The Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee welcomes our
2023 Grand Marshal:
Tim Drea
President, Illinois AFL-CIO
On December 5, 2019, the Illinois AFL-CIO Executive Board elected Tim Drea as President of the 855,000 statewide member organization. In July 2020, he was elected to a four-year term as Illinois AFL-CIO President by the delegates attending the organization’s 44th Constitutional Convention.
The appointment and election came after he previously served twelve years as the organization’s Secretary Treasurer (appointed on April 12, 2007 and elected to the position in October 2008). He was re-elected to two additional four-year terms in 2012 and 2016. Before his election to the office of Secretary Treasurer he 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, he 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.
2023 Grand Marshal:
Tim Drea
President, Illinois AFL-CIO
On December 5, 2019, the Illinois AFL-CIO Executive Board elected Tim Drea as President of the 855,000 statewide member organization. In July 2020, he was elected to a four-year term as Illinois AFL-CIO President by the delegates attending the organization’s 44th Constitutional Convention.
The appointment and election came after he previously served twelve years as the organization’s Secretary Treasurer (appointed on April 12, 2007 and elected to the position in October 2008). He was re-elected to two additional four-year terms in 2012 and 2016. Before his election to the office of Secretary Treasurer he 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, he 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.