Sharon Block was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor and Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Labor.
For twenty years, Block has held key labor policy positions across the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Early in her career she worked as an attorney at the National Labor Relations Board, and returned to the NLRB in 2012 when she was appointed to serve as a member of the Board by President Obama. She was senior counsel to the Senate HELP committee under Senator Edward Kennedy, playing a central role in the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act. She has held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Labor throughout her career. Recently, as head of the policy office at the Department of Labor, Block hosted - with Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil and Open Societies Foundation's Ken Zimmerman - the Department's three-day symposium on the Future of Work. The symposium brought together a wide array of thought leaders to address how changes in labor markets and business models have impacts on key issues such as enforcement, labor standards, workforce development, employee benefits, and data in the U.S. and around the world.... Read more about Sharon Block
Administrative Director, Labor and Worklife Program
Lorette holds a doctorate degree in Education from Northeastern University in the field of Organizational Leadership and Communication. Her thesis, A Qualitative Study Exploring the Post-Educational Experiences of Graduates of an Executive Program for Labor Leaders, covers an array of themes inclusive of Adult Education, Executive Program, Union Leadership, Labor Education, and Learning Transfer.... Read more about Lorette Baptiste
Larry W. Beeferman received a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in applied physics from Harvard University. He joined the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School in 2004 to help establish the Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project.... Read more about Larry Beeferman
John Trumpbour studied history at Stanford University and later received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is the author of Selling Hollywood to the World: U.S. and European Struggles for Mastery of the Global Film Industry, 1920–1950 (Cambridge Univ Press, 2002) and served as editor of The Dividing Rhine: Politics and Society in Contemporary France and Germany (Berg, 1989). He has contributed an array of essays examining the following topics: Latino contributions to the labor movement for the book Latinos: Remaking America (Univ of California Press, 2002); "the clash of civilizations" thesis in The New Crusades (Columbia Univ Press 2003); and the U.S. culture industry's global dominance in The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry (Blackwell, 2008). In Winter 2007, he served as guest editor of The Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal for its special issue on "The Crisis in Workplace Governance."
