out of high school, they didn’t recommend the trades,” Wheeler said.
He lasted three years in college studying accounting — “I absolutely hated it” — and supported himself with an automotive service job. “I absolutely hated that, too,” he said.
A co-worker invited Wheeler to join a weekend basketball league. That’s where he met Tommy O’Donnell, a Local 481 business representative who tried to recruit Wheeler into the IBEW.
He was initially resistant, but after six years at the “hated” service job, Wheeler agreed to let O’Donnell set him up as a helper with a Local 481 contractor. O’Donnell also made sure Wheeler applied for an apprenticeship.
“All I wanted was to do my 30 years as a wireman,” said Wheeler, who was honored in August during the annual Membership Development Conference in Chicago.
But within a few years of topping out, Wheeler began fielding offers for foreman and labor superintendent work with increasingly large contractors. He later served Local 481 as treasurer and assistant business manager, and in 2020, he was tapped to complete a former business manager’s term.
“We’ve had a huge list of stuff to work on,” said Wheeler, who is now in his second elected term.
For example, the local has successfully fought for a maternity-leave benefit and for restoring full-family insurance for all apprentices and construction electricians. And last year, it repaired a long-standing pension credits problem.
“He steadied the ship, and I’m proud to work for him,” Local 481 Business Representative Jason Burcham said.
Local 481 has negotiated two record-breaking contracts in recent years.
“And our organizing has been phenomenal,” he said. “This year, we’ll pass 4,000 members,” from electrical workers and installers to casino workers and staffers with the state’s Democratic Party.
“Jeff represents the very best of what it means to be an IBEW leader,” said Sixth District International Vice President Mike Clemmons. “He’s grounded in our traditions but forward-looking in his approach, always focused on lifting up members and growing the union.”
Wheeler and his local’s organizers also have been working with bilingual electrical workers to find IBEW jobs for Indiana’s Spanish-speaking electricians.
“We have over 100 such workers now,” Wheeler said, with more workers and contractors signing up. “We’ve opened a floodgate.”
The local has also captured a flood of projects. “Last year, we did a little over 5 million man-hours,” Wheeler said. “This year, we predicted we’d do 5.5 million, but we’re going to blow that away.”
Wheeler is grateful for the opportunities he’s had in his career. “It’s provided me everything that I wanted,” he said, including supporting his wife and paying for a college education for his two daughters.
“I was just looking for a career, and it turned out really good,” Wheeler said. “But I’m nothing special. I just showed up every day and did the job.”
Also at this year’s conference, Memphis, Tenn., Local 1288’s Corey Hester was named Professional & Industrial Organizing Business Manager of the Year because of his focus on bringing new hires into the IBEW and bringing back members who left. After years of declining numbers, Hester and his team brought in 91 new members over the past year, momentum that gives Local 1288 high hopes for the future.

Outside Construction Organizing Business Manager of the Year honors went to Beaumont, Texas, Local 2286’s Johnny Johnson, whose team has been steadily working on growing the IBEW’s market share at Entergy. Thanks to these efforts, Local 2286 is fast becoming Entergy’s preferred choice over nonunion workers.

IBEW Organizers of the Year

See an IBEW-made video about
John Collins’ accomplishments.
When Washington, D.C., Local 26 organizer John Collins joined the IBEW in 1991, he came prepared to embrace a career path that aligned with his energy and talents.
“I always wanted to expand my horizons,” said Collins, who was honored as the IBEW’s Inside Construction Organizer of the Year at the annual Membership Development Conference in August.
After high school, the Long Island, N.Y., native moved to Northern Virginia on the advice of his aunt and uncle, who spoke of numerous D.C.-area job possibilities there. A helper job with an IBEW signatory contractor turned into a Local 26 apprenticeship, and after Collins topped out, he worked the tools and later took on some foreman jobs.
In 1998, Collins seized a horizon-expanding opportunity with the IBEW when his friend, Local 26 organizer Joe Dabbs, invited Collins to join his team.
“The relationship I had with Joe made me who I am today,” Collins said.
Dabbs, who became business manager of Local 26 in 2022, called Collins “dynamic.”
“His skill set’s phenomenal for doing the work that an organizer does,” Dabbs said.
The two men quickly set out to improve Local 26’s organizing operation. “How we treated businesses, how we talked to them, became paramount,” Collins said.
Collins’ enthusiasm impressed Dabbs. “He can explain to businesses where they can save money and how they can become more efficient by using the union,” Dabbs said.
Businesses tend to understand the value of IBEW-trained electricians, Collins said. “They see the work we’re doing, and they’re like, ‘I want to be part of that.’”
Local 26’s jurisdiction covers much of “right-to-work” Virginia, plus the District of Columbia and five counties in Maryland. “Some companies have operations in all three places,” Collins said. “An organizer in our local has to know three different sets of laws.”
Nevertheless, “last year we organized roughly 2,000 people,” Collins said. “This year, we’ll probably do 3,000.”
Apprenticeships at the local have grown, too. “Our program had 250 candidates coming in three years ago,” Collins said. “This year, they took in 600.”
He credits Local 26’s successes to its organizing and marketing teams. “It’s never just one person,” he said. “It’s the solidarity, it’s a brotherhood, it’s everything that goes into that.”
Dabbs retired in July, and “I was supposed to retire with him,” Collins said. Dabbs’ successor, Chris Cash, asked Collins to stay on for at least another year.
“Johnny’s a hundred miles an hour,” Cash said. “He’s so passionate that you get 100% of his attention.”
Collins understands how Local 26 must keep up with ever-increasing demands for IBEW-trained electricians.
“We’re taking care of people,” he said, “and at the same time, I know I’m going to be taken care of, and so will my wife and daughter.”
Arlington, Texas, Local 220’s Jedon Shinpaugh also was honored at the conference. In 2024, Shinpaugh — then a shop steward at the Siemens USA facility in Grand Prairie — worked hard to help get workers at a sister Fort Worth facility to vote overwhelmingly in favor of IBEW representation. The Professional & Industrial Organizer of the Year is now a staff organizer at Local 220, where she’s working on bringing in hundreds more Siemens workers.

Outside Construction Organizer of the Year Calvin Martin came on staff as an organizer with Columbus, Ohio, Local 71 just last year. But since then, Martin has brought into the IBEW more than 150 lineworkers and others, and he continues to look for ways to organize even more.

IBEW Rank-and-File Organizers of the Year

See an IBEW-made video about
Derek Maurath’s accomplishments.
Derek Maurath has been a member of the IBEW only since December, when Louisville, Ky., Local 2100 signed its first contract with his employer, South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corp.
His eagerness to bring his fellow SKRECC linemen into the IBEW, plus dozens more men and women from other Kentucky co-ops in the months since, led him to be named the IBEW’s 2025 Outside Construction Rank-and-File Organizer of the Year.
“We went through a time a few years ago where we were afraid of losing our jobs,” said Maurath, who was honored in August during the IBEW’s annual Membership Development Conference in Chicago. “I just want to educate other linemen, and other workers, that the same rights that I’ve got, they have.”
Local 2100 Business Manager Josh Deacon said Maurath was nominated for the award because of his spirit of generosity.
“Derek is all about the Brotherhood,” Deacon said. “If you need something, that guy will give you the shirt off his back without hesitation — whatever effort it takes to get you through the situation you’re in.”
Soon after the SKRECC campaign began in July 2023, Maurath volunteered to work on it with fellow lineman John Slavey.
“Once we got rolling, he told John, ‘I’m all in, and I’d really like to run with this and help you out,’” Deacon said. “And he was full steam ahead from that day on.’”
The security that IBEW membership has brought to Maurath — not to mention his wife and three children — has helped drive his organizing efforts.
Recently, Maurath helped with a campaign at Blue Grass Energy, where job security also had been a concern. “I was able to relate with them and say: ‘These job titles in our contract, they’re protected. It provides a more stable work environment.’”
In April, an overwhelming majority of voting Blue Grass workers, representing nearly 100 men and women, chose organizing with Local 2100.
Another co-op that Local 2100 recently set its sights on was northeastern Kentucky’s Fleming-Mason, said Alex Vibbert, who was Deacon’s predecessor at Local 2100 until her appointment in April as a lead organizer in the Fourth District.
“The workers there were very timid until Derek showed up,” Vibbert said. “Derek brings the perspective of: ‘Don’t let this be something ugly. You guys have fun with it, stick together and grow together.’
“That’s the kind of power that Derek gives those co-op brothers and sisters,” she added.
An August vote by Fleming-Mason workers was unanimous in favor of organizing, thanks largely to Maurath’s efforts, Deacon said.
“I don’t know that you can find a better person than Derek,” the business manager said.
Also honored at the conference was Tulsa, Okla., Local 1002’s Zac Sandoval, who was organized into the IBEW nearly 12 years ago. Ever since, the Outside Construction Rank-and-File Organizer of the Year has developed a reputation for sharing his love of the Brotherhood — and his dual expertise as a construction lineman and journeyman lineman — with his IBEW co-workers as well as the nonunion men and women he encounters.

Noah Flanagan, who received the Inside Construction Rank-and-File Organizer of the Year award, has been targeted and even laid off because of his efforts to organize. That hasn’t stopped the member of Toronto Local 353 from helping to organize workers at CTK Power, fighting the displacement of a bargaining unit at Zed Electric and assisting with the organizing campaign at Power Op.

Largest One-Year Growth in New Members | ||
---|---|---|
1 | Newark, Ohio, Local 1105 | 1,377 |
2 | Washington, D.C., Local 26 | 1,325 |
3 | Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 | 946 |
4 | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Local 20 | 853 |
5 | Vancouver, British Columbia, Local 258 | 678 |
6 | San Antonio, Texas, Local 60 | 602 |
7 | Phoenix Local 640 | 588 |
8 | Diamond Bar, Calif., Local 47 | 508 |
9 | Richmond, Va., Local 666 | 475 |
10 | Knoxville, Tenn., Local 760 | 461 |
11 | Wichita Falls, Texas Local 681 | 458 |
12 | Atlanta Local 613 | 435 |
13 | Salt Lake City Local 354 | 423 |
14 | Columbus, Ohio, Local 683 | 417 |
15 | Los Angeles Local 18 | 399 |
16 | Houston Local 66 | 368 |
17 | Kansas City, Mo., Local 124 | 356 |
18 | Philadelphia Local 126 | 351 |
19 | Vancouver, British Columbia, Local 213 | 342 |
20 | Columbus, Ohio, Local 71 | 340 |
Largest One-Year Membership Growth by Percentage | ||
---|---|---|
1 | Wichita Falls, Texas, Local 681 | 146% |
2 | Newark, Ohio, Local 1105 | 131% |
3 | Wilmington, N.C., Local 495 | 125% |
4 | Danville, Ill., Local 538 | 80% |
5 | Winston-Salem, N.C., Local 342 | 63% |
6 | Racine, Wisc., Local 430 | 63% |
7 | Oxford, Ohio, Local 2287 | 43% |
8 | Meridian, Miss., Local 917 | 41% |
9 | Raleigh, N.C., Local 553 | 38% |
10 | Reno, Nev., Local 401 | 37% |
11 | Monroe, La., Local 446 | 37% |
12 | Richmond, Va., Local 666 | 36% |
13 | Mansfield, Ohio, Local 688 | 31% |
14 | Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Local 163 | 30% |
15 | Alexandria, La., Local 576 | 30% |
16 | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Local 20 | 29% |
17 | Lexington, Ky., Local 2220 | 27% |
18 | San Antonio, Texas, Local 60 | 26% |
19 | Kenosha, Wisc., Local 127 | 26% |
20 | Charleston, S.C., Local 776 | 23% |
Top Five Outside Employment Market Share, Last Three Years | ||
---|---|---|
1 | Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 | 98% |
2 | West Frankfort, Ill., Local 702 | 98% |
3 | Syracuse, N.Y., Local 1249 | 98% |
4 | Kansas City, Mo., Local 53 | 97% |
5 | Hartford, Conn., Local 42 | 92% |
Top Five Outside Employment Market Share, Last Three Years | ||
---|---|---|
1 | Jamestown, N.Y., Local 106 | 99% |
2 | Oak Ridge, Tenn., Local 270 | 98% |
3 | Collinsville, Ill., Local 309 | 97% |
4 | Peoria, Ill., Local 34 | 95% |
5 | Wheeling, W.Va., Local 141 | 92% |
All Impact Award Winners
Inside Construction Business Manager
Jean-Marc Ringette – Local Union 502
Joe Walsh – Local Union 99
John Olejnik – Local Union 163
Pat Hook – Local Union 683
Ken Green – Local Union 446
Jeff Wheeler – Local Union 481
Ryan Charney – Local Union 692
David Carranco – Local Union 278
Jeremy Redman – Local Union 291
Robert Westerman – Local Union 932
Noel Sherman – Local Union 474
Jacob Nye – Local Union 13
Inside Construction Organizer
Tylor Linton – Local Union 502
Alvin Reyes – Local Union 99
Bill Garner – Local Union 5
John Collins – Local Union 26
Dustin Parker – Local Union 194
Joshua Stern – Local Union 159
Jason McIntosh – Local Union 481
Ken Kolp – Local Union 665
Skylar Kowalick – Local Union 681
Jared Melton – Local Union 291
Michael Schreck – Local Union 191
Anthony Webb – Local Union 714
Inside Construction Rank and File
Noah Flanagan – Local Union 353
Charlie Poling – Local Union 596
Zach Michaelson – Local Union 291
Mike Nalewaja – – Local Union 1547
Outside Construction Business Manager
Brian Murphy – Local Union 104
Mark Lawrence – Local Union 1249
Todd Kessler – Local Union 71
Johnny Johnson – Local Union 2286
Kevin Owen – Local Union 57
Colin Lavin – Local Union 47
Scott Thrower – Local Union 379
Benjamin Bush – Local Union 53
Outside Construction Organizer
Jose Ramos – Local Union 42
Gene Bailey – Local Union 1249
Calvin Martin – Local Union 71
Sergio Estrada – Local Union 769
Justin Roberts – Local Union 89
Glenn Sutherland – Local Union 379
Mike Keith – Local Union 2
Outside Construction Rank and File
Jeremy Combs – Local Union 71
Zac Sandoval – Local Union 1002
P&I Business Manager
Domenic Murdaca – Local 636
Joe Malcarne – Local Union 420
Jordan El-Hag – Local Union 1430
Woodrow Jacobs – Local Union 410
Aaron Goodrum – Local Union 538
Mike Henry – Local Union 738
Chris Sanderson – Local Union 206
Nick Carpenter – Local Union 659
Corey Hester – Local Union 1288
Brian Brawley – Local Union 753
P&I Organizer
Allan Locke – Local Union 1620
Victor Perugini – Local Union 420
Nick Coyle – Local Union 237
John McRannolds – Local Union 2220
Crystal Reeves – Local Union 160
Jedon Shinpaugh – Local Union 220
Andrew McKercher – Local Union 47?
Eric Wilkinson – Local Union 1439
P&I Rank and File
Troy Clancy – Local Union 869
Andrew Reese – Local Union 33
Derek Maurath – Local Union 2100
Farbod Mohsenian – Local Union 952