COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Dr. Marv Finkelstein
Executive Director

Finkelstein has served as the organization’s executive director since July 2000. In this capacity, he assists committee members in planning, organizing and carrying out activities designed to support the Labor Management Committee’s mission of promoting labor-management cooperation in the region. This includes taking the lead in organizing the committee’s annual Gateway Labor Management Conference.

Finkelstein is also a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. He has a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations and a Ph.D. in sociology from Michigan State University. During his tenure, he served as president of SIUE’s Faculty Senate, developed an Applied Sociology Program in Employment Relations in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies, and established the SIUE Problem Solving Center designed to help groups solve problems more effectively using cutting-edge computer software. He has been an advisor, consultant and trainer for labor and management for over 20 years. He has coordinated the Construction Foreman Development Program at SIUE serving as an instructor for that program as well as the University’s Construction Leadership Program. 

Finkelstein has published several articles focusing on employment and workplace change in the global economy and is the author of A Start-Up Guide for Labor-Management Committees (1996) and Net-Works: Workplace Change in the Global Economy (2004). He has received several awards including the Paul Simon Outstanding Scholar Award at SIUE.

Kenneth Keeney
Management Co-Chair

Keeney is the CEO of Fairview Heights-based Pyramid Electrical Contractors, Inc. He got his start with the company over 25 years ago working as project superintendent in 1981. He later took over ownership and became vice president in 1983 and has been serving as CEO of the company since 1994.  Prior to joining Pyramid Electrical Contractors, Keeney worked as a journeyman wireman for IBEW Local 309.

Keeney is involved with numerous other organizations and committees serving as the chairman for the Fairview Heights Electrical Commission, the Southwestern Illinois Division of NECA, NECA Labor Management Committee, NECA Negotiating Committee, IBEW Local 309 Health & Welfare Fund, and IBEW 309 Vacation Fund; and serves as president of Midwest Regional Peer Group of Electrical Contractors; a delegate for the NECA Telecommunications and Strategic Planning Committees, a member of the Belleville Building Zone of Appeals; secretary of the IBEW Local 309 Income Security Fund; and trustee of the IBEW Local 309 401k Retirement Fund. He joined the Labor Management Committee in the summer of 2004 and has served as the management co-chair since the summer of 2006.

William Thurston
Labor Co-Chair

Thurston is the president of the Southwestern Illinois Central Labor Council, a capacity he has served in for the past 12 years. He has been a member of Labors Local 100 in East St. Louis, Ill., since the onset of his career some 35 years ago. Throughout the years he has served as the president of the Belleville Union Labor Council, on a number of United Way boards and in a series of programs targeting the local older adult population. Thurston joined the Labor Management Committee in the spring of 2003 and has served as the labor co-chair since the fall of 2005.

Labor Management Committee Members

About the Committee: Committee Members