Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is comprised of ex-officio representatives of public members and individuals with significant labor rights expertise. The public members can be any state, city, county, local government agency, public school district, or federal government agency in the United States that procures apparel or other relevant products or services, pays the annual dues, and supports the mission and purpose of the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium. Ex-officio representatives of public members constitute as closely as possible two-thirds of the Board, while labor rights experts constitute as closely as possible one-third of the Board. Directors are elected at the annual membership meeting by public members.
Ex-officio representatives of public members
Forrest Gillette is Senior Contracts Equity Advisor with the City of Seattle’s Purchasing and Contracting Services Department. He has worked in the fields of Diversity and Equity for more than 15 years starting with the City of Chicago and moving on to the U.S. Department of Commerce/Minority Business Development Agency and Sound Transit. Mr. Gillette has a Bachelor in Science in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from Loyola University, Chicago. He was also a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. Term expires June, 2013.
Carmen Herrera is Contract Compliance Officer with the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, City and County of San Francisco, California. She has worked with the City and County for 25 years. Ms. Herrera works closely with the purchasing staff of the Office of Contract Administration, the Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group, and the Worker Rights Consortium in the enforcement and administration of the Sweatfree Contracting Ordinance. Ms. Herrera also works on the prevailing wage unit and monitors City College of San Francisco construction projects. Ms. Herrera has worked with the Human Rights Commission as an Investigator and Mediator. She has also served as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women and the City’s Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women Task Force (CEDAW). Ms. Herrera has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis. She was a National Urban Fellow and Public Administration graduate at Bernard Baruch College. Term expires June, 2014.
Christine Moody is the Chief Procurement Officer for the City of Portland, Oregon, and has over 17 years of government purchasing and contracting experience. In her current position, Ms. Moody is responsible for managing, directing and integrating procurement and contractor development programs at the City. She also represents the City in a variety of multi-jurisdictional forums, outreach functions and professional groups and organizations. Ms. Moody has her CPPB and CPPO Certification and sits on various national committees related to public contracting. Term expires June, 2013.
Michele M. Reale, President, is an Associate Attorney at the New York State Office of General Services (“OGS”) where she is responsible for providing support to the Bureau of Real Property Management & Development and the Procurement Services Group. Ms. Reale also works on a number of special projects and provides assistance to the Advisory Council on Procurement Lobbying and the Sweatfree Purchasing Workgroup. Before joining OGS, Ms. Reale was a Senior Attorney at the New York State Insurance Department. She earned a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, where she was an editor of the Boston University Public Interest Law Journal; and a dual B.A. in English and Political Science from Canisius College. Term expires June, 2014.
Bambi L. Tefft is a Material Analyst for the State of Maine. Her previous experience has been in commercial and industrial businesses in the private sector. Ms. Tefft has worked in the construction industry (Cianbro Corporation); retail (LL Bean); electronics (Digital Equipment and GE). She has 25 years experience in procurement, worldwide sourcing, cost savings initiatives, finance, and distribution. Ms. Tefft holds a Master’s Degrees in Business Administration and Finance, and has also attained the Six-Sigma Green Belt and life-long certifications as a CPIM (APICS) and C.P.M. (ISM). Ms. Tefft is also ABD for her Ed.D in Organizational Management. Term expires June, 2014.
Darlow "Lee" Tuneberg, Treasurer, is Administrative Services and Finance Director, City Of Ashland, Oregon. Mr. Tuneberg has been the Finance Director for Ashland for 10 years and has worked for other municipal governments in Oregon for the prior 21 years. He also performs duties in purchasing, budgeting and risk management. He is a Bachelor of Arts graduate of Portland State University in Oregon and a member of the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada. Term expires June, 2014.
Farshid Yazdi is a Management Analyst with the Supplier and Customer Relations Section of the City of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Yazdi works closely with the City’s commodity procurement staff and interacts daily with a variety of City of Los Angeles vendors and local advocacy groups. He has served in this capacity since early 2008 with a main focus on monitoring and enforcement of the City’s Sweat-Free Purchasing Ordinance throughout its global supply chain. Mr. Yazdi holds two Masters degrees in Industrial Management and Communications/Journalism. Term expires June, 2014.
Labor rights experts
Eric Dirnbach, Vice President, is the Research Director for the Green Jobs campaign at the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA). Mr. Dirnbach has worked in the labor movement for over 10 years and has experience doing company and industry research in support of worker organizing and collective bargaining campaigns. He has also been a labor rights and anti-sweatshop activist, working on local and international campaigns, and contributing research and commentary on global sweatshop labor practices. He has served as the president of his graduate student instructor local union at the University of Michigan, as a board member of the Citizens Trade Campaign, and as a member of the advisory committee of the Worker Rights Consortium. Term expires June, 2014.
Judy Gearhart is the Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum. Ms. Gearhart is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs, teaching the course Human Rights and Development Policy since 2002. Previously, Ms. Gearhart served as the Program Director at Social Accountability International (SAI) where she led research on voluntary labor standards and coordinated training programs for workers and trade unions on how to use codes conduct to claim their rights at work. Prior to SAI, she worked on democratization, women’s rights and labor rights programs for Mexican NGOs, UNICEF-Honduras and the ILO’s International Program to Eradicate Child Labor (IPEC). Ms. Gearhart holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University. Term expires June, 2014.
Ian Robinson, Secretary, Ph.D., is a Lecturer and Research Scientist in the Department of Sociology and the Residential College of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Mr. Robinson's research includes work on ethical consumer demand for sweatshop-free apparel and the impacts of neoliberal economic restructuring on labor unions and the rights, wages and conditions of workers. Term expires June, 2013.
Robert Ross is Professor, and former Chair, of Sociology, and Director of the International Studies Stream at Clark University, where he was also the elected Faculty Chair of the University 2000-2006. He is an Adjunct professor of Community Development and Planning. In 2005-2006, he was Chair of the American Sociological Association Section on the Political Economy of the World System. He has taught at Clark since 1972 and held visiting appointments at MIT, Michigan and Harvard Universities and Wheaton College. His BA is from the University of Michigan, and MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. Dr. Ross’ major work has been on the globalization of capital and labor. In 1990, he co-authored (SUNY Press) Global Capitalism: the New Leviathan. Slaves to Fashion: poverty and abuse in the new sweatshops was released in October 2004 (University of Michigan Press). His 1983 article on sweatshops in New York was one of the very first scholarly articles to identify the resurgence of labor exploitation and abuse in the American apparel industry. In April 2012, Ross organized, hosted and presided at the 36th Annual Political Economy of the World-System conference themed “Labor, Democracy and Global Capitalism.” Term expires June, 2014.
Nominees for the Board of Directors
The members of the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium will vote on the following nominees for the Board of Directors to serve the term June 2013 to June 2015 at the annual membership meeting on June 4, 2013.
Ex-officio representatives of public members
Forrest Gillette. Current board member. See biography above.
Christine Moody. Current board member. See biography above.
Monette McGuire, City of Madison, Wisconsin, Purchasing Services.
Cindy Matz, Procurement Administrator, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Steven Stenton, Financial Manager, Central Purchasing, City of Austin, Texas.
Labor rights experts
Ian Robinson. Current board member. See biography above.
Stephen Wishart, Director of the Central America region, American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO.
Staff
Bjorn Skorpen Claeson, Ph.D., is the Executive Director for the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium. Mr. Claeson was a founder of SweatFree Communities and the lead organizer of PICA's Bangor (Maine) Clean Clothes Campaign, a national model for community-based anti-sweatshop activism. He is the recipient of the Maine Initiatives Social Landscape Artist Award 2006 and the Dirigo Social Movement Leader Award in 2004.