Jeffrey Rechenbach

Jeffrey A. Rechenbach was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Communications Workers of America by acclamation in June 2008 by delegates to the union's 70th Convention. Rechenbach served as Executive Vice President from 2005 to 2008. Previously he was Vice President for CWA's Midwestern district beginning in 1994, and was elected to that post for three terms. Rechenbach worked closely with CWA President Cohen on CWA's groundbreaking Ready for the Future program. Ready for the Future engaged all levels of the union in an innovative planning process that resulted in an 11-point road map for change that was overwhelmingly adopted by the 2006 CWA annual meeting. Rechenbach's career with CWA began in 1981 as a Staff Representative serving CWA locals for Ohio Bell workers. Rechenbach started work in 1971 at age 17 with the Ohio Bell Telephone Co., and was elected President of the 2,000-member Local 4309 in Cleveland just two years later. The following year, he was elected to the statewide Ohio Bell bargaining committee; he was appointed to the CWA staff in 1981. In addition to a wide variety of national responsibilities including heading up the union's legislative and political program, Rechenbach also is involved in a number of community, civic and church activities. In June 2007, he was appointed by the FCC chairman to the FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee and his appointment includes serving in the Broadband Working Group. Also in June, he became a member of American Income Life's Labor Advisory Board. Rechenbach previously served on the board of the Telephone Credit Union (now Taleris Credit Union) of Cleveland, Ohio for more than 20 years. He was appointed by the Governor to serve on Ohio's Joint Legislative Committee on High Technology Business and also was named to the Ohio Telecommunications Advisory Council. He also has served on the Ohio Labor-Management-Government Tri-Partite Commission, the Cuyahoga Community College Labor Partnership Council, the United Negro College Fund Labor Committee, and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Executive Committee, and as vice president of the Ohio AFL-CIO. Rechenbach has served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and on the party's platform committee in 1996 and 2000. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the International Labor Rights Forum. He has previously served on the Board of Session and Board of Deacons at Grace Presbyterian Church in Lakewood, Ohio.