Donald Trump added Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk to his team of expert advisers. Which other leading CEOs made the cut for the new president’s business advisory group?
The president-elect announced Wednesday that he has added Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, Travis Kalanick of Uber, and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo to his Strategic and Policy Forum .
According to Fortune , the president-elect’s business advisory group already includes Jaime Dimon of J.P. Morgan, Bob Iger of Disney, and Mary Barra of General Motors. The team will advise Trump on business matters as he forms his economic plans.
Donald Trump gave a press release this morning to announce his new advisers.
“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.
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.”
Surprisingly enough, all three of Trump’s new business advisory picks have previously spoken out against the president-elect or have been falsely accused of attacking him.
Back in November, Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk told CNBC that Donald Trump was “not the right guy” for the White House.
“He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”
Elon Musk’s addition to the team of advisors will give the tech sector a stronger presence. Perhaps that was enough to convince Musk to join the team of business advisers.
The tech sector now has a stronger presence among @realDonaldTrump ‘s team of business advisers. https://t.co/fOa3C4fLcN
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 14, 2016
Last October, Travis Kalanick of Uber said that he would “move to China if Donald Trump wins ” to an audience of college students, according to the Washington Post .
What changed these top executives minds?
Donald Trump’s presidency could be beneficial for Uber, so maybe that is why Kalanick had a change of heart after the election.
Elaine Chao, the president-elect’s pick for secretary of transportation, plans to push less regulation for ride-sharing companies and wants more Americans to take part in the gig economy.
Both Musk and Kalanick hail from Silicon Valley, where top leaders had show support for Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton during this year’s presidential election.
Silicon Valley is looking to build bridges to the incoming @realDonaldTrump administration. https://t.co/EWk36FS6xX
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 14, 2016
Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo fell victim to false reports claiming that she had made incendiary, anti-Trump comments, which led to a massive online boycott of Pepsi products. Nooyi never publicly backed either candidate during the election.
Indra Nooyi is Donald Trump’s third female pick for his team of advisers. She joins Barra and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
The group of advisers will be chaired by Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of the private equity firm Blackstone.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump and tech leaders attempted to mend their tense relationship in a summit held at Trump Tower in New York.
Attendees included Elon Musk, Ginni Rometty, Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.
In an opinion piece for USA Today , Ginni Rometty urged Donald Trump to consider retraining workers for “new collar” jobs to bridge the skills gap.
“We are hiring because the nature of work is evolving – and that is also why so many of these jobs remain hard to fill.”
[Featured Image by VCG/Stringer/Getty Images]