John Gaal

Dr. Gaal is a consultant in St. Louis, Missouri and recently retired as the director of training and workforce development for the St. Louis–Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council. As a labor representative, he currently serves on the St. Louis Airport Commission, St. Louis County Workforce Development Board, Missouri Workforce Development Board and International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Board of Directors. He is also Chair of the International Foundation Apprenticeship, Training and Education Committee and president-elect of the International Vocational Education and Training Association. Within the past decade, Dr. Gaal completed terms of service on the DOL Federal Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, Association of Skilled and Technical Sciences’ board of directors (president), the International Vocational Education and Training Association board of directors, and the Association for Career and Technical Education board of directors. He received the Missouri Trade and Technical Outstanding Leadership Award in 2004, the Missouri NEA Horace Mann Award in 2007, the NAACP Labor Diversity Advocate Award in 2007, the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers 2008 Diversity Champion Award, the Labor and Employment Relations Association 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2016 SLCC Dick Mantia Labor Award and the 2018 CFSTL Board of Advisors’ Award. Dr. Gaal completed a union apprenticeship in carpentry over 35 years ago and has since earned an associate’s degree in construction management, a bachelor’s degree in architecture, a master’s degree in international business and a doctorate in organizational leadership. In addition, he completed postdoctoral programs at Harvard University (trade union leadership) and University of Florida (marketing and management). Dr. Gaal was honored with two Fulbright (Specialist) scholarships in labor and industrial relations (Tokyo, Japan, and Toronto, Canada). He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed and professional journals on issues related to workforce development. Dr. Gaal has studied work-based learning systems in Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and Switzerland. He is about to begin his 24th year as an adjunct professor at Webster University.