President Donald Trump assembled a table of 17 high-powered executives for the first meeting of his business council Friday.
The Strategic & Policy Forum is chaired by Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who recruited the advisory committee's members. They include the CEOs of General Motors, JPMorgan, and Walmart. For the first meeting, the council discussed tax and trade, regulation, infrastructure, women in the workforce, education, and immigration.
Notably absent were Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, who said he could not attend due to a scheduling conflict, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who resigned just a day prior to the meeting in response to pressure from his employees and customers in the wake of Trump's immigration ban.
"We're bringing back jobs, we're bringing down your taxes, we're getting rid of your regulations, and there are some really exciting times ahead," Trump told the press ahead of the meeting.
Here's who had a seat at the table in the White House's State Dining Room.
SEE ALSO: Here are the 12 business leaders Trump hosted for his first big White House meeting
Stephen Schwarzman — Cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Blackstone
Schwarzman, the king of private equity, is the chairman of Trump's business council. As chairman, he selected its members, and told CNBC that the president "loved them all."
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Schwarzman said he was bullish on Trump's effect on the economy. "We're going to have higher growth rates in the United States. We're liable to have a stronger dollar," he said. He noted that "We have to watch to see what happens [with] some of the tax proposals because they are highly complex. ... We have to be mindful of that."
Indra Nooyi — Chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo
Nooyi, along with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, was assigned to the tax and trade topic for the first meeting.
The PepsiCo CEO found herself in a Trump-related fiasco following the election in November: In an interview with the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin, Nooyi — who supported Hillary Clinton — congratulated Trump on his victory but noted that many of her employees were crying the day after his election, with minorities wondering if they would be safe in his administration. This led to a couple of viral fake-news posts and an online call to boycott Pepsi.
Nooyi joined the business council in December as has not commented on the administration since.
Doug McMillon — President and CEO of Walmart Stores
Though there are three female executives on the council, McMillon and EY CEO Mark Weinberger were tasked with speaking to the topic of women in the workforce.
The Walmart CEO has not personally released a comment about Trump. But Walmart joined the Americans for Affordable Products group, along with more than 100 retailers like Target and Best Buy, who are in opposition to the Republican-controlled House's proposed "border adjustment tax" that would place a 20% tax on imported goods.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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