President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi will join the Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of advisors that will frequently meet with the president-elect during his administration to share their specific experience and knowledge.
“America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this Forum today are at the top of their fields,” Trump said in a statement. “My administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United States from Silicon Valley to the heartland.”
Trump announced the initial 16 members earlier this month, and the group will be chaired by Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman. According to a press release distributed by Trump’s transition team, “Members of the Forum will be charged with providing their individual views to the President — informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector — on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.”
Other members of the Strategic and Policy Forum are as follows: Patomak Global Partners CEO Paul Atkins, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Blackrock CEP Larry Fink, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Boston Consulting Group CEO Rich Lesser, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, Global Infrastructure Partners chairman Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, IHS Markit vice chairman Daniel Yergin EY CEO Mark Weinberger and former Federal Reserve System board member Kevin Warsh.
The announcement comes as execs from world biggest tech companies — many of whom actively supported Democrat Hillary Clinton during the campaign — are scheduled to meet with Trump on Wednesday.
Recode’s Kara Swisher recently blasted Silicon Valley leaders for accepting an invite to meet with Trump, calling the leaders “sheeple” who should be “ashamed of themselves.”
“Here’s what I am sure they said out loud about the Wednesday meeting, which will include Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Larry Page and perhaps Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, along with other big names from Intel, Oracle, Cisco, IBM and more: ‘When the president-elect asks us to a meeting, we are duty-bound as American citizens to attend and reach across any chasm of difference for the good of our country,’” Swisher wrote.