Bob Balgenorth

Robert Balgenorth is president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO. The Council represents 186 private-sector building trades local unions and regional councils, and works to improve the economic condition, health and job safety of approximately 350,000 men and women employed in California's construction industry. Mr. Balgenorth was first elected president of the Council in December 1993, and was reelected for his fourth consecutive four-year term in March 2008. Previously, he was business manager/financial secretary of Local 441 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He also previously was executive secretary of the Orange County Building Trades Council. He entered the construction trades as an apprentice electrician in 1965, and graduated as “apprentice of year” in 1969. Mr. Balgenorth was a founding member and is co-chair of the Get REAL Coalition, which advocates for the strengthening of career technical education courses in California’s schools. He is chairman of the California Construction Industry Labor-Management Trust and serves on several other boards and commissions, including the California Apollo Alliance; chair of California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE); vice president of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO; the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy (CFEE); the Consumer Federation of California; California Forward; the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV); the California Workforce Investment Board; and the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Mr. Balgenorth previously served as chair of the California Transportation Commission, on the Commission on Building for the 21st Century , the California Apprenticeship Council, the Southern California IBEW/NECA Pension Trust, and the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA);. In 2005, Mr. Balgenorth received the Byron Sher Environmental Leadership Award from the California League of Conservation Voters. Mr. Balgenorth resides in Folsom, California, with his wife Michaela. He has two children, two stepchildren, and four grandchildren.