Samantha Groark joined the Labor Center as a part-time labor educator in 2025. She is currently working on a grant-funded initiative to support successful outcomes for graduates of the Labor Center's Quality Pre-Apprenticeship Program, a U.S. DOL recognized program that provides high school seniors and adults with the skills, connections, and certifications to enter skilled construction Registered Apprenticeship. 

In addition to her role at the Labor Center, Samantha is the Executive Director of the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council. She also serves as a board member for the Education Success Cabinet of the United Way of Central Iowa, the Iowa Women in Trades, and the Des Moines Public Schools Building and Construction Trades CTE Advisory Board.

Samantha holds a J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law. Before coming to Iowa in 2022, she represented unions, apprenticeships, and employee benefit funds as an attorney with Blake & Uhlig, P.A. in Kansas City, Missouri.