National President Colleen M. Kelley is the leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the nation’s largest independent federal sector union, representing employees in 31 separate government agencies. As the union’s top elected official, she leads NTEU’s efforts to achieve the dignity and respect federal employees deserve. As spokesperson for the union, Kelley represents NTEU with the agencies, in the media, and testifies before Congress on issues of importance to union members and federal employees.

Kelley has been at the forefront of the fight to repeal the IRS’ authority to outsource the collection of tax debts to private collection agencies, citing the danger to taxpayer’s private information and the risk of taxpayer harassment.

As president of the union representing some 21,000 Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kelley helped protect DHS workers’ collective bargaining rights by successfully leading a lawsuit against a revamped personnel system the agency tried to impose.

As the federal government prepares to face an unprecedented retirement wave, Kelley stresses the need for fair treatment and competitive pay and benefits for federal employees. Through her efforts, the Office of Personnel Management permitted federal employees to have Flexible Spending Accounts, a common private sector employee benefit. According to Kelley, the failure to pay competitive salaries and the constant focus on contracting out federal jobs have put the federal government at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring the best new college graduates and retaining its current employees. Kelley’s efforts focus on making the federal government a workplace that attracts the best and the brightest employees in their respective fields.

Kelley serves on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Senior Leadership Council and is a member of the Federal Salary Council, the Employee Thrift Advisory Council of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, and the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) Board of Directors. She also is a member of the Board of Governors of the Partnership For Public Service, which is committed to enhancing perceptions of public service and encouraging participation in the public sector.

A Pittsburgh native, certified public accountant (CPA) and a NTEU member since 1974, Kelley was an IRS Revenue Agent for 14 years and served in various NTEU chapter leadership positions, including chapter president of NTEU Chapter 34 in Pittsburgh. She was elected National President in August 1999 and was re-elected to a third four-year term in 2007.