General Motors CEO Mary Barra Chosen for Trump Advisory Panel
President-elect Donald Trump has named General Motors CEO Mary Barra to his advisory board on economic issues and jobs growth.
While this could also be a coincidental slight against Mark Fields for publicly criticizing the new president’s repeated verbal attacks against Ford, this isn’t the first time Barra has been considered for unexpected political involvement this year. Hillary Clinton had shortlisted her as a possible running mate for the 2016 election.
On Friday, team Trump made the official announcement that Barra would be included on a Strategic and Policy Forum that encompassed “some of America’s most highly respected and successful business leaders.” The forum is intended to provide Trump with direct advisement on economic issues in a “frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner.”
“We look forward to working with President-elect Trump, his team and other corporate and civic leaders on policies that support a strong and competitive economy and automotive industry,” Barra said in a statement provided to The Detroit News.
Last week, the transition team said “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.”
“This forum brings together CEOs and business leaders who know what it takes to create jobs and drive economic growth,” Trump said in a statement. “My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating and expanding right here in America.”
The forum is to be chaired by Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, and includes numerous top-level executives from some of the United States’ largest corporations.
[Image: General Motors]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Lately anytime I hear "Trump picks..", I get worried but she is actually a good choice IMO. Barra seems like she has done right by GM so far and made headway into changing the culture a bit from what i can tell. There could be far worse choices here, we need all the sanity and sense we can get these days. Good for her!
And here we go again..... Yet another dimbulb-in-chief and his hope-and-changefulls set to wonder in a few years why, despite all the "great advice" Il Dunce received from his forum of CEOs about "helping the economiii", middle class salaries continue to stagnate, while the salaries on the guys and gals in the forum continues to climb. I'm sure this latest clown, will be just as surprised as his predecessors.....