Cheryl Eliano

Cheryl Eliano is District 10, National Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing more 40,000 federal workers in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Panama.  Eliano was first elected to the position in May 2014 and was re-elected to three-year-terms in 2017 and 2020.

Eliano’s mission for District 10 is to provide exceptional leadership and service at all levels and locations for all those she serves.  In 1979, Eliano began working for the federal government as a commissary cashier in Munich, Germany.  She retired from federal employment in 2014 to serve as National Vice President of AFGE; prior to being elected, Eliano served as President of AFGE Local 1920 for more than 11 years.  She made history when she became the first female elected to serve a full term as president.  She also was the first person to serve in three major functions as well: Secretary/Treasurer, Chief Steward, and President.

Eliano scored numerous achievements during her time leading AFGE Local 1920, which represents Army civilians at Fort Hood, Texas.  She helped organize and lead employee rallies to oppose the Department of Defense’s National Security Personnel System and fought the contracting out of civilian positions on base.  She helped create a labor-management forum to address workplace issues proactively, helping to avoid costly and disruptive disciplinary actions, and also created a program to train employees and managers on workplace discrimination, employee assistance programs, and other personnel issues.  She also was instrumental in implementing alternative work schedules for Fort Hood employees.

She sits on the Executive Boards of the Texas Workforce Commission; Texas AFL-CIO; Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation; and Texas Labor-Management Conference.  She is a member of the Killeen Chamber of Commerce and currently serves as Chair of the AFGE National Executive Council’s Organizing committee. She recently was elected as a Board member of the AFL-CIO 2021. Eliano is also a licensed Evangelist Missionary at her church in Copperas Cove, Texas.

Eliano is the proud recipient of numerous awards honoring her commitment to the labor movement, including several leadership awards for maintaining labor-management partnerships and several certificates of achievements for conducting labor-management training at Fort Hood.  She also received a NAACP Humanitarian Award.  A native of Brooklyn, New York, Eliano attended the New York City College of New York for her Nursing degree.  She also holds certifications from the University of Maryland, New Mexico State University, and Central Texas College of Killeen, Texas.  Eliano lives in Nolanville, Texas, with her husband Perry.  They have five children and three grandchildren.