Brendan Griffith was elected president of the New York City Central Labor Council (NYCCLC), AFL-CIO in July 2025. He joined the NYCCLC in 2009 and had previously been its chief of staff since 2011. He is also a proud member of Iron Workers Local 40 and the United University Professions.

Brendan’s work has involved coordination of various NYCCLC programs as well as oversight of day-to-day operations, but some of his most rewarding efforts have been his work on the Annual Workers Memorial Day Commemoration, the Annual Commemoration to the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and the CLC’s Annual Labor Day Parade.

He currently serves on the boards of the American Labor Museum—Botto House and the Worker Justice Project. He is on the Advisory Board of the Mount Sinai Selikoff Center for Occupational Health and serves as vice chair of the Board of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health. Additionally, Brendan is an adjunct instructor at SUNY Empire State College’s Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies.

Brendan completed an apprenticeship with Iron Workers Local 40, is a graduate of the NYS AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute, and is also a graduate of Fordham University, where he majored in political science.

Maria Figueroa is director of labor policy at the Rockefeller Institute. Her areas of expertise include labor and employment policy, non-standard (gig economy) work, immigration, labor organizations, and workforce development. Her work appeared in academic journals and book chapters covering labor issues in the digital platform economy and in sectors such as construction, healthcare, and the arts and entertainment industry. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Institute, Figueroa was dean of the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies at SUNY Empire State. In that role, she oversaw the school’s academic programs and all other operational aspects, and she achieved new partnerships with labor organizations to provide opportunities for workforce development with pathways to college degrees for workers in industries across the economy, including low-wage sectors. Before joining SUNY Empire, Figueroa was director of labor policy research at The Worker Institute of Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), where she worked on research and technical assistance projects commissioned by labor organizations, government agencies, joint labor-management entities, and private foundations. She also organized national and international multi-stakeholder convenings on labor and employment issues in the gig economy. Before joining Cornell, Figueroa worked as a researcher for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the UN Centre on Transnational Corporations. Figueroa has a doctor of law and policy degree from Northeastern University, an MPA from NYU Wagner, and a BA from the New School for Social Research.

Jeanny Pak is New York City Economic Development Corporation’s (NYCEDC) chief operating officer. She served as interim president & CEO from January to September 2026 and was NYCEDC’s chief financial officer since 2023. Prior to joining NYCEDC, Jeanny spent 25 years working in public finance investment banking, most recently as head of UBS’s East Region Public Finance Division.

Jeanny has spent most of her career working with public sector clients at the state and local levels where she developed and executed financial strategies, large bond transactions, and forward-thinking financial structuring. She has led large teams and is very active in groups and initiatives that promote women and people of color in the finance industry.

Jeanny holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cornell University and a master in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Before becoming president of 32BJ SEIU, Manny Pastreich was 32BJ’s director of bargaining and secretary treasurer. In this role, as number two to former president, Kyle Bragg, he participated in bargaining every major agreement within the union, helping to win wage increases, shoring up members’ benefits and expanding protections for the 185,000 SEIU 32BJ members from NYC, DC, Boston, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Connecticut, Florida, and beyond.

Pastreich cut his teeth helping to bring thousands of members into SEIU and 32BJ. This included his work leading research (1992-1996) for the Justice for Janitors campaign in DC—that saw janitors and allies blocking bridges and major arteries—and as an executive supporting 32BJ’s successful new organizing of tens of thousands of security officers and airport workers in the 2000s. He combines an understanding of organizing with a reputation as a strong hand at the bargaining table.

Growing up, he attended demonstrations, bargaining sessions, and building visits alongside his father, who helped launch two SEIU healthcare locals in Massachusetts. He had the opportunity to see firsthand the difference unions made in workers’ lives, from pay and benefits to the opportunity to have a voice on the job.

At 32BJ, Pastreich has taken up the cause of fast food workers, deliveristas and gig workers, helping to drive policy change to raise standards and working conditions in those industries—and to keep organized labor on the offense as technology and modern working conditions morph. He has driven innovative strategies, like 32BJ’s hospital pricing campaign, that help the union stay one step ahead politically and economically.

Pastreich has been involved in every state where 32BJ operates, bargaining contracts, strengthening the foundation of the union’s funds and gaining a truly comprehensive understanding of what it takes to build momentum across the union’s jurisdiction.

In the 1990s, he also worked as a researcher supporting SEIU’s organizing and bargaining across the country before doing a three-year stint as a research director for AFL-CIO on the United Farm Workers’ strawberry worker organizing campaign. He then completed another three years with the AFL-CIO, coordinating multi-union campaigns in the airline and airport sectors.

Pastreich joined 32BJ SEIU as a research director from 2002-2004, after which he became director of Collective Bargaining Benefits Fund and a Taft-Hartley Benefit Fund trustee covering several pension, health benefit, training and legal funds. Pastreich previously served as a board member at the Latin American Youth Center and his son’s Little League board.

Angel Vasquez is the deputy secretary for labor relations in the New York State Executive Chamber. In this role, he manages the Governor’s relationship with organized labor statewide and oversees both the Office of Employee Relations and the Public Employment Relations Board. Angel previously served as deputy secretary for downstate intergovernmental affairs.

Prior to joining the Executive Chamber, he was the deputy political director and senior policy advisor at the United Federation of Teachers. His extensive legislative experience includes serving as chief of staff to State Senator Marisol Alcantara—Chair of the State Senate Labor Committee—and as a policy analyst for the New York State Senate. Angel holds a BS from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Sam Wheeler is the executive director of the Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO. Wheeler joined the WGAE after serving as the national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) since 2022. He began at AGMA as eastern counsel in 2019. Prior to AGMA, Wheeler was an attorney at Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP and served in the Office of the General Counsel at both the National Education Association and the United Steelworkers as a 2014 Peggy Browning Fellow.