CRANSTON – The executive director of Rhode Island’s largest labor union will call it a career just before next school year starts.
Robert A. Walsh, executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island, announced Tuesday in an email to union membership his intention to retire effective Aug. 1 after close to 30 years with the union. NEARI spokesperson Stephanie DeSilva Mandeville confirmed Tuesday Walsh’s pending retirement to Providence Business News.
Walsh said in the email, which a screenshot was posted on Twitter – NEARI declined to send PBN the full email – he “quietly informed” staff and officers at NEARI a few weeks ago and formally shared his decision Feb. 7 with the union’s executive committee.
It is currently unclear what led to Walsh, who first joined NEARI in 1992, deciding to retire from the association or what his future plans are moving forward. Walsh did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Walsh in the emailed announcement said his career working for the labor union was a “calling that literally started at birth” as his mother was a school teacher and father was a union shop steward. Close to three decades ago, Walsh first joined NEARI – which has 12,167 members across higher education and public schools, according to Providence Business News researched data – as a Uniserv director, he said. From there, Walsh became the union’s executive director in 2001.
Walsh said he was proud in working closely with NEARI President Lawrence E. Purtill and Vice President Val Lawson, as well as with officers, staff and the union membership as it “continued to grow, and grow stronger, and faced every one of the numerous obstacles that have been put in our path with great resolve, even when the outcomes disappointed us.”
“There are many accomplishments over the past 30 years of which I am proud and assembling the team that serves our membership is at the top of that list,” Walsh said. “The reason those who oppose us politically call us a force to be reckoned with is because we are – and that is all because of you [the members].”
Mandeville said NEARI officers approved Feb. 7 starting a search for Walsh’s replacement “as soon as possible,” and to afford the opportunity for both Walsh and board members to work collaborative allowing for a smooth transition of leadership by Aug. 1.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
