Illinois AFL-CIO Officers
TIM DREA
President
Tim Drea was elected as President of the Illinois AFL-CIO in December 2019 by members of the Executive Board. He was elected to a four-year term as President by the delegates attending the IL AFL-CIO convention in July 2020, and re-elected at in July 2024.
Tim previously served twelve years as the state federation’s Secretary-Treasurer. He was first appointed in 2007 and elected to his first four-year term in October 2008. He was re-elected to two additional four-year terms in 2012 and 2016. Before joining the IL AFL-CIO, Tim was the Legislative and Political Director for Local 881 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
The son of a coal miner in Central Illinois, Tim followed his father and worked as a coal miner for eleven years. As a coal miner, Tim was a member of UMWA Local 9819 and served as Recording Secretary and a member of the Coal Miners’ Political Action Committee for UMWA District 12. After being laid off in 1990, Tim finished his education using worker displacement funding obtained for coal miners through political action. He finished his BA in Political Studies at Sangamon State University in Springfield and joined the Senate Democratic Staff where he served as the Executive Committee Staff person for Senator Emil Jones, Jr. In 1996, he joined Local 881 as the Legislative and Political Director.
A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Tim resides in Springfield with his wife Elizabeth. He has four children, Andrew, Bridget, Lillian, and Jack.
PAT DEVANEY
Secretary Treasurer
Pat Devaney was appointed as the Secretary Treasurer of the Illinois AFL-CIO in December 2019. He was elected to a four-year term as President by the delegates attending the IL AFL-CIO convention in July 2020, and re-elected at in July 2024. Prior to his election, he served as President the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) and an Illinois AFL-CIO Vice President for over 11 years.
Pat started as a firefighter for the Champaign Fire Department in 1995. He quickly became involved in the union movement as a member of the Champaign Firefighters IAFF Local 1260 and was elected as to their executive board during his second year on the job. Pat served in a variety of Local 1260 Executive Board Positions including 8 years as president of the local.
As a member of the AFFI Political Education Committee, Pat became active in politics at the state and local level. He was elected as an AFFI Legislative Representative in 2004; in that role, he lobbied at the state capitol on behalf of the AFFI’s 15,000 professional firefighters and paramedics. In 2008, Pat was elected as the President of the AFFI and served in that capacity until transitioning into his current role with the Illinois AFL-CIO. He has a BA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and resides in Champaign.
