Mark Ayers
A man of vision, innovation and out of the box thinking, Mark Ayers was the quintessential 'builder' of coalitions, consensus, and grassroots energy. As President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, he built new cooperative labor-management models in the nuclear, oil and natural gas, pharmaceutical, electrical and petro-chemical industries. He built support for project labor agreements to ensure workers and their communities benefitted from local construction projects. He built on the dreams of his members laborers, electricians, plumbers and construction workers to make the Building Trades a more diverse and inclusive place for all working men and women. And in so doing, the Peoria, Ill., native build a reputation as one of the most principled and effective trade unionist leaders of his generation.
