John F. Penn has served as Vice President and Midwest Regional Manager for the Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA!), since May 2008, leading more than 50,000 members in ten states. Penn also serves as a member of the LIUNA General Executive Board. Penn joined Laborers' Local 362 in 1965 and was elected Secretary-Treasurer in 1974. He then became Business Manager in 1976 and in 1994; Penn was elected Business Manager of the Great Plains Laborers' District Council where he served in the position until becoming LIUNA Vice President and Midwest Regional Manager. Penn serves on many entities within the union, including the Laborers' National Pension Fund, Chairman of the Central Laborers' Pension Fund, Laborers' Home Development Corporation, Railroad Maintenance Health & Welfare Fund, and the Illinois Laborers' & Contractors Joint Apprenticeship & Training Fund. In addition to his many union roles, Penn is also Co-Chair for the Children's Christmas Party for Unemployed Families, He has reestablished the Bloomington Labor Day Parade after a forty-year absence, Began the McLean County Union News, is a Board Member on the Bloomington/Normal Advantage, volunteers for the Illinois Special Olympics and is currently on the statewide board, Board Member of the McLean County Economic Development Council of Community Enhancement and Advocacy. In 1986, Governor Jim Thompson honored Penn by presenting him with the Illinois Partner in Building Better Communities award, for taking a leading role in his community and "Bringing jobs to the jobless". Also, in 2003, Penn received the Presidential Points of Light Award from President Clinton. This award was created in 1989 to recognize those who take direct and consequential voluntary action in their communities to solve serious social issues. Penn attended Bloomington High School where he was a four-year letterman on the wrestling team. After graduating from Bloomington High School in 1966, Penn served in the United States Air Force from 1967 to 1970, with assignments in South Korea and Vietnam. While in Guam in 1969, Penn served as a Martial Arts instructor for the USAF. John, a 6th-degree black belt, continued teaching self-defense for 30 years at the Bloomington-Normal YMCA with an agreement that no students would be charged additional fees for his instruction nor would the instructors receive payment. Penn is a 1979 graduate of the Harvard University Trade Union Program. John and his wife, Mary, reside in Bloomington, Illinois and have one daughter, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.