Nora Cay Ryan is the assistant to the president and chief of external affairs for the Chicago Federation of Labor, the third largest central labor council of the national AFL-CIO. Previously, she served as the CFL’s chief of staff and the director of communications prior to that. In her current role, Nora Cay attends and convenes high‐stake meetings with CFL-affiliated unions, C‐suite executives, community partners, and other stakeholders on behalf of the CFL President and Secretary‐Treasurer. Additionally, she works closely with top officials at government and civic organizations across the city and the state, including the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which oversees McCormick Place; the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning; Choose Chicago, Chicago’s tourism bureau; Chicago Sports Commission; and Special Olympics Illinois, among others. In October 2024, she was appointed to the Regional Transportation Authority, representing the city of Chicago.
In the summer of 2024, Nora Cay went on leave from the CFL to serve as the Labor Advisor to the Democratic National Convention Committee and the Chicago 2024 Host Committee. Her primary responsibility was to implement the historic 2024 Convention Labor Peace Agreement that she helped negotiate the year prior. The 2024 LPA was the most comprehensive labor peace agreement for any political convention to date.
In October 2023, she represented the CFL at a United States-Brazil roundtable exchange regarding digital platform work in São Paulo, Brazil. This was the first in a series of international activities carried out through a U.S. Department of Labor funded program, “Empowering Workers in South America.”
Nora Cay often leads special projects for the CFL. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she established a mass vaccination program aimed at providing the COVID vaccine to essential union workers. Over the course of six clinics, the CFL vaccinated nearly 5,000 workers across dozens of industries. Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday 2020, she organized a food distribution event for 2,100 union families who lost their job due to the pandemic.
Nora Cay was named an Edgar Fellow in 2023. She was one of 40 emerging leaders from public and private sectors throughout the state of Illinois selected to participate in this five-day intensive executive leadership training program, led by former Governor Jim Edgar. Nora Cay grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. on an Evans Scholarship. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications.