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Board Information

Board Members

2019 Board Meeting Schedule

2018 Board Meeting Schedule

2017 Board Meeting Schedule

2016 Board Meeting Schedule

2015 Board Meeting Schedule

*All meetings begin at 10:00 a.m. unless otherwise noted.
*Refer to agenda for address and conference room number.

The IELRB's meetings are conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and are accessible to handicapped individuals in compliance with Executive Order #5, upon notification of anticipated attendance. Handicapped persons planning to attend and requiring special accommodations should contact Renee Strickland at 312-793-3170.

Advisory Committee

In 1987, the IELRB created an advisory committee comprised of employee and employer representatives to offer feedback to the Board, as well as suggestions for improvements in agency procedures and rules updates and/or changes. Meetings of the Advisory Committee are usually held twice a year. If you wish further information on the Advisory Committee or would like to be considered for membership on the committee, please contact Executive Director Victor Blackwell.

Meeting Minutes

2019 Meeting Minutes

2018 Meeting Minutes

2017 Meeting Minutes

2016 Meeting Minutes

2015 Meeting Minutes

2014 Meeting Minutes

2013 Meeting Minutes

Board Member Bios

Andrea R. Waintroob, Chairman

Andrea R. Waintroob was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board by Governor Bruce Rauner in April, 2015.

Prior to her appointment, Chairman Waintroob represented Illinois public and private sector employers in all aspects of labor and employment law for over thirty-five years, including negotiating many collective bargaining agreements for educational employers in the State of Illinois. Additionally, she has taught public sector labor relations, government regulation of the employment relationship and employment discrimination courses at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the University of Chicago Law School.

Ms. Waintroob began her legal career at Vedder, Price Kaufman and Kammholz in 1978, becoming a partner at that firm in 1984. In 1994, she was one of twelve founding partners of Franczek Radelet where she worked until her appointment to the Board.

Ms. Waintroob was a member of the Illinois Council of School Lawyers and served a term as Chair of the Council. She has been recognized as an Illinois Leading Lawyer, a Top Woman Lawyer and an Illinois Super Lawyer.

Ms. Waintroob received her BA Magna Cum Laude from Brown University. She graduated with honors from the University of Chicago Law School where she was a member of the Law Review.

Ms. Waintroob is married with two children. She resides in Deerfield.

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Judy Biggert

Judy Biggert was appointed to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in 2015 by Governor Bruce Rauner. She brings to the board decades of experience as an elected representative, community leader and attorney.

Prior to her appointment to the board, she served Illinois for fourteen years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and for six years as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.

In Congress, she served on the House Education and Workforce Committee, overseeing federal education programs and initiatives from preschool through higher education. During her tenure, the Committee produced major reforms of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Higher Education Act, Early Childhood Education including Head Start, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and many others.

Mrs. Biggert was appointed Vice Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, and helped to oversee its work on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), workers compensation, retirement security, and all matters related to employee-employer relationships.

She also served as a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, House Committee on Science and Technology, and Standards of Official Conduct “Ethics” Committee. She was voted by her colleagues as one of the “Top Ten Most Bipartisan” members of Congress.

In the Illinois House of Representatives, Mrs. Biggert served as the Minority Spokesman on the Judiciary – Civil Committee, and as a member of the Financial Institutions, Insurance, and Labor and Commerce Committees. She was appointed to House leadership at the start of her second term.

As a member of the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education, Mrs. Biggert chaired the committee that negotiated contracts with the District’s teachers. After serving five years as a member, she was elected and served one term as President of the Board.

Her work on behalf of the Chicago area community has included service as President or Chairman of: the Junior League of Chicago, Visiting Nurse Association, Hinsdale Assembly of the Hinsdale Hospital, Village of Hinsdale Plan Commission, Junior Board of Travelers Aid Society, Hinsdale Antique Show, and the Oak School PTA.

Mrs. Biggert served as law clerk to the Hon. Luther M. Swygert, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to her election to public office, she practiced law, specializing in real estate, estate planning and probate.

She received her BA from Stanford University and JD from the Northwestern University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review. She and her husband Rody are the parents of four children and the grandparents of nine. They reside in Hinsdale.

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Gilbert F. O'Brien, Jr.

Gilbert F. O'Brien was appointed to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in 2011 by Governor Pat Quinn. Mr. O'Brien comes to the Board with thirty years of experience in government and labor law. In 1991 he was appointed by Secretary of State George Ryan to serve on his transition team as labor policy liaison, thereafter he was hired as Chief Labor Liaison for the Office. Mr. O'Brien served in this capacity for eight years negotiating contracts and collective bargaining agreements with Union representatives working for the Illinois Secretary of State. Mr. O'Brien acted as a Governmental Affairs Consultant for the Teamsters Local 705, advising their Secretary-Treasurer on governmental operations that potentially affected their interest.

In January of 2000, Jesse White appointed Mr. O'Brien as Executive Labor Liaison to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and advise the Secretary on labor policy issues. He participated in labor negotiations between various unions and the State of Illinois. He is a resident of Glen Ellyn.

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Lynne O. Sered

Lynne O. Sered was re-appointed to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board as a board member in April 2015. She previously served as board chairman of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board from June 2004 until stepping down immediately prior to her most recent re-appointment by Governor Bruce Rauner. Prior to assuming the board chair's responsibilities in 2004, she served as a board member since her initial appointment to the Board in October 2000.

Ms. Sered's legal background includes serving as Counsel to the Honorable Wilford W. Johansen, Member of the National Labor Relations ("NLRB") in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, she prepared analyses for and made recommendations to Board Member Johansen and drafted decisions and orders for publication in the areas of collective bargaining, discriminatory hiring and termination practices, union organizing activities and elections, and other unfair labor practice and representation issues under the National Labor Relations Act. During her tenure at the NLRB, Ms. Sered also represented the NLRB in cases before the Second and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals.

As an attorney in private practice with the law firm of Scariano, Kula, Ellch & Himes, Chtd., Chicago and Chicago Heights, Illinois, she counseled school districts, private employers and labor clients regarding litigation, legal strategies and policy issues pertaining to labor law and collective bargaining issues.

Ms. Sered also practiced with the law firm of Katz and Buhai in South Barrington, Illinois, where she represented clients in labor and employment discrimination matters in state and federal courts and administrative agencies. She also served as staff counsel for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, where her duties included the review, analysis and investigation of professional misconduct within the legal profession in Illinois.

In addition, Ms. Sered served as Legal Director of the American Jewish Congress, Midwest Region, in Chicago, where she managed the organization's not-for-profit legal program, focusing on civil liberties and civil rights and oversaw its pro bono clinic providing legal services to the indigent. Her professional experience is also highlighted by her roles as a domestic policy specialist with the Jewish Community Relations Council and as Midwest regional director of the Jewish Labor Committee.

Ms. Sered received her law degree from DePaul University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. She is admitted to practice law in Illinois and the District of Columbia and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Women's Bar Association. She has served on the Board of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services and the Government Affairs Committee of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

Ms. Sered lives with her husband Jeff Schoenberg and their two children in Evanston, Illinois.

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Lara Shayne

Lara Shayne was appointed to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board by Governor Bruce Rauner in September 2016.

Ms. Shayne has been a labor and employment attorney since 1996, and has worked in all labor and employment practice areas, including negotiating and implementing collective bargaining agreements with numerous public employee unions, and handling grievance arbitrations and IELRB litigation. She began her legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the Labor/Employment Division of the City of Chicago Department of Law. In 2002, she left the City to join the labor practice group of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago's Law Department. In 2012, Ms. Shayne was selected to help run the Board of Education's Labor Relations unit, where she remained until her appointment to the IELRB.

Ms. Shayne received her BA from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she was a member of Moot Court.

Ms. Shayne is married with two children. She resides in Chicago

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