President-Elect Trump Establishes a ‘Strategic and Policy Forum’
The last time a populist president went about the wholesale “draining of the swamp” in Washington, D.C., Andrew Jackson had two Cabinets: the official Cabinet, called the “parlor Cabinet,” and an ad hoc group of special advisers his opponents called the “kitchen Cabinet.”
Later, FDR implemented a similar policy with his Brain Trust.
It worked for both presidents, and now President-elect Donald Trump is hoping it can work for him. Over the weekend, he announced the creation of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum—or, what we’d like to call his “boardroom cabinet.”
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. The forum is designed to provide direct input to the president from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner.
Forum participants will be called upon to meet with the president-elect frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as he implements his plan to bring back jobs and “Make America Great Again.” The forum will be chaired by Blackstone Chairman, CEO and Co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman.
Schwarzman founded Blackstone in 1985 and has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since then. Blackstone is now the largest alternative asset manager in the world, with $361 billion assets under management and approximately 300,000 employees across its portfolio in the United States alone, making it one of the nation’s largest employers.
He also is an active philanthropist with a history of supporting education and schools. Whether in business or in philanthropy, he has always attempted to tackle big problems and find transformative solutions. He is a member of the Business Roundtable, The Business Council, co-chair of the Partnership for New York City and also serves on numerous boards, including the Asia Society and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Schwarzman holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a MBA from Harvard Business School. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisers.
Other members of the forum include:
- Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners, LLC, and former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors
- Toby Cosgrove, CEO of Cleveland Clinic
- Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock
- Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company
- Rich Lesser, president and CEO of Boston Consulting Group
- Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
- Jim McNerney, former chairman, president and CEO of Boeing
- Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners
- Ginni Rometty, chairman, president, and CEO of IBM
- Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institute and former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO of EY
- Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric
- Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit
“This forum brings together CEOs and business leaders who know what it takes to create jobs and drive economic growth,” Trump said. “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 will meet for the first time in early February. {eoa}
