According to the official reports, the executive board of the Service Employees International Union has elected Mary Kay Henry as president of the fastest growing union in the United States.

It has been reported that Henry, the surprise overwhelming choice of the 73-member board to succeed Andrew Stern, pledged to "restore relations with the American labor movement." Under Stern, who served as president from 1996 until Saturday, SEIU had broken with the AFL-CIO as the union continued to grow while more traditional industrial labor unions saw membership rolls slide to less than 10 percent of the private workforce.

Henry said, "This moment marks a renewed commitment to our union's core mission: to improve the lives of all workers who are struggling to make ends meet in this economy. Working people are facing hardships we haven't seen in generations, and we believe SEIU can be an even more effective vehicle for change to help them improve their lives and the lives of the people they serve."

It was further reported that Henry, the eldest sister of 10 siblings, was raised in the Detroit area and has been with SEIU since 1979, rising to executive vice president of the 2.2 million member union.

Stern said, "For 30 years, I have worked side-by-side with Mary Kay Henry and witnessed her extraordinary passion for justice and the natural gift that can only be called her way with people."

It would spend $4 million on organizing and an additional $4 million on gubernatorial campaigns in 2010, SEIU said. (With Inputs from Agencies)