Cathy Creighton

Cathy Creighton, Esq., is Director of Cornell University ILR’s Buffalo Co-Lab. The Buffalo Co-Lab advances an equitable economy through community-based action research, teaching, training, and student engagement. ILR in Buffalo works alongside the Partnership for the Public Good, a community-based think tank consisting of over 340 community partners. Buffalo is home to ILR’s Labor Studies Program, Workplace Health & Safety programs, the flagship Buffalo High Road Fellowship Program, and a public data repository for data mapping wages, broadband, child care, housing, and other issues impacting working New Yorkers. The Buffalo Co-Lab is at the center of public policy on matters affecting the workforce. Prior to joining Cornell University ILR, Ms. Creighton was a labor attorney working at the NLRB and then co-founded a firm, Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, representing dozens of labor unions. An active member of the labor movement and civic community, Ms. Creighton is the Ethics Officer for the United Auto Workers, a member of the AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance, Board Member and recording secretary for the Western New York Law Center, NY Governor appointment to Director of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority, member of the American Association of University Professors, and previously served as Cornell University Council Member, Board of Directors of the National AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, Board member of Coalition for Economic Justice, Chair of the Buffalo Living Wage Commission, Erie County Democratic Committee Member, WNY Judicial Screening Committee for the Western New York Area Labor Federation, delegate to Erie County Judicial Convention, Cornell Buffalo Co-Lab HighRoad Fellowship Board of Advisors, and board member of Neglia Ballet.
Ms. Creighton has drafted multiple statutes and policy briefs designed to enhance the lives and well-being of working people, including living wage laws, minimum wage increases, apprenticeship and responsible bidder laws, community benefit ordinance, and banning noncompete agreements.

Ms. Creighton earned her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.S. from Cornell University ILR. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her husband Sean Ryan, and has two adult daughters living in NYC (Kate Ryan, ILR 2020) and Tokyo (Bridget Ryan, McGill University).