Pankaj Sharma

Pankaj Sharma is secretary-treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers; president of the North Suburban Teachers Union, IFT/AFT Local 1274; and an AFT vice president. He has served on the AFT Teachers program and policy council and is on the AFT Asian American and Pacific Islander Task Force. He is also a delegate of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

Sharma is a history and government teacher at Niles North High School in Skokie, Ill. He has won the Golden Apple Award for teaching, the Illinois State Treasurer’s Outstanding Service in Workforce and Labor Award, and the Illinois National History Day Behring Teacher of the Year Award. He has also been named Community Educator of the Year by the Illinois Directors of Student Activities and was selected to participate in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund teacher exchange program. Sharma also served on the DePaul University Labor Education Center advisory committee.

Sharma has an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in history and education and a minor in political science. He also holds a master’s degree in secondary education from Washington University.