Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick are joining Trump's economic advisory team
The two tech-transportation executives have been named as members of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, it was announced on Wednesday, alongside PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.
Launched in early December, the Forum will provide economic advice, and will "be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his plan to bring back jobs and Make America Great Again," the initial announcement said.
It is being headed up by the CEO of Blackstone, Steve Schwarzman.
The American technology industry was overwhelmingly opposed to Donald Trump before the election, with particular concerns around his anti-immigration rhetoric - Silicon Valley is heavily reliant on immigrant workers. But following his shock election, the industry is tentatively exploring how it can work with Trump.
On Wednesday, top-tier tech executives are also meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York, with attendees including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt from Google parent company Alphabet, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and others.
During the election, Elon Musk, who is CEO of electric car company Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX supported Hillary Clinton and was critical of Trump, saying that "I think a bit strongly that [he] is probably not the right guy" to be president. It's not clear what Travis Kalanick, CEO of ride-hailing company Uber, thinks of the Republican president-elect.
Musk, Kalanick, and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi will be joining General Motors CEO Mary Barra, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon, General Electric CEO Jack Welch, and others on the team.
Here's the previous list of members, not including the newest three:
- Stephen Schwarzman (forum chairman), chairman, CEO, and cofounder of Blackstone
- Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Mary Barra, chairwoman and CEO, General Motors
- Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic
- Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock
- Bob Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
- Rich Lesser, president and CEO, Boston Consulting Group
- Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
- Jim McNerney, former chairman, president, and CEO of Boeing
- Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners
- Ginni Rometty, chairwoman, president, and CEO of IBM
- Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in economics at the Hoover Institute, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO, EY
- Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO, General Electric
- Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit