NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL

WASHINGTON, D.C.   20570

RICHARD AHEARN NAMED REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF NLRB'S SEATTLE REGIONAL OFFICE

Richard L. Ahearn has been appointed Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board's Regional Office in Seattle, WA (Region 19), succeeding Paul Eggert who retired last year. A career NLRB attorney, Mr. Ahearn had been serving since April 1995 as Regional Director of the NLRB's Regional Office in Cincinnati, OH (Region 9).

The NLRB administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act. It conducts secret-ballot elections to determine whether employees desire union representation, and it investigates, prosecutes and remedies unfair labor practices. As Regional Director, Mr. Ahearn will be responsible for the processing of unfair labor practice charges and representation petitions in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and most of Idaho and Montana.

Mr. Ahearn joined the NLRB in 1973 as a student assistant in the Boston, MA Regional Office (Region 1) and became a legal assistant in the agency's Buffalo, NY Regional Office (Region 3) in 1974 after graduating from Northeastern University School of Law. Upon passing the bar, Mr. Ahearn was promoted to a Field Attorney in Region 3 in 1975. He was assigned to the Albany, NY Resident Office in 1976 and transferred as a Supervisory Attorney in 1979 to the Baltimore, MD Regional Office (Region 5). He was promoted to Deputy Regional Attorney in 1979, to Regional Attorney in 1981, and Regional Director in the Buffalo office in 1987.

In announcing the appointment, Chairman Robert J. Battista and General Counsel Arthur F. Rosenfeld stated:

We are delighted to announce Rich Ahearn's appointment to the Regional Director position in our Seattle Regional Office. Rich is an outstanding attorney and gifted manager as he has demonstrated as Regional Director in both the Buffalo and Cincinnati Regional Offices since 1987. In addition he has contributed to a variety of national agency programs, most recently serving as chairman of the committee that updated and revised the unfair labor practice casehandling manual.

A native of Northampton, MA, Mr. Ahearn received a B.A. degree in 1968 from Columbia College, New York City and a J.D. degree in 1974 from Northeastern University School of Law. Before entering law school in 1971, he taught American History at the Dalton School in New York City from 1968-70, and was director of the Neighborhood Youth Corps for Hampshire County, MA from 1970-71.

Mr. Ahearn and his wife Susan, who is a principal in Talbot Wolf Ahearn, a fundraising development consulting firm, have two daughters, Meghan (20) who is a sophomore at Williams College in Williamstown, MA and Alyson (17) who is a junior at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati.

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