The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The Business Council, Official website, Background
Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris Elected Chairman, The Business Council
, dow.com, October 19, 2012Press Release: The Dow Chemical Company

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Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

'', October 19, 2012Dow Chief To Head National Business Organization
, '' WSGW'' It holds meetings several times a year for high-level policy discussions. The organization has been described as one of the most influential commerce groups in the United States, with U.S. presidents regularly seeking its advice.

Mission

The Business Council allows global CEOs to gather and network along with leaders in politics, science, and academia. The organization is guided by the belief that the business community's contributions to public discourse and governance are in the interest of the common good of the American people. Member CEOs discuss strategies and innovation for their respective companies, as well as providing input on government policy. Membership is by invitation-only and limited to CEOs of leading multinational businesses personally selected by fellow members of The Business Council. The organization is strictly nonpartisan and headquartered in Washington, D.C. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, The Business Council helped global companies navigate the public health crisis. The organization conducted weekly CEO calls at the height of the pandemic, inviting chief executives and other experts to discuss COVID vaccines, treatments, and other topics. In collaboration with

The Conference Board The Conference Board, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit business membership and research organization. It counts over 1,000 public and private corporations and other organizations as members, encompassing 60 countries. Th ...

, The Business Council issues a quarterly “Measure of CEO Confidence,” surveying more than 100 CEOs about current economic conditions and expectations about the future. The chief executives also share their sentiments about U.S. employment, recruiting, wages, capital spending, and other economic indicators. Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., vice chairman of The Business Council, has appeared on ''

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

'' to discuss the survey findings.

Leadership

Marlene Colucci is CEO of The Business Council. Appointed in 2013, Colucci has held leadership positions in public policy at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unem ...

, and American Hotel and Lodging Association. She describes the organization as "an important voice for the business community with a high level of personal engagement by its members.” Prior to Colucci, Philip Cassidy was executive director of The Business Council for more than two decades.

History

The Business Council was founded by Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper and investment banker Sidney Weinberg as the Business Advisory Council for the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econ ...

in 1933, under President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Remarks by the President to The Business Council

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 whe ...

: Office of the Press Secretary, February 13, 2009 It formed the Industrial Advisory Board for the

National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. It also established committees to discuss the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (also called the Exchange Act, '34 Act, or 1934 Act) (, codified at et seq.) is a law governing the secondary trading of securities (stocks, bonds, and debentures) in the United States of America. A land ...

, the

Banking Act of 1935 The ''Banking Act of 1935'' passed on August 19, 1935, and was signed into law by the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on August 23. The Act changed the structure and power distribution in the Federal Reserve System that began with the '' Bankin ...

and the

Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. The law created the Social Security (United States), Social Security program as ...

. According to the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'', the organization was designed “for corporate titans to offer counsel and advise to the federal government.” It was renamed The Business Council as an organization independent from the Department of Commerce in 1961, under President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. In 2009, then-President

claimed, “Every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has sought the advice of the Business Council.” In October 2024, the ''

Minnesota Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

'' described The Business Council as “one of the most influential national commerce groups.”

Current executive committee

The executive committee is composed of the following people:

Chair

* Brian Cornell, Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

Members

* Corie Barry, CEO,

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and clou ...

, Founder & Former CEO,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

* Gail K. Boudreaux, President & CEO, Elevance Health, Inc. *

Thomas Buberl Thomas Buberl is a German businessman who has been the CEO of Axa since 2016. Early life Buberl was born in Cologne, Germany. He earned a business degree from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany), an MBA from Lancaster Universi ...

, Chief Executive Officer,

AXA Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

* John Donahoe, Former President and CEO, Nike * Thasunda Duckett, President and Chief Executive Officer,

TIAA The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA, formerly TIAA-CREF) is an American financial services organization that is a private provider of financial retirement services in the academic, resea ...

* Egon Durban, Managing Partner and Co-CEO, Silver Lake * Jim Farley, President and CEO, Ford * Roger Ferguson, Immediate Past President and CEO, TIAA (Vice Survey Chair) * Jim Fitterling, Chair and Chief Executive Officer,

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021. It is the operating subsidiary of Dow Inc., ...

* Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO,

Nasdaq, Inc. Nasdaq, Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation that owns and operates three stock exchanges in the United States: the namesake Nasdaq stock exchange (on which it is also listed), the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and ...

Michelle Gass Michelle D. Gass (nee Petkers, born 1968) is an American businesswoman who is the CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. She previously was CEO of department store Kohl's. Education and career Gass earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Wor ...

, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co. * Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO,

Citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

* Henry R. Kravis, Executive Co-Chairman,

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

* Ryan Marshall, President and CEO, PulteGroup * Jon Moeller, Chairman, President, and CEO,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-born American business executive who is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. B ...

, Chairman and CEO,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

* David M. Solomon, Chairman and CEO,

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

Lisa Su Lisa Tzwu-Fang Su (; pinyin: ''Sū Zīfēng''; born 1969) is an American billionaire business executive, computer scientist, and electrical engineer who is the president, chief executive officer (CEO), and chair of the semiconductor company Adv ...

, Chair and CEO,

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

* Jim Umpleby III, Chairman and CEO,

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc., also known as Cat, is an American construction, mining and other engineering equipment manufacturer. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 73 on the ' ...

Emma Walmsley Dame Emma Natasha Walmsley (born June 1969) is the chief executive officer (CEO) of GSK plc. She succeeded Sir Andrew Witty, who retired in March 2017. Before GSK, she worked for L'Oréal for 17 years, and was a non-executive director of Di ...

, CEO,

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

Kathy Warden Kathy J. Warden is an American business executive who became chief executive officer (CEO) and President (corporate title), president of Northrop Grumman in 2019. Education Warden grew up in Smithsburg, Maryland, and graduated from Smithsburg Hig ...

, Chairman, CEO, and President,

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

* Mike Wirth, Chairman & CEO,

Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened t ...

Former chairs

*1933:

Gerard Swope Gerard Swope (December 1, 1872 – November 20, 1957) was an American electronics businessman. He served as the president of General Electric Company between 1922 and 1940, and again from 1942 until 1945. During this time Swope expanded GE's produ ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

*1934: S. Clay Williams, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company *1934–35: Henry P. Kendall, Kendall Company *1936: George H. Mead, Mead Corporation *1937–39:

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986) was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment ...

, Brown Brothers & Co. *1940–41: William L. Batt,

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

*1942–43: R. R. Deupree, Procter & Gamble *1944–45: Thomas B. McCabe,

Scott Paper Company The Scott Paper Company was a manufacturer and marketer of sanitary tissue products with operations in 22 countries. Its products were sold under a variety of well-known brand names, including ''Scott Tissue'', ''Cottonelle'', ''Baby Fresh'', ''S ...

*1946: George M. Humphrey,

National Steel Corporation The National Steel Corporation (1929–2003) was a major American steel producer. It was founded on October 1, 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with the new Great Lakes Steel Corporation, which was then in the process of construc ...

*1947–48: John L. Collyer,

Goodrich Corporation The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Benjamin Goodrich, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Go ...

*1949–50: James S. Knowlson, Stewart-Warner *1951–52: Robert T. Stevens, JP Stevens & Company *1953: John D. Biggers,

Libbey-Owens-Ford Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) was a producer of flat glass for the automotive and building products industries both for original equipment manufacturers and for replacement use. The company's headquarters and main factories were located in Tole ...

*1954–55: Harold Boeschenstein,

Owens Corning Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partnership between ...

*1956–57: Eugene Holman, Standard Oil of New Jersey (

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

) *1958–59: Stephen Bechtel, Jr.,

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

*1960–61:

Ralph J. Cordiner Ralph Jarron Cordiner (March 20, 1900 – December 5, 1973) was an American businessman. He served as president of General Electric from 1950 to 1958, and as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1958 to 1963. Biography He was born in 19 ...

, General Electric *1961–62: Roger Blough,

US Steel The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

*1963–64: F. R. Kappel,

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

*1965–66: W.B. Murphy,

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

*1967–68: Albert L. Nickerson,

Mobil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after history of ExxonMobil#merger, it and Mobil merge ...

(ExxonMobil) *1969–70: Fred J. Borch,

*1971–72: William M. Batten,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

*1973–74: David Packard,

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

*1975–76: Edmund W. Littlefield, General Electric *1977–78: John D. deButts, AT&T *1979–80: Reginald H. Jones, General Electric *1981–82: Walter B. Wriston,

Citicorp Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

*1983–84: Clifton C. Garvin, Jr., Exxon (ExxonMobil) *1985–86: Ruben F. Mettler, TRW *1987–88: Stephen Bechtel, Jr., Bechtel *1989–90: Roger B. Smith,

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

*1991–92: John F. Welch, Jr., General Electric *1993–94: Robert E. Allen, AT&T *1995–96: Edgar S. Woolard, Jr.,

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

*1997–98:

Larry Bossidy Lawrence Arthur "Larry" Bossidy (born March 5, 1935) is an American author and retired businessman. He was CEO of AlliedSignal (later Honeywell) in the 1990s, prior to which he spent more than 30 years rising through executive positions at Genera ...

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal, Inc. was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company, created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and The Signal Companies. It purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and adopted the Honeywell name and iden ...

*1999-00: Ralph S. Larsen,

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

*2001–02: William T. Esrey,

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. Th ...

*2003–04: Charles O. Holliday, Jr.,

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

*2005–06: Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric *2007–08: W. James McNerney, Jr.,

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

*2009–10: James W. Owens, Caterpillar *2011–12:

Jamie Dimon James Dimon ( ; born March 13, 1956) is an American businessman who has been the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of JPMorgan Chase since 2006. Dimon began his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group. After earnin ...

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

*2013–14: Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical Company *2015–16: Jeff Bezos, Amazon *2017–18: Henry R. Kravis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts *2019–20: John Donahoe, Nike *2021–22: Satya Nadella, Microsoft *2023–24: Gail K. Boudreaux, President & CEO, Elevance Health, Inc.

References

External links

The Business Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Business Council Organizations established in 1933 Lobbying organizations based in Washington, D.C. 1933 establishments in Washington, D.C.