Denise Specht

Denise Specht was elected president of Education Minnesota in 2013 after serving six years as the union's secretary-treasurer and in various other posts on the Education Minnesota governing board. A fourth-generation teacher, Specht was a longtime local union leader, including five years as president of the Centennial Education Association.

She has extensive leadership experience in her district and community as well as in the union. She served on the district budget reduction task force and facility use task force and as president, vice president, treasurer, building representative and alternative compensation committee member in the Centennial Education Association.

At the national level, she has served on the National Education Association's membership advisory committee and its higher education subcommittee. Specht serves on the board of the Minnesota Women's Consortium, a national collaborative of more than 150 member organizations that works to achieve equality and justice for women and their families. She also is a member of the Nellie Stone Johnson Scholarship Program board and the Women in Union Leadership Project steering committee. Specht is especially interested in building relationships that advance support for innovative solutions to the challenges in public education.

July 2014