After 15 Years of Leadership Under Dan Montgomery, IFT Elects Pres. Stacy Davis Gates and New Leadership Slate

After 15 Years of Leadership Under Dan Montgomery, Illinois Federation of Teachers Elects Pres. Stacy Davis Gates and New Leadership Slate to Represent All of Illinois, Slate to Prioritize Making Illinois No. 1 in Education for its Children and Young People

Rosemont, IL - Today, members of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) elected a new slate of officers during the union’s triennial convention. Delegates from across the state cast their votes for the next leaders of the 103,000-member union and set the agenda for the years ahead. 

The new officers include:

• IFT Executive Vice President and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates elected as President, 

• IFT Secretary-Treasurer and Southwest Area Council (SWAC) President Cyndi Oberle-Dahm elected as Executive Vice President, 

• President, North Suburban Teachers Union Local 1274, Pankaj Sharma as Secretary-Treasurer,

• President, University Professional of Illinois (UPI) Local 4100, John Miller as Membership Secretary. 

The newly elected leadership team collectively holds more than 136 years of teaching and union leadership experience. As current IFT officers, executive board members, and leaders in their union locals, they have bargained strong multi-year contracts with significant salary increases, and improved working conditions, while advocating for educators and students across Illinois.  

Together, they will carry on the union’s years of work to correct Illinois’ backwards tax code, where working people pay more than billionaires. They will fight to make Illinois the number 1 state for children’s education. The new leaders committed to launch a robust statewide campaign to deliver promised, but never realized funds, to schools that have compounded decades of unaddressed priorities that have held back all Illinois students. 

“The belly of a child who just had their one hot meal a day cut from school budgets rumbles the same, whether that young person is on the southside of Chicago or in Cahokia,” explained IFT President Stacy Davis Gates. “Our members chose a slate that represent every aspect of our state, every part of a students’ educational journey, and who are ready to fight to finally deliver on the promises that politicians in Springfield have made but not kept to our students in every district in Illinois.”  

The new officers assume leadership at a time when public education and labor rights face the dual attack of historic underfunding at the state-level and an all out assault by the Trump administration and their right wing allies. These extremists seek to deny resources, slash civil rights protections, remove support for special education and students with disabilities, and end public education altogether.

The election of the new slate also marks the end of 15 years of strong leadership for outgoing President Dan Montgomery, who led the union through a period of growth, secured critical victories for educators and public workers, championed antiracism as a tenet to unite members, and defended democratic values at every turn. During his tenure, the IFT won  a landmark Illinois Supreme Court victory against an unconstitutional pension overhaul and helped members navigate the challenges of Governor Rauner, the Trump administration, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dan leaves behind a legacy of courage, compassion, and principled leadership. He helped make IFT a powerful force for justice in Illinois,” said IFT President Stacy Davis Gates.

The incoming slate is prepared to lead with vision, build deeper solidarity across locals and sectors, and mobilize members to meet the challenges ahead with power and resolve. With this new leadership, the IFT is poised to continue transforming the state of Illinois to be a leader of how local governments respond to Trump’s cuts and attacks, protects their residents, and advances a future where all people have the opportunity to thrive.

The union is planning a statewide lobby day with a press conference in Springfield on October 29th as it pushes Gov. Pritzker and the General Assembly to follow the suit of other states and fix the budget to Trump-proof the state and protect public education.

Biographies

Stacy Davis Gates is a high school social studies teacher spurred into union activity starting in 2008 when Arne Duncan closed the school in which she was teaching. She has served as President of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) since 2022. She is an internationally recognized leader in labor, racial justice movements, and progressive politics, most known for her role in leading common good unionism, spearheading the campaign to expand democracy and win an elected school board, and leading the successful strategy to elect former school teacher and CTU organizer Brandon Johnson as Mayor of the City of Chicago.

Her leadership greatly expanded the union’s political vision, building political organizations like United Working Families and raising millions to elect progressive community leaders from Chicago to city, county, and state governments and the U.S. Congress. She was the previous Executive Vice President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and is a Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers, Party Chair of United Working Families, and board member of the Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE).

Cyndi Oberle-Dahm is a veteran high school history teacher and Social Studies Department Chair at Belleville West High School where she is completing her 33rd year in the classroom. She has served on the IFT Executive Board since 2016, was the previous Secretary Treasurer, and leads as President of the Southwest Area Council, representing more than 5,000 members across Southern Illinois.

Cyndi’s commitment to civic education extends into her role as a deputy registrar, registering hundreds of students to vote each year. A former Fulbright Scholar to Russia, she also promotes global education and coordinates student exchange programs supported by the U.S. Department of State. She holds degrees from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Edwardsville. Cyndi lives in Swansea with her husband and four children. 

Pankaj Sharma is a history and government teacher at Niles North High School in Skokie, the President of the North Suburban Teachers Union, Local1274, and an IFT Executive Board member. He serves on the American Federation of K-12 Teachers Program and Policy Council and on the American Federation of Teachers Asian American and Pacific Islander Task Force.

He has won the Golden Apple Award for teaching, the Illinois State Treasurer’s Outstanding Service in Workforce and Labor Award, and the Illinois National History Day Behring Teacher of the Year Award. He has also been named Community Educator of the Year by the Illinois Directors of Student Activities and was selected to participate in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund teacher exchange program. Sharma also serves on the DePaul University Labor Education Center board.

John Miller, Ph.D. is serving his fourth term as statewide President of the University Professionals of Illinois, Local 4100, representing over 4,500 faculty, staff, graduate students, and retirees at regional public universities. He also serves as First Vice-President for Higher Education with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, Chair of IFT’s Political Action Committee, and sits on the AFT’s Higher Education Public Policy Committee.

John is a faculty member on leave at Western Illinois University, where he taught courses in argument, great speeches, and political campaigns. He earned his doctorate as a Rumble Fellow at Wayne State University. His dissertation focused on how modern public argument emerges through conflicting justifications not rooted in traditional argument logic, a theory shaped further by his union leadership.