Robert Balgenorth is the chairman of California Construction Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Trust and chair of California Bio Pharma Labor-Management Committee. He was a founding member and is co-chair of the Get REAL Coalition, which advocates for the strengthening of career technical education courses in California’s schools. Balgenorth served as president of State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO, from December 1993 - October 2012. He was appointed president emeritus upon his retirement. Previously, Mr. Balgenorth was business manager/financial secretary of Local 441 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He entered the construction trades as an apprentice electrician in 1965, and graduated as “apprentice of year” in 1969.

Mr. Balgenorth served on numerous boards and commissions, including chair of the California Transportation Commission; chair of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy (CFEE), chair of California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE); vice president of the California Labor Federation, AFL- CIO; the Consumer Federation of California; the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV); and the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley Labor Center; the California Apprenticeship Council, the Southern California IBEW/NECA Pension Trust, the California Workforce Investment Board; the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA); and the California High Speed Rail Authority. In 2005, Mr. Balgenorth received the Byron Sher Environmental Leadership Award from the California League of Conservation Voters.