Keith was a public high school teacher and coach for over 20 years and, in 2014, led the only successful school district in PA history to overturn union fair share fees prior to the Supreme Court's Janus v. AFSCME decision. While still in the classroom, Keith successfully sued an NEA affiliate to end "ghost teaching" practices and provided valuable testimony in support of employee rights legislation.
In 2018, Keith was recruited from the classroom to lead and grow a newly formed, national non-profit dedicated to ensuring that public sector employees receive fair treatment from government unions. In 2020, Keith led the successful decertification of an AFL-CIO affiliated union and creation of an independent, local union in a Pittsburgh-area school district. As a direct result of Keith’s work, PA's largest unions were forced to drop "maintenance of membership" windows from state contracts, freeing over 50,000 state workers and serving as a testament to the power of authentic relationships and effective coalition-building. Now with the Center for Independent Employees (CIE), Keith and his team have helped teachers in nearly 40 school districts in 7 states remove the NEA or AFT as their bargaining representative.
In addition to his work with teachers and other public and private sector employees, Keith serves as a labor consultant to school boards and private-sector businesses regarding labor relations and union avoidance. Keith has been a speaker at state and national labor policy events and his work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, and other major media outlets.
Keith proudly served with his search and rescue team in the 9/11 recovery efforts at the World Trade Center, coached several nationally ranked distance runners, and continues to enjoy teaching both policy groups and educators how to engage in meaningful outreach and fight back against Big Labor coercion.