Moderator: Kirk Vogt
Secretary-Treasurer, UFCW 8-Golden State

Kirk is secretary-treasurer of UFCW 8-Golden State, which represents some 35,000 members who work in grocery and drug stores, food-processing plants and offices from the Oregon border in the north to Kern County in the south. Kirk has extensive experience in collective bargaining and is widely recognized for his high standards of service to Union members, his extraordinary talents as a Union administrator and his detailed knowledge of pension and health & welfare trust funds. Over the years, Kirk served in many positions at UFCW 1288, including administrative assistant to the president, secretary-treasurer, recorder and executive vice president of the retail division.

In 2006, when UFCW 1288 merged with UFCW 588 to form UFCW 8-Golden State, Kirk was elevated to the rank of senior executive vice president of the new local and then to secretary-treasurer. Since then, he has been deeply involved in almost every facet of the Union’s leadership, from contract negotiations to organizing to management of pension and health benefits. He serves as a union trustee in the UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust of Northern and Central California and the UFCW-Northern California Employers Joint Pension Trust Fund.

Milton Jones
Secretary-Treasurer, UFCW International

UFCW International Secretary-Treasurer Milton Jones has been a UFCW member for more than 45 years and has served in various capacities in the International Union for over 33 years.  He began his career as a courtesy clerk with Kroger in Florence, Ala., and became a member of Local 1557 (now Local 1995) in Nashville, Tenn., in 1978.  After graduation and serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Kroger where he served as shop steward and was a volunteer organizer (SPUR).

He joined the staff of the UFCW International in Atlanta, Ga., in 1990 as an organizer. Throughout the course of his career, he has served in many roles at the International. 

In September 2023, he was elected secretary-treasurer, a position he now holds.

Dan Pedersen
President, UFCW Local 876

Dan is president of UFCW Local 876, which represents 18,000-plus members throughout the state of Michigan. He was elected as president after being with the local for more than 16 years, during which time Dan served in such roles as member services representative, business agent and secretary-treasurer. In addition to his daily duties, Dan serves on the boards of UFCW United Latinos, the UFCW National Pension Fund and the Heartland United Health and Welfare Fund, and is a trustee on VAPP. Recently, he was the constitutional chair for the 2023 UFCW International Convention, and led the UFCW’s efforts in Michigan to overturn Right-to-Work. His most recent achievement is being elected to the International union’s executive board as an international vice president.

Ellen Anreder
President, Bleiweiss Communications Incorporated (BCI) Director, Food & Drug Conference

Ellen is director of the Food & Drug Conference. She is also president and CEO of Bleiweiss Communications Incorporated (BCI), a communications firm with offices in California, Massachusetts and Oregon. Ellen joined BCI in 1984, working in all aspects of the firm’s business before purchasing the company in 2003. BCI products created under her leadership have won dozens of awards for excellence in writing and design. Ellen also is the Managing Director of CORPaTH, an international alliance of pension trustees, consultants, asset managers, administrators, elected officials and other stakeholders committed to promoting and protecting defined benefit pensions. She is a featured speaker for the International Foundation of Benefits Plans and the Made in America conferences. Ellen is a recipient of the President’s Award from the National Women of Influence.

Laura Kelley
Assistant to the President, UFCW Local 655

Laura has been a proud union partner of UFCW Local 655 for 27 years. She spent 10 years of her 18-year career at Shop-N-Save as a union steward and was a Local 655 Executive Board member for three years. In 2015, she became the first openly gay staff person to be hired at Local 655. Spending a year in organizing, and the other seven doing representative work for the people she loves and calls family. In August 2022, she accepted the position as Assistant to the President, becoming the first openly gay leader at her union. Laura is co-chair for OUTreach (UFCW’s 2SLGBTQ+ constituency group) and is the lead for their education program. By her side the entire time has been Laura’s wife, Kathryn, whom she has happily been partnered with for 29 years. Unionism is a religion to Laura, one she truly BELIEVES in.

Moderator: Amber Parrish
Executive Director, UFCW Western States Council

Amber is executive director of the UFCW Western States Council, which represents 185,000 UFCW members who work in California, Arizona and Nevada. Amber leads the UFCW’s political and legislative efforts in states affiliated with the council. Prior to the Western States Council, she served as political director for the San Francisco Labor Council for more than eight years. Amber was instrumental in building a strategic organization designed to grow support for the contract, bargaining and organizing goals of affiliates while developing and implementing political field and data operations. She also worked with Noreen Evans in her bid for the State Assembly in Northern California as campaign director and then district director once Evans was elected.

Justin Adrian
Business Representative, IUOE Local 501

Justin is a business representative with the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 501. The union represents more than 12,000 members in the private sector who work in stadiums, large facilities and office spaces. Local 501’s members perform a variety of jobs, from plumbing to maintenance to engineering in work sites in California from the Mexican border to Bakersfield. Its jurisdiction also covers Las Vegas and the state of Arizona.

Justin’s main priority is to ensure the members of his union have a voice at the bargaining table during contract negotiations and throughout the year at quarterly meetings with shop stewards and employers.

Joe Duffle
President, UFCW Local 1167

Joe is president of UFCW Local 1167, which represents more than 21,000 members throughout the Inland Empire in Southern California. Prior to being elected president in 2018, he served as secretary-treasurer, organizing and political affairs director, organizer and union representative. He began his grocery career at the age of 15 when he worked for Safeway in Coachella, Calif. By the time he was 18, Joe was asked to work for the UFCW Western States Council, where he was assigned to Local 1167’s market share program. In addition to his duties to Local 1167, Joe serves on the executive council of the California Federation of Labor and is a former president of the Inland Empire Labor Council.

Jim McLaughlin
President, UFCW Local 99

Jim is president of UFCW Local 99, the largest UFCW local union in a right-to-work state with almost 22,000 members. Local 99 spans the entire state of Arizona and also represents members in Utah and New Mexico. He is a vice president of the UFCW International Union and is on the boards of Arizona’s AFL-CIO Executive Council and Labor’s Community Service Agency. In addition, he chairs the Desert States Pension Fund and the UFCW Arizona Health and Welfare Fund.

Thanks in large part to his leadership, Local 99 and its allies have won important victories in a state where powerful interests have tried to suppress the aspirations of working people.

He chairs the Desert States UFCW Pension Fund and the UFCW Local 99 and Employers Health and Welfare Fund.

Mark Ramos
President, UFCW Local 1428

Mark Ramos is president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1428 in Southern California. The union represents workers in supermarkets, drug stores, medical offices and other job sites. He has been a proud member of the UFCW since 1987.

As a union president, Ramos has focused on building power for his members through political engagement. His record of activism has led to his being elected to chair the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the largest local Democratic Party entity in the United States. The LACDP represents more than 3.1 million registered Democrats in the 88 cities and the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, serving a population larger than 42 states.

Ramos is also an active member of the Pomona Democratic Club as well as many other Democratic organizations. In addition, he serves as president of the UFCW Western States Council, the regional coordinating political body of 11 UFCW local unions representing more than 200,000 workers in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

Jacques Loveall
President, UFCW 8-Golden State

Jacques is president of UFCW 8-Golden State and chair of UFCW Trust, which funds pension and health care benefits for 125,000 active workers, dependents and retirees in the food and drug industries. He is a vice president of the UFCW International Union and a vice president of the California Labor Federation. He is also chair of the Loveall Foundation for Children, a nonprofit charity dedicated to helping children reach their full potential.

John Elliiot
Partner, NEPC

John is a partner at NEPC. He is a highly-respected and popular leader in the defined-benefits pension world. Since joining NEPC in 2003, he has spoken at many national conferences on the subject of Taft-Hartley plans. Prior to joining NEPC, he was the western regional director for the Marco Consulting Group, where he succeeded in developing a West Coast presence for the firm in the Taft-Hartley market.

Before joining the Marco Consulting Group in 1999, John was a vice president with Weiss, Peck & Greer Investment Management. John led the marketing and client service efforts for Taft-Hartley funds in the western region.  He also co-created the American Labor Alliance that brought together a record keeping capability, an administrative capability, and investment options for Taft-Hartley plans that wanted to offer their participants the ability to save additional assets and provide direction for their retirement plans.