“The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.”President
James Andrews served as the North Carolina State’s AFL-CIO’s Secretary-Treasurer for 13 years before being elected President. Originally from Warren County, NC, he helped organize a union at his plant in Henderson before becoming Director of NC Frontlash in 1974. With a special grant from the national A. Philip Randolph Institute, he became Outreach Director for the state AFL-CIO prior to becoming Secretary-Treasurer.
A Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart, James is the first full-time elected African-American state federation president in the country’s history. He is a member of OPEIU.
Secretary-Treasurer
A labor activist and North Carolina native, MaryBe McMillan has previously worked for the Common Sense Foundation, the Rural School & Community Trust, and the Union Community Fund. Prior to becoming Secretary-Treasurer, she worked as a program staff person at the North Carolina State AFL-CIO. MaryBe is the first female officer in the history of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO. She is a member of IUOE.
General Counsel
A partner in the law firm of Patterson Harkavy LLP, Mike Okun has served as General Counsel for more than two decades. An honors graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School, Mike clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and worked in the Appellate Court Branch of the Enforcement Division of the National Labor Relations Board before entering practice.
Mike is listed in the Best Lawyers in America, in Business Carolina’s Legal Elite, in Charlotte magazine’s SuperLawyers and in Chambers America’s leading Business Lawyers in the area of labor and employment. He has served as chair of the N.C. Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section, on the Board of Directors of the AFL-CIO’s Lawyer Coordinating Committee’s Advisory Board, on the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association. He has done consulting work in the former Soviet Republics for the ABA and for Solidarity House. His work has been honored by, among others, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, NCOSH, the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, the N.C. Justice Center, the N.C. Association of Retired Americans, the Triangle Native American Association, and Southerners for Economic Justice. Formerly an ironworker, he is still a member of the Ironworkers’ union.
Operations Manager
Jeremy Sprinkle began his career in the labor movement as an intern with us when he was a senior political science student from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As an intern, Jeremy participated in the Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride and Justice @ Smithfield. Upon graduating in December 2003, Jeremy explored union organizing under the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute where he trained at SEIU 1199 Ohio and IBT 391 in North Carolina. During the 2004 election, Jeremy worked as a field organizer for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign.
In March 2005, Jeremy returned to the North Carolina State AFL-CIO as our temporary office manager, and the Executive Board has since made him full-time staff. Jeremy manages our entire office operation, serving as our administrative assistant, meetings & special events planner, bookkeeper, client technologies technician, and web designer & manager. He is a member of IUE-CWA.