National Executive Board

From left to right:

• Bruce Z. Miller, Vice President, Southern Region
• Mark A. Gardner, National Secretary-Treasurer
• John F. Hegarty, National President
• Rudy Santos, Vice President, Western Region
• Paul Hogrogian, Vice President, Northeastern Region
• Jefferson C. Peppers III, Vice President, Central Region
• Samuel C. D'Ambrosio, Vice President, Eastern Region

John F. Hegarty
National President

John Hegarty has been an active Union member since being hired by the U.S. Postal Service in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1984. He has been the Union’s National President since July 1, 2002. He was re-elected to that position by acclamation of the delegates to the Union's National Conventions in both 2004 and 2008. In this capacity, John is the chief spokesperson for the NPMHU in national bargaining with the USPS.

For the ten years prior to becoming National President, John served as President of Local 301 in New England – one of the largest Local Unions affiliated with the NPMHU, covering six states. In addition, beginning in 1996, he also served on the NPMHU National Executive Board as the Northeast Regional Vice President. Prior to becoming Local President, John served as Administrative Vice President for the GMF (General Mail Facility)/BMC (Bulk Mail Center) in Springfield, Massachusetts. Brother Hegarty also serves as a Vice President on the General Executive Board of the NPMHU's parent union, the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA).

John brings a wealth of talent and experience to the position of National President. Prior to becoming National President, and while serving in his previous elected positions, he performed a litany of duties for the NPMHU. At the National level, he has been a member of the Field Negotiating Committee for the last four rounds of contract bargaining, has worked as the Northeast Regional Coordinator under the Dispute Resolution Procedures for Regional Instruction RI-399, and has served as one of the National Union's key trainers for contract administration matters. In this latter capacity, John helped to train hundreds of Local Union officers and representatives on a host of crucial topics, including limitations on the hiring and use of casual employees, occupational safety and health, family and medical leave, and arbitration advocacy. All the while, he was one of the lead arbitration advocates for Mail Handlers working in New England, where he has presented scores of cases since becoming an advocate in the late 1980s. John has attended every National Convention since he was hired as a Mail Handler, and served as Chairman of the Rules Committee at both the 1996 and 2000 National Conventions.

Mark A. Gardner
National Secretary-Treasurer

Mark Gardner was first elected by nationwide balloting to the position of NPMHU National Secretary-Treasurer in 1992, and was overwhelmingly reelected by the membership in 1996 and 2000, and retained the position by acclamation of the delegates to both the 2004 and 2008 NPMHU National Conventions. As National Secretary-Treasurer, he is chief custodian and has oversight responsibility over the National Union's finances, the Union's books and records, and its extensive computer operations and membership dues billing program. He also serves on the NPMHU National Executive Board -- which is the governing body for the National Union between National Conventions, as well as on the Committee on the Future of the NPMHU -- a strategic planning group which monitors the impact of legislative initiatives, automation and privatization efforts by the USPS, and Union membership trends -- and helps develop strategies for how the NPMHU might effectively respond to these and other pressures.

Mark also has served on the National Negotiating Team for the NPMHU during each of the last four rounds of collective bargaining against the U.S. Postal Service. He is active in the Union's organizing, voter registration, and NPMHU Political Action Committee (PAC) efforts, and in the oversight of the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan. He coordinates numerous NPMHU publications, and remains active in the planning and production of the NPMHU National Union web site. Mark also serves as a representative of the NPMHU at meetings of many of the Union's affiliated organizations, such as the AFL-CIO, the Laborers' International Union of North America, and Union Network International.

Paul Hogrogian
Vice President, Northeastern Region

Paul Hogrogian joined the NPMHU National Executive Board as its Northeast Region Vice President in February of 2005. He has been a Mail Handler Union member for more than twenty-eight years. He has been a Local 300 union representative continuously since 1984, when he first became a shop steward at the New Jersey Bulk Mail Center. Brother Hogrogian held his first elected position when he became Local 300's Recording Secretary in 1988, which also is when he first began his duties as an NPMHU arbitration advocate. Paul was elected Local Vice President in 1990, at which point he assumed responsibility for directing the contract administration duties for his Local - which is the largest NPMHU Local Union, representing more than 7,500 Mail Handlers in the New York metropolitan area. Paul was elected as President of Local 300 in 2002.

Brother Hogrogian's involvement with the NPMHU National Union also is extensive. He has served as a member of the National Training Committee since 1996, and has been a member of the Field Negotiating Committee during contract negotiations in both 1998 and 2000. Paul also has served on the NPMHU Committee on the Future since 2002. His fellow Mail Handlers have elected him as a delegate to the last five NPMHU National Conventions. He has served on different convention committees during that time, and was Chairman of the Rules Committee at the recent 2004 National Convention.

Samuel C. D'Ambrosio
Vice President, Eastern Region

Since joining the NPMHU in 1967, Sam D'Ambrosio has been extremely active in the Union. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he served for six years as an Administrative Vice President. Later, he was elected President of Local 322 in Pittsburgh, PA, a position that he held for nine years. He currently sits on the National Executive Board as Eastern Region Vice President and has held that position since 1992. He made history in the NPMHU by running unopposed for that position at the 2000 National Convention, an accomplishment he repeated at the Boston National Convention in 2004. Sam has attended all of the National Conventions since 1980 and chaired the Constitution Committee at the 1996, 2000, and 2004 National Conventions. He also served as a Local and National arbitration advocate, RI-399 advocate, as well as a trainer for National Casuals Training, National FMLA Training, National OSHA Training, and National Advocate Training. From 1994 to the present Sam continues to serve as the National Shop Steward Trainer for the National Union.

Jefferson C. Peppers III
Vice President, Central Region

Jefferson C. Peppers III joined the National Executive Board on January 1, 2008.

Brother Peppers began his postal career at the South Suburban, Illinois facility in 1973, transferring after two years to the Chicago Bulk Mail Center. While working there as chief steward, he developed his representational skills and was promoted to serve in various positions such as arbitration advocate, manager of the Local 306 Arbitration Committee, representative for all Northern Illinois Associate offices, and as the Local’s OWCP and MSBP representative. He also has served continuously since 1986 on the Chicago BMC QWL Local Joint Steering Committee, and currently serves on the NPMHU National RI-399 Arbitration Team. Jefferson has been the elected Vice President of Local 306 for the past fourteen years, and also was recently elected by acclamation to the position of Local 306 President.

Brother Peppers also has helped shape the direction of the NPMHU through his service as an elected delegate to each of the last four NPMHU National Conventions – including his service as Chairman of the Credentials Committee at the 2004 convention. Just last year, Jeff was appointed by National President Hegarty to coordinate our Union’s efforts against the ill-fated raid generated by the APWU’s 2006 convention. Jeff is a U.S. Army Veteran and attended Malcolm X College and the University of Illinois Chicago.

Bruce Z. Miller
Vice President, Southern Region

Bruce Z. Miller was appointed to the position of Southern Regional Vice President in March of 2004, and was formally elected to that position by acclamation of the delegates to the NPMHU 2004 National Convention. Bruce also serves as the Local President of Local 310, which represents almost 1,500 mail handlers in the State of Georgia. Prior to his election as Local President in 1999, Bruce served as Local Vice President and Administrative Vice President for the Atlanta Bulk Mail Center.

Brother Miller has been a mail handler and member of the NPMHU for over 35 years, starting in 1970. In more than nineteen years as a union advocate, Bruce has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience in matters involving arbitration advocacy, equal employment opportunity, Merit System Protection Board, National Labor Relations Board, occupational safety and health, injury compensation, contract negotiations, and grievance preparation and appeals.

Rudy Santos
Vice President, Western Region

Rudy Santos joined the National Executive Board on January 1, 2008.

Brother Santos was hired as a Mail Handler in Phoenix, Arizona in 1977, following five years of service in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He has served the NPMHU membership in many different capacities, resulting in his election as Local 320 Vice President in 1987. Rudy served in that position for fifteen years, during which he honed his skills in dealing with the myriad issues presented in the representation of Mail Handlers. Brother Santos was elected President of Local 320 in 2002, and continues in that capacity today. He is an aggressive advocate on behalf of all Mail Handlers, and his skills and abilities were made crystal clear earlier this year when he prevailed in a landmark arbitration case in which he effectively demonstrated a system of abuse by the USPS in the hiring of casuals in the Phoenix facilities. As a result of the efforts put forth by Brother Santos and his team, the Phoenix mail handlers shared an arbitrator’s award of over $13.8 million dollars – resulting in individual payments of over $20,000 per mail handler. Brother Santos also has served the National Union well on various projects and committees over the years.