Leadership

Derek Evans, business manager and financial secretary-treasurer of Local 540, South Central Ontario, Canada, since 1991, was originally appointed by the General Executive Council to serve as 11th general vice president on November 1, 2011. His career spans a 41-year period, beginning with his admission as a production worker on July 1, 1983. He became a steward in his shop shortly thereafter. In 1989, he was elected warden and has served in his current position as business manager/financial secretary-treasurer since 1991. Evans has also held the positions of vice president of the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers and Roofers Conference since 1991 and president of the Production Workers and Sign Council since November 1, 2011.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Arthur Tolentino commenced his career in the sheet metal industry as an apprentice with Au’s Plumbing in 1986. From 1992 through 1997, he served as an instructor for the Hawaii Joint Apprenticeship Committee for the Sheet Metal Industry. He was appointed shop steward in 1994 and served through 2002, when he became a Local 293 organizer. He served as a labor representative on the Hawaii Joint Apprenticeship Committee, beginning in March 2000, and became Local 293 business representative/president in January 2003, along with becoming a labor trustee for the Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers’ Trust Fund. A member of the Hawaii Building & Construction Trades Council since his election as Local 293 business manager in 2007, Tolentino became building and construction trades treasurer in 2009. In 2010, he began serving as a commissioner on the city and county of Honolulu’s Planning Commission. Prior to his appointment as SMART’s then-10th general vice president, he served as a trustee on the National Energy Management Institute Committee (NEMIC).

Rick Werner has been in the sheet metal industry since 1984. He began his SM Local 104 apprenticeship program in the spring of 1985 and completed his service in January 1990. He became a business representative on January 1, 2000, and assumed his present position of president/business manager in 2015. During his long sheet metal career, Werner served as trustee and executive board member for his home local before becoming a business representative in 2000. In May 2006, he became the assistant to Local 104 President/Business Manager Bruce Word and served as Local 104 District 1 (San Francisco/Bay Area) assistant business manager. He took over as president/business manager of Local 104 upon Word’s retirement and currently serves as president of the Sheet Metal Western States Council.

Southwest Gulf Coast Regional Council of Sheet Metal Workers President Bill Kenyon was appointed by the SMART General Executive Council on February 1, 2021.

Kenyon began his career doing a six-month pre-apprenticeship, prior to serving a four-year apprenticeship at SMART Sheet Metal Local 54 in Houston, Texas. In a harbinger of things to come, he was awarded the outstanding apprentice award when he completed the program in 1996.

At the start of his journey in the trade, he was employed by various contractors, starting at an HVAC shop, then working at a spiral pipe shop, then finally moving to a heavy industrial shop where he continued working as a journeyperson.

In 2000, Local 54 was accepting applications for an organizing/marketing representative, so Kenyon applied and was appointed to the position. He served the local as an organizer for the next nine years.In June 2009, Brother Kenyon was elected by the Local 54 membership to the position of business representative. While in that position, he also served on the Harris County AFL-CIO Executive Board from 2012 to 2019. In 2012, he was elected to serve as Local 54’s business manager/financial secretary treasurer and continued in that position until 2018. During that time, he was elected president of the Southwest District Council, where he served until the formation of the Southwest Gulf Coast Regional Council in 2016.

He continues to serve as a trustee on the Sheet Metal Workers National Health Fund and for the SMART International Training Institute.

Robert Butler has dedicated his entire career to SMART, starting with SM Local 17 in Boston. After entering the apprenticeship program at the Local 17 JATC in Dorchester, Mass. in 1986 and graduating into journeyperson status in 1991, Butler became a trustee of the Local 17 General Fund in 1997, and then was elected to the Local 17 Executive Board in 1999. Butler successfully ran for the positions of Local 17 JATC trustee and Local 17 business agent in 2000 and 2002, respectively; after serving as a business agent for 10 years, he was elected Local 17 business manager and vice president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO in 2012. Butler became a NEMIC trustee in 2017, and in 2020 he was elected as president of the Metro Association of Presidents. Since 2021, he has served as the president of the SMART Northeast Regional Council.

Ray D. Reasons II was appointed SMART 11th General Vice President on August 1, 2023, following the retirement of Tim Carter.  

Reasons began his career as an apprentice with Local 36 (St. Louis, Mo.) in 1994 and was initiated as a journeyperson in January of 2000. Throughout his career, Ray has held various positions in the field and ran a sheet metal shop. During those years, he was also appointed to serve as a trustee of the general fund, a trustee of the JATC, as well as trustee of the local’s Health & Welfare, Pension, 401k and Vacation funds.  

Starting in 2006, Ray was elected to three consecutive terms as recording secretary for the executive board, and in 2015 he successfully ran for business representative. In 2018, he was elected president and business manager, and he serves as chairman of the JATC and all benefit funds of Local 36. 

In December 2023, 30-plus-year sheet metal worker Lance Deyette was elected a general vice president of the SMART General Executive Council. 

Deyette is a graduate of Bates Technical College and started his apprenticeship with Sheet Metal Workers Local 66 (Seattle, Washington) in 1988. Deyette turned out as a journeyperson in 1992 and worked at Olympia Sheet Metal, US Sheet Metal and Sunset Air as a journeyperson, foreman and superintendent. In 2005, he was elected to serve the membership as a Local 66 business representative, and on June 1, 2020, Deyette was appointed regional manager of Local 66 and vice president of the SMART Northwest Regional Council. Three years later, Deyette was elected president of the Northwest Regional Council, winning election to the position on July 1, 2023. 

Deyette serves as a trustee on the Northwest Sheet Metal Workers Pension, Northwest Sheet Metal Workers Healthcare Trust, Northwest Sheet Metal Organizational Trust and the Western Washington Sheet Metal Training and Apprenticeship Program, along with the Oregon Master Pension Plan for Local 16. He also serves on the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Executive Board and is the president of the Olympia Building and Construction Trades Council. 

Jason Pedersen began his sheet metal apprenticeship in 1990 with Local 280 in Vancouver, British Columbia, working in stainless steel fabrication. In 2002, Pedersen moved to Vancouver Island and transferred to Local 276, where he furthered his career in custom fabrication for the next 14 years — the last five of which he served as foreman.

In 2016, Pedersen was elected business manager and financial secretary-treasurer of Local 276, not only leading the local union but also acting as the administrator of the local’s pension and healthcare plans. He also sits on various councils and committees, including the Vancouver Island Building and Construction Trades Council; the Vancouver Island Metal Trades Council; the B.C. Building Trades Council Executive Board; the SMART Roofing and Building Enclosure Council; the SMART Canada Local Unions and Councils (LUC) Pension Fund; and the Canadian Pension and Benefits Steering Committee. Pedersen is the president of the Western Conference and vice president of the Canadian Council.

Steve Langley entered the Local 85 apprenticeship in July 1990, graduating from the program in June 1995. Over the last 30 years, he rose through the ranks to become a foreman, managing some of the largest projects in the Atlanta area, and has served in every office within Local 85: on the Executive Board from June 2004-2005; as recording secretary from July 2005 until September 2010; as a trustee to the Vacation Fund, Building Fund, Pension and Health Funds and president of the Death Benefit Fund; as Local 85’s Retirement Club coordinator; and as Local 85’s legislative liaison and a SMART Members’ Assistance Program (MAP) representative. Langley served as a business representative starting in 2010, and he was elected Local 85 business manager and financial secretary-treasurer in 2020.

In addition to his local leadership, Langley has an extensive history serving on the Southeast District Council, the SMART Production and Sign Council, the Nuclear Hazard Council and as delegate for all Georgia local and state AFL-CIO labor councils. He was recently appointed as an ICB (International Certification Board) trustee by General President Michael Coleman.

Matthew Fairbanks, along with his two brothers, is a second-generation sheet metal worker at SMART Local 10, representing Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. He began his career in the sheet metal industry in 1995 when he enrolled at St. Paul Technical College, entering the three-year Local 10 apprenticeship program after completing two years of full-time day school. Fairbanks worked at various shops throughout his apprenticeship, eventually turning out as a journeyperson in 2000 while working for Metropolitan Mechanical Contractors, where he became a foreman and worked for nine years.

Fairbanks was elected to the Local 10 Executive Board in 2006, becoming vice president of the board later in his term. In 2009, he was elected business representative, which included a specified appointment as the apprentice liaison; he also served on numerous negotiating committees throughout the three-state local, as well as a trustee or chair of trust funds affiliated with Local 10. In 2018, he was elected business manager/president of Local 10, where he has continued serving on negotiating committees and as trustee or chair of various trust funds.

In addition to his local leadership, Fairbanks is the current secretary-treasurer of the Minneapolis Building Trades Council. He also sits on various boards, including as a trustee for Union Bank & Trust (a union-owned financial institution in Minneapolis); a work compensation advisory committee; and the St. Paul Building Trades, among others.

Bryan Bush began his career as a sheet metal worker in 1989, after which he entered Local 19’s four-year apprenticeship program in 1991, successfully graduating as a journeyperson in 1995. Bush has demonstrated active labor leadership throughout his career: He was a site steward on numerous jobs, a foreman on many occasions, and in 2009 he successfully ran to be a Local 19 business representative. He served as business representative from 2009-2017; assistant business manager from 2012-2024; financial secretary-treasurer from 2017-2023; and, since 2024, has represented Local 19 members as business manager.

In addition to his Local 19 leadership, Bush has served on the Washington Township Economic Development Board, the Governor’s Transition Committee for Labor and Management, as South Jersey Transportation Authority Commissioner, Building Trades chairman for Center City Philadelphia, delegate for the Bucks County AFL-CIO and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, and many other positions. He is also active in various community service efforts, including career days and job fairs, City of Camden Drug Awareness Walks, City to Shore MS Bike Ride, serving at Camden County Homeless Shelters and more.

Born and raised in New Jersey, where he is now raising his own family, Bush’s family history dates back at least 90 years in the labor movement. Today, he carries that legacy forward by proudly representing Local 19 members across aspects of the organization: helping and overseeing business agents with jurisdictional and contract situations, organizing efforts, growth strategies and, most importantly, fighting for members.

Jared Cassity was elected by his peers in 2024 and in 2019 as the Alternate National Safety & Legislative Director for the SMART Transportation Division; since July 1, 2025, he has served as the National Safety & Legislative Director for SMART-TD, which is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members who work in a variety of different crafts in the transportation industry. These crafts include employees on every Class I railroad, Amtrak, many shortline railroads, bus and mass transit employees, and airport personnel.

In addition to his elected roles, Cassity has also been appointed as the union’s Chief of Safety, serves as the director for the SMART-TD National Safety Team (which assists the NTSB in major rail-related accident investigations), is SMART-TD’s voting member on the Federal Railroad Administration’s C3RS Steering Committee, and is the first labor member to ever be appointed to the Transportation Security Administration’s Surface Transportation Safety Advisory Committee.

Prior to being elected an international officer, Cassity held various local and state level positions (both protective and legislative) within the Union and was a certified conductor and locomotive engineer for CSX Transportation in Russell, Ky., regularly serving the coal fields of eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia. His seniority date is September of 2005.

Jared works in the Union’s National Legislative Office in Washington, DC, and currently resides in Manassas, Va., with his wife, Mikki, and his two daughters Mykayla and Mykenna.

A member of Local 202 in Denver, Brent Leonard started railroading in 1997 on Union Pacific as a conductor/switchman. He was promoted to engineer in 1998. He was elected local chairperson in 2001; vice general chairperson of his general committee, GO 953, in 2003; senior vice general chairperson in 2007 and general chairperson in 2011. He was elevated to vice president in 2018 and elected by acclamation August 11, 2019, and on August 11, 2024. As vice president and general chairperson, Leonard has been assigned to the federal Rail Safety Advisory Committee and the 2017 National Wage & Rules Coordinated Bargaining Team.

Chadrick Adams began his railroad career in 1997 with BNSF. He was promoted to engineer in 2002.A member of Local 331 in Temple, Texas, Adams became interested in becoming a union officer early in his career. He has served as a vice president in his local as well as local chairman, delegate and secretary/treasurer. Adams was elected as general chairperson of General Committee GO 393 in 2011. In 2013, he became alternate to the executive board and was further elevated to alternate vice president. In 2014, Adams was elected by delegates to the position of alternate vice president. He was elected vice president by acclamation August 11, 2019, and again on August 11, 2024.

Alvy Hughes was born in 1972. Hughes attended Chowan College and served in the Army National Guard from 1990 to 1998. He began his transportation career with Charlotte Transit in 1995.

As a member of Local 1596 at Charlotte, N.C., Hughes has served as local vice president, secretary of General Committee of Adjustment GO TMM and general chairperson of General Committee of Adjustment GO TMM. He has also served as vice chairperson of the Association of General Chairpersons — District 3. He was elevated to the Board of Appeals in 2009.

On Oct. 1, 2014, he was elevated to the office of Transportation Division alternate vice president – bus – East by the Transportation Division Board of Directors.

He was elected to the office of vice president – bus at the Second SMART Transportation Division Convention in Las Vegas on August 11, 2019, and again on August 11, 2024.

Hughes and his wife, Lisa, reside in Charlotte, N.C., with their three children and one grandchild.

Jamie C. Modesitt, a member of Local 298 at Garrett, Indiana, was born July 1, 1974. He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, before beginning his railroad career with CSX Transportation on June 12, 2000. He holds the craft of conductor and engineer.

After having held a number of local offices, Modesitt was elected local chairperson of Local 298 in 2006 and was re-elected by acclamation to that position in 2011 where he was responsible for serving approximately 200 members. In 2011, Modesitt was elected secretary of CSXT/B&O General Committee GO 049 and was later elected by acclamation to a full-time position as 2nd Vice General Chairperson in 2012. He was later elected by acclamation to 1st vice general chairperson in 2014. Modesitt was elected general chairperson by acclamation in January 2018 and in January 2019 during the GO 049 Reconvening Meeting.

Modesitt served as delegate for Local 298 and attended UTU Conventions in 2007, 2011 and the First SMART TD and General Conventions in 2014. He was selected by the Board of Directors to serve as the chairperson of the 2014 SMART TD Constitution Committee. In addition, Modesitt was appointed an alternate member to the TD Executive Board by the Board of Directors on April 4, 2017, and was elevated to the Executive Board in January 2018.

Modesitt has served as general chairperson on one of the largest rail general committees in the country representing thousands of members consisting of conductors, trainmen, yardmen, passenger conductors, passenger assistant conductors, hostlers, engineer trainees, engineers, trackmen, signalmen, carmen, machinists and locomotive electricians. His GO 049 represents members on CSXT Railroad working on the north Mid-Atlantic district (former B&O and Conrail), Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad (Genesee & Wyoming), Rochester & Southern Railroad (G&W), Marquette Railroad (G&W), Central Maine & Quebec Railroad, Grand Elk Railroad (Watco), Bombardier Transportation (MARC Service) and Herzog Transit Services Inc. (HTSI).

Modesitt is considered an expert when it comes to Railway Labor Act (RLA) arbitration with experience in well over a thousand cases consisting of discipline cases and agreement rules and has presented local chairperson workshops at the SMART TD Regional Meetings since 2015.

Modesitt was elected to the position of vice president by acclamation at the Second SMART Transportation Division Convention, Aug. 11, 2019, and again on Aug. 11, 2024.

He and his wife, Janelle, reside in Jacksonville, Florida.