Edward Valente serves as the Executive Board Director of the Association of Commuter Rail Employees (ACRE) and General Chairman of ACRE Local 1 on Metro-North Railroad. A third-generation Metro-North employee, he began his railroad career in 2002 as an assistant conductor and was promoted to conductor the following year.
Valente became active in the union in 2012 and has been elected to several critical leadership roles. From 2020 to current day, he has served as General Chairman successfully negotiating many temporary agreements, two Collective Bargaining Agreements and winning numerous arbitration cases.
He is a longstanding member of the peer review team for Metro-North's Close Call Reporting system (C3RS), which received APTA's Gold Safety Award in 2024.
In 2022, Valente played a leading role in securing passage of a New York law establishing light duty protections for expecting commuter rail employees, a milestone in advancing worker rights.