Frank Hurt, International President

Frank Hurt was elected president of the International Union at the General Executive Board (GEB) meeting on March, 13, 1992, to succeed retiring President John DeConcini. Hurt first took office on October 1, 1992. He was elected to his first full term as International President at the union's 34th Constitutional Convention in 1994 and has been re-elected at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Conventions.

From October 1991 to his election as president, Hurt served as International Secretary-Treasurer. His service as secretary-treasurer followed a 12-month term as the union's executive vice president, a position to which he was elected during a special meeting of the GEB in Washington, D.C., in August 1990.

In September 1982, then International President John DeConcini appointed Hurt as director of organization, a position he held until his election as executive vice president. Prior to 1982, Hurt served as an international representative, based in Columbus, Ohio, and covered Region II (the Mid-Atlantic States).

In March 1972, Hurt joined the ranks of B&C Local 57 (Columbus, Ohio) as an employee at Kroger Bakery. In February 1975, he became the local union's business agent. He joined the international union staff on July 1, 1979.

On February 18, 1993, Hurt was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, a seat he continues to hold as a federation vice president. Hurt also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the AFL-CIO's Housing Investment Trust and as an Advisory Board member of the AFL-CIO's Building Investment Trust.

Since 1993 Hurt has served as Chairman of the Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Health Benefits and Pension Funds.

On April 18, 1997, he was elected to serve a five-year term as president of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), based in Geneva, Switzerland. (The IUF is a world-wide federation of 321 organizations in 111 countries, representing 27 million workers employed in those industries. It is one of 15 sector-wide trade secretariats linking workers and unions from around the world.) He served as IUF president until 2002.

A native of Mt. Hope, West Virginia, Hurt is married and has three sons and six grandchildren.