Nat LaCour is the secretary-treasurer of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers. Prior to his election to his current post, he served as the union’s executive vice president. As secretary-treasurer, LaCour is responsible for the financial oversight and operations of the AFT. He also serves on the executive council of the AFL-CIO.

LaCour also has worked with civic associations, parent and other community groups and unions to encourage increased funding for public education at the local, state and federal levels.

A former vice president on AFT’s executive council, LaCour also served for a number of years as president of AFT’s New Orleans affiliate, the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO). Under LaCour’s leadership, UTNO membership – which came to include more than 90 percent of the teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff in the school district – grew significantly. In 1974, without the aid of a state public employee collective bargaining law, UTNO became the first teachers union in the Deep South to obtain a collective bargaining agreement with a local school district.

In addition to his many duties and roles with the AFT, LaCour is a founding member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. During the 1990s, LaCour was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

LaCour serves on a number of boards, including the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, the Albert Shanker Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. He has served on the Boards of Learning First Alliance, Education Quality Institute, and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.

LaCour also has been actively involved in politics, acting as a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee and as a delegate to five Democratic National Conventions, including the 2004 Convention.

For his outstanding work and commitment to the trade union movement and to the field of education, in 2006 LaCour was awarded the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor. This award recognizes American citizens who have distinguished themselves within their specific ethnic groups.

LaCour is a graduate of Southern University. He resides in Greenbelt, MD, is married to Connie Goodly-LaCour. Together they have five children and seven grandchildren.