Remarks by the President on the Economy at Smith Electric Vehicles in Kansas City, Missouri

Smith Electric Vehicles
Kansas City, Missouri

12:13 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  Good to see you.  (Applause.)  You don’t need to do that.  It’s good to see you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Everybody -- everybody have a seat. 

Usually they announce me with some fancy thing, and I think I messed up -- I just walked out here.  (Laughter.)  So I hope you didn’t mind.  But on the way out, if you want, we can play the Ruffles and Flourishes and all that.

I want to, before I start, acknowledge some people who have just done a wonderful job for this area, but also a wonderful job for the country.  First of all, one of the best governors that we’ve got in the United States of America, Governor Jay Nixon.  (Applause.)  One of my -- not just my favorite senators but one of my favorite people and a great friend of mine who is fighting every day for the people of Missouri, Senator Claire McCaskill.  (Applause.) 

We’ve got two outstanding members of Congress, one from this side and one from that side -- Congressman Emanuel Cleaver -- (applause) -- and Congressman Dennis Moore.  (Applause.) 

And finally, I just want to acknowledge all the wonderful people at Smith Electric Vehicles and their energetic and outstanding staff. 

It is outstanding to be here, and I’m not going to take a long time.  I just want to spend some time shaking hands and thanking you for the great work that you’ve done.  I just had a chance to get a tour and saw some of the battery-powered trucks that you’re manufacturing.  I had a chance to talk to some of the folks who build them.  But the reason I’m here today is because, at this plant, you’re doing more than just building new vehicles.  You are helping to fight our way through a vicious recession and you are building the economy of America’s future.

Now, it’s not easy.  We’ve gone through as bad a economic situation as we’ve had since the Great Depression.  And this recession was a culmination of a decade of irresponsibility -- a decade that felt like a sledgehammer hitting middle-class families.  For the better part of 10 years, people have faced stagnant incomes, skyrocketing health care costs, skyrocketing tuition costs, and declining economic security.  And this all came to a head in a massive financial crisis that sent our economy into a freefall and cost 8 million American jobs, including many in this community.

So it was in the middle of this crisis that my administration walked through the door, and we had to make some difficult decisions at a moment of maximum peril, to avoid a Great Depression, to make sure that we didn’t have a complete meltdown in our financial system.  It was a moment when the markets were in turmoil and we were losing 750,000 jobs every month. 

Some of the decisions we made weren’t popular at the time -- and some of them may still be unpopular today.  But we made those decisions because we had to stop that freefall.  And because we made those hard choices, our economy is in a different place today than it was just a year ago.

One of those decisions was to provide critical funding to promising, innovative businesses like Smith Electric Vehicles.  And because we did, there is a thriving enterprise here instead of an empty, darkened warehouse.  Because of the grant that went to this company, we can hear the sounds of machines humming and people doing their work, instead of just the ghostly silence of an emptied-out building and the memory of workers who were laid off a long time ago.

And we made that kind of decision all across America last year.  And we were guided by a simple idea:  Government doesn’t have all the answers.  Ultimately, government doesn’t create all the jobs.  Government can’t guarantee growth by itself.  But what government can do is lay the foundation for small businesses to expand and to thrive, for entrepreneurs to open up shop and test out new products, for workers to get the training that they need, and for families to achieve some measure of economic security.  And that role is especially important in tough economic times. 

And that’s why, when my administration began, we immediately cut taxes -- that’s right.  You wouldn’t know it from listening to folks, but we cut taxes for working families and for small business owners all across American to help them weather the storm.  Through our small business loans, and our focus on research and development, and our investment in high-tech, fast-growing sectors like clean energy, we’re helping to speed our recovery by harnessing the talent and the drive and the innovative spirit of the American people.  So our goal has never been to create another government program, our goal has been to spur growth in the private sector. 

For example, right here at Smith, you’ve recently passed a milestone -- hiring a 50th employee -- and I know you’re on the way to hire 50 more.  And we’re seeing similar things all across America, with incentives and investments that are creating wind turbines and solar panels.  We’re seeing investments in energy-efficient appliances and home-building materials, and in advanced battery technologies and clean energy vehicles. 

So just give you a couple examples, just last week, Abound Manufacturing in Colorado received backing for two plants to produce solar panels.  This is going to create 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.  One of the plants is actually taking over what’s now an empty Chrysler supplier factory.  Another company, called Abengoa Solar, is now planning to build one of the world’s largest solar plants right here in the United States.  And when it’s finished, this facility will be the first large-scale solar plant in the United States that can actually store energy that it creates for later use -- even at night. 

All told, we expect energy investments alone to generate 700,000 jobs over the next few years.  And this is not just going to boost our economy in the short term; this is going to lay a platform for the future.  It’s going to create opportunities year after year after year, decade after decade after decade, as companies like Smith, that start small, begin to expand.  And I was just talking to your CEO, and he says he wants to open up 20 of these all across the country, so that in each region you’re able to service -- Smith is able to service its customers, and they’re going to have a reliable sense that Smith is always going to be there for them, making sure that customer satisfaction and performance is high.

I’ll give you another example.  Just a few years ago, America had the capacity to build only about 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles like Smith’s -- 2 percent, that was it.  We account for 25 percent of the world’s economy and we were only making 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries. 

But thanks to our new focus on clean energy and the work that’s taking place in plants like this one, we could have as much as 40 percent of the world’s market by 2015 -- five years.  That means jobs.  But that also means we’re going to have an expertise in a sector that’s just going to keep on growing all around the world for years to come.  So all these efforts taken together are making a difference. 

A year and a half ago, our economy was shrinking at 6 percent a year; now it’s growing.  The economy was bleeding jobs.  We’ve now created private sector jobs, added private sector jobs, for six consecutive months. 

Now, obviously the progress we’ve made isn’t nearly enough to undo all the damage that was done as a consequence of the economic crisis.  There are still five unemployed workers for every vacancy.  There’s still too many empty storefronts on Main Street all across America.  And I’ve said since I took office that my administration will not rest until every American who is able and ready and willing to work can find a job, and a job that pays a decent wage and has decent benefits to support a family. 

We’re not there yet.  We’ve got a long way to go.  But what is absolutely clear is we’re moving in the right direction.  We are headed in the right direction.  And that’s -- the surest way out of this storm is to go forward, not to go backwards.  There are some people who argue that we should abandon some of these efforts -- some people who make the political calculation that it’s better to just say no to everything than to lend a hand to clean up the mess that we’ve been in. 

But my answer to those who don’t have confidence in our future, who want to stop -- my answer is come right here to Kansas City.  Come see what’s going on at Smith Electric.  I think they’re going to be hard-pressed to tell you that you’re not better off than you would be if we hadn’t made the investments in this plant.

For the naysayers, they ought to travel all across America and meet the people that I’ve met at places like Navistar in Indiana, where folks are being hired to build new electric trucks; or Siemens Wind Power in Iowa, where they’re making wind turbines in a factory that used to be empty just like this one; or Celgard, which is a battery technology company in North Carolina that hired more than 50 people because of the investments we made; or Poet Biorefinery here in Missouri that’s putting people to work harvesting homegrown energy. 

While they’re at it, they ought to talk to all the small business owners who’ve gotten tax breaks to pay for their health plans and new SBA loans to expand or keep their doors open -- and that includes tens of millions of dollars in loans for companies right here in Kansas City. 

Or they ought to talk to the crews that are rebuilding all the highways and laying tracks for new rail lines -- including road projects that are putting hundreds of people to work in this area.  They ought to talk to the scientists who are toiling day and night to develop the technologies and the cures with the potential to improve our economy and our health and our well-being. 

And they might want to talk to the teachers who didn’t get laid off because of the budget help that we gave the state of Missouri -- who are then going to be teaching our kids and they’re being incentivized to reform how they do business so we’ve got the best education system in the world and we’ve got the highest number of folks who are going to community colleges or four-year colleges than anyplace in the world.

That’s how we’re going to take charge of our destiny.  That’s how we create jobs and create lasting growth.  That’s how we ensure that America doesn’t just limp along, maybe recover to where we were before, but instead that we’re prospering -- that this nation leads the industries of the future. 

I mean, this has been a difficult time for America right now:  two years of brutal recession, a decade of economic insecurity.  And there are going to be some hard days ahead.  That’s the truth.  It’s going to take a while for us to dig ourselves out of this hole.  But what you are proving here -- each and every one of you who work here at Smith Electric -- is the promise of a brighter future.  What you’re proving is that if we hold fast to that spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that’s always defined America, we’re not just going to emerge from this period of turmoil, we’re going to emerge stronger than we were before.

You’re proving that as long as we keep on moving forward, nobody can stop us.  And for that I want to thank you.  You are setting a model for what we need to be doing all across the country. 

So congratulations.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)
                  
END
12:26 P.M. CDT

Remarks by the President Announcing the President's Export Council

East Room

11:50 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)    Everybody, please be seated.  Well, good morning.  Thank you, Jim McNerney, for being here.  And thank you to members of my Cabinet and my administration for coming.  Thank you, Gary Locke, for that introduction and the outstanding work that you’ve been doing at Commerce to move America’s economy forward.

Now, that work has been my driving focus since we walked through these doors a year and a half ago.  And at that time, our economy was shrinking at an alarming rate.  Nearly 3 million jobs were lost in the last half of 2008.  In January 2009 alone, more than 750,000 jobs had been lost here in the United States.  So every alarm bell was ringing at the prospect of a second Great Depression.

So our imperative was to stop that freefall and reverse direction -– to get our economy moving and get jobs growing again, which meant we took a series of dramatic and, frankly, sometimes unpopular actions.  But as a result of those actions, we broke the recession’s momentum, and we’re in a much different place today.

Our economy has now grown for three consecutive quarters and created nearly 600,000 private sector jobs in the first half of this year –- a stark contrast to the 3.7 [million] we lost over the first half of last year.  And despite uncertain world events and the resulting ups and downs in the market, we are moving America forward again.

But the progress we’ve made to date isn’t nearly enough to undo the damage that the recession visited on people and communities across our country.  Our businesses are hiring again, but there are still five unemployed workers for each job opening. The economy is growing, but empty storefronts still haunt too many Main Streets.  And the truth is the middle-class families that are the backbone of our economy have felt their economic security eroding since long before this recession hit.

So we’ve got much more work to do to spur stronger job growth and to keep the larger recovery moving.  The question is, over the months and years to come, how do we encourage the strong and lasting economic growth required for America to lead in this new century?  Where are we going to find the growth necessary to help us address all of our priorities -– from creating jobs and prosperity, to boosting our businesses and our workers, to improving our fiscal health and reducing our long-term deficits?

One thing we know is this growth won’t come from an economy where prosperity is based on fleeting bubbles of consumption, of debt; it can't rely on paper gains.  We’ve seen where that led us, and we’re not going back.  The truth is we’ve had to face over the past year and a half the truth that if we want to once again approach full employment and fuel real economic growth, then we need to put an end to the policies that got us here, tackle the challenges we’ve put off for decades, and move this economy forward.  We need to lay a new and stronger foundation on which businesses can thrive and create jobs and rising incomes, on which innovators and entrepreneurs can lead the world in generating new technologies and products and services.  We have to rely on a new foundation on which America can harness what has made our economy the engine and the envy of the world -- the talent and drive and creativity of our people.

So as business leaders and labor leaders representing some of America’s largest corporations and America’s workers, that’s what I want to talk to you about all today -- because America’s success ultimately depends on your success.  It’s the private sector that has always been the source of our job creation, our economic growth, and our prosperity; and it’s our businesses and workers who will take the reins of this recovery and lead us forward.
 
Same time, some might argue that government has no role to play at all in our economy.  But everybody in this room understands that the free market depends on a government that sets clear rules that ensure fair and honest competition, that lives within its means, that invests in certain things that the private sector can’t invest on its own.  In the absence of this kind of responsible government -– whenever government is dragged too far to one end or the other of the spectrum –- we see negative consequences for our economy. 

Too much regulation or too much spending can stifle innovation, can hamper confidence and growth, and hurt business and families.  A government that does too little can be just as irresponsible as a government that does too much -- because, for example, in the absence of sound oversight, responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system.  That’s bad for everybody.  That’s the reason we pursued Wall Street reforms.  And when the Senate takes up its business again, I hope it moves as quickly as possible to finish this chapter and settle this issue. 

In the absence of sensible policies that invest in long-term public goods like education or basic research, roads, railways, broadband, a smart electric grid -- an absence of those investments can be equally disastrous.  Over time, failure to make such investments slowly degrades our competitiveness, leaving us without the skilled workforce or the technologies or the basic infrastructure that a 21st century economy requires.

So to make sure our workers can out-compete anybody, anywhere in the world, we’ve invested in the skills and education of our people.  Through the Race to the Top, we’re challenging our schools to raise their standards.  And I’ve pledged that by 2020, America will once again lead the world in the percentage of students graduating from college -– and by making higher education more affordable, we’re on our way to achieving that goal.

To strengthen our standing in a 21st century economy, we’ve invested in upgrading our critical infrastructure, from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet.  We’ve enacted reforms that will reduce the drag of health care costs on businesses and consumers alike.  And we are committed to bringing down the unsustainable debt that has ballooned over the past 10 years.

To spur lasting growth, we’ve invested in science and technology, research and development, and clean energy projects that will strengthen our global leadership.  Eighteen months ago, for example, American companies commanded just 2 percent of the global capacity for advanced battery technology.  Today, the seed money we provided has helped leverage substantial private investment, and by 2012, we expect America’s capacity to reach 20 percent of the global market -– and as high as 40 percent in 2015.

But government has another responsibility, and that is to remove barriers that stand in the way of opportunity and prosperity so that our people –- all of our people -- our workers, our entrepreneurs, our CEOs –- can build the future that we seek.  And that’s what I want to focus on now.

In my State of the Union address, I set a goal for America: Over the next five years, we will double our exports of goods and services around the world -– an increase that will boost economic growth and support millions of American jobs in a manner that is deficit-friendly.

Export growth leads to job growth and economic growth.  In 2008, American exports accounted for nearly 7 percent of our total employment, one in three manufacturing jobs, and supported 10.3 million jobs in all -– jobs that pay 15 percent more than average.  So at a time when jobs are in short supply, building exports is an imperative.

But this isn’t just about where jobs are today; this is where American jobs will be tomorrow.  Ninety-five percent of the world’s customers and fastest growing markets are beyond our borders.  So if we want to find new growth streams, if we want to find new markets and new opportunity, we’ve got to compete for those new customers -– because other nations are competing for those new customers.

As I’ve said many times, the United States of America should not, cannot, will not, play for second place.  We mean to compete for those jobs -– and we mean to win.  But we’re going to have to change how we do business.

To meet this goal, we launched the National Export Initiative -– an ambitious effort to team up with America’s businesses, large and small, and help them unleash their energy and innovation, grow their markets, support new jobs selling their goods and services all across the globe.  And we’re bringing to bear the full resources of the United States government. 

One of the first things we did was establish an Export Promotion Cabinet made up of Cabinet members and senior administration officials whose work affects exports.  Yesterday, I assembled this cabinet for an update on our efforts so far.  We’re going to hold these meetings every few months -– and I’ve asked for a progress report at our next meeting in September.

But this is about more than what government can do; this is about what our businesses can do.  And that’s why we are re-launching the President’s Export Council, a group that includes business and labor leaders who will offer their unfiltered advice and expertise on how best to promote exports.  We’ve also included congressional leaders and senior representatives of my administration. 

And earlier today, members of my Cabinet and I met with this council to begin soliciting advice.  And I want to, again, thank Jim, President and CEO of Boeing, as well as Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, for agreeing to serve as the chair and vice chair.

Our efforts are off to a solid start.  American exports grew almost 17 percent over the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year.  Part of this, of course, is due to the global recovery.  But we’re also moving forward on improving conditions for America’s exporters.  And since we launched the National Export Initiative, we’ve made progress across its five objectives.

First, we said that America would be a strong partner and better advocate in the international marketplace for its businesses and workers.  And we’re going to go to bat for everyone from the largest corporations to the smallest business owner with an idea that she wants to market and sell to the world.

So, for example, already this year, the Commerce Department has coordinated 18 trade missions with over 160 companies that compete in 24 countries, and we’ve got 8 more planned over the next three months.  Their Advocacy Center has assisted American companies competing for export opportunities, supporting $11.4 billion in exports and an estimated 70,000 jobs. 

Secretary Clinton recently held a roundtable with businesses in Shanghai, and next week, she’ll host another one with Secretary Locke to discuss removing barriers that stand in the way of their success. 

Meanwhile, we’re moving forward with strengthening our business assistance centers across the country, and in our embassies and consulates abroad, so that they can provide a comprehensive toolkit of services to help potential exporters gain a foothold in new markets and expand -– especially small businesses that might not know how to sell their products abroad.

Second, we’re increasing access to export financing for small and medium-sized businesses that want to export their goods and services, but just need a boost.  So the Export-Import Bank has more than doubled its loans in support of American exporters since last year, and that step alone has helped support nearly 110,000 jobs.

Third, we’re upping our efforts to remove barriers to trade and open new markets and new opportunities for American business. On a global level, this begins with pushing hard in the Doha Round to improve those negotiations so that they have a higher level of ambition in the way that will translate directly into more opportunities for American exporters.  Regionally, we’re working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement to expand our commercial presence in some of the most dynamic markets in Asia.  And where our businesses run up against barriers in individual markets, we are acting. 

In March, for example, we reached an agreement with China to reopen their market to American pork and pork products.  And last month, during President Medvedev’s visit, we reached an agreement with Russia to reopen their market to American poultry.  And these steps are worth more than $1 billion to American business.

We’re also reforming our own restrictions on exports, consistent with our national security interests.  And we hope to move forward on new agreements with some of our key partners.  I’ve instructed U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to begin discussions to help resolve outstanding issues with the pending Korean Free Trade Agreement before my visit to Korea in November. It’s an agreement that will create new jobs and opportunity for people in both of our countries. 

We also want to deepen and broaden our relations with Panama and Colombia.  So we’re working to resolve outstanding issues with the free trade agreements with those key partners, and we’re focused on submitting them as soon as possible for congressional consideration.  And we’ll make sure each agreement we pursue doesn’t just advance the interests of our businesses, workers, and farmers, but also upholds our most cherished values.

Fourth, as we help American businesses access new markets, we’re making sure that the access is free and fair.  The United States offers some of the world’s lowest barriers to trade, and when we give other countries the privilege of that free and fair access, we expect it in return.  Where American producers face unfair trade practices, we’ll use every tool at our disposal to enforce trade agreements.  Last week, for example, the WTO ruled in favor of the United States on a case that found European governments were subsidizing planes that Airbus manufactures.  That practice was unfair and hurt American workers.  This ruling will help keep the playing field level and boost American jobs.

And finally, we continue to coordinate with other nations around the world to promote strong, sustainable, and balanced growth.  At last month’s G20 summit, we built on the actions we took last year -– actions that have replaced global contraction with global growth, and trade that was plummeting with trade that’s bounced back.

Sustaining that recovery, however, also involves rebalancing our economies.  As I told other leaders at the G20, after years of taking on too much debt, Americans will no longer borrow and buy the world’s way to lasting prosperity.  We alone cannot be the engines of economic growth.  Furthermore, a strong and durable recovery requires that countries not have an undue advantage. 

So we discussed the need for market-driven currencies -- and I welcome China’s decision to allow its currency to appreciate in response to market forces.  Our discussion with China has also addressed the important challenge of how to create a more level playing field for American companies seeking to expand their access to the growing Chinese market.  And I made it clear to all that the United States of America is prepared to compete aggressively for the jobs and industries and markets of the future.

The bottom line is this.  For a long time we were trapped I think in a false political debate in this country where business was on one side, labor was on the other.  There were partisan divides.  The argument was either you were pro-trade or you were anti-trade.  What we now have an opportunity to do is to refocus our attention where we’re all in it together.  Businesses, workers, government -- everybody is focused on the same goal.

We live in a interconnected world.  There are global challenges and global opportunities.  This nation has never shied away from the prospect of competition.  We thrive on competition. And we are better positioned than anybody -- as uniquely positioned as ever -- to compete with anyone in the world.  We’ve got the most respected brands, the best products, the most vibrant companies in the world.  We’ve got the most productive workers in the world.  We’ve got the finest universities in the world.  We’ve got the most open, dynamic and competitive market in the world.  When the playing field is even, nobody can beat us.  And we are upping our game for the playing field of the 21st century.

But we’ve got to do it together.  We’ve got to all row in the same direction.  There’s no doubt that these are challenging times.  But I’m absolutely convinced that we will rise to meet them -– to grow our economy, to put our people back to work, to forge our own future once more.  We are Americans, and that is what we do. 

I appreciate all your participation and I’m looking forward to getting busy working with you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
END
12:11 P.M. EDT

President Obama Provides Progress Report on National Export Initiative, Announces Members of the President’s Export Council

Goal of doubling exports over five years to support millions of American jobs is on track

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama will provide a progress report on the National Export Initiative (NEI), which shows that the President’s goal of doubling exports and supporting several million new jobs over five years is on track, and that exports in the first four months of 2010 grew almost 17 percent from the same period last year.

Since the President called for the NEI in his State of the Union Address, significant progress has been made on each of its five main objectives:

o Improved advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. exporters: The Department of Commerce has coordinated 18 trade missions with over 160 companies participating in 24 countries.

o Increased access to export financing: Ex-Im has more than doubled its loans to support American exporters from the same period last year, helping to support nearly 110,000 jobs.

o Reinforced efforts to remove barriers to trade: In March, the United States reached an agreement with China to reopen the Chinese market to U.S. pork and pork products. In June, the United States agreed with Russia to reopen the Russian market to U.S. poultry exports. These steps are worth more than $1 billion.

o Enforcement of trade rules:  Last week the WTO ruled that European governments subsidized Airbus’s large civil aircraft.   This ruling is expected to sustain and even restore jobs to American aerospace workers by leveling the playing field for the U.S. aerospace industry. 

o International promotion of policies leading to strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth: These last 18 months have been the most effective period of international economic cooperation in generations with global growth replacing economic contraction.

The full Progress Report on the National Export Initiative is attached; you can also view it HERE.

The President will also announce that he has appointed members of the President’s Export Council, which includes a group of business and labor leaders who will offer advice on how to promote U.S. exports, jobs, and growth.  In March, the President announced W. James McNerney Jr. as Chair of the President’s Export Council and Ursula Burns as Vice Chair.  Members of the President’s Export Council announced today, who will join appointees from Congress and the Administration, are listed below. 

President Obama said, “Boosting America’s exports strengthens our economic growth and supports millions of good, high-paying American jobs. That’s why I set a goal during my State of the Union address to double our exports over the next five years. Since then, my Administration has worked to improve advocacy for our exporters, remove trade barriers, and enforce trade rules in an effort to ensure that the benefits of global trade are  broadly shared. And to build on the progress we’ve made so far, I’ve appointed these accomplished men and women to serve in these important roles. I am confident that their depth of experience in the private sector will be valuable as we continue working to open new markets for American goods, boost our exports and level the playing field for American workers.”

Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney, Chair of the President’s Export Council, said, "President Obama has assembled an outstanding team to help reach the goal he has set for our nation to double U.S. exports over the next five years. It is an ambitious goal. However, with this team in place, I am confident we can develop a solid plan for the public policy decisions that will expand free and fair trade and strengthen the United States economically. I congratulate and welcome the new members named today and look forward to working with them in the months ahead.”

"By taking a collaborative, public-private approach to achieving the President's goal, we can make significant progress in strengthening our country's economy," said Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation and Vice Chair of the President’s Export Council.  "It starts with more progressive free and fair trade initiatives with an end result that protects and adds more American jobs." 

President Obama has appointed the following individuals to the President’s Export Council:

Mary Andringa, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Mary Vermeer Andringa is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Vermeer Corporation, an international organization that manufactures agricultural, construction, environmental, and industrial equipment. She previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer, and began her career with the company as a market researcher in 1982.  Early in her career Ms. Andringa taught in Iowa City public schools and later became director of the Mustard Seed Preschool in Omaha, Nebraska.  Presently, she serves as director for Herman Miller Company; vice chair of the National Association of Manufacturing; is a member of the Board of Councilors for the China-US Center for Sustainable Development; and a trustee for the Fuller Theological Seminary. She also serves on the Central College Board as trustee emeritus.
 
Stephanie A. Burns, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Stephanie A. Burns is Chairman, President and CEO of Dow Corning Corporation.  Her 27-year career at Dow Corning has spanned scientific research, issues management, science and technology leadership and business management. Ms. Burns has been a member of Dow Corning’s Board of Directors since 2001, and was elected President in 2003, Chief Executive Officer in 2004, and Chairman in 2006.   Dr. Burns joined Dow Corning in Midland, Michigan in 1983 as a researcher where she quickly moved into product development leading advances in electronic materials. In 1994 she became the company’s first director of Women’s Health. She relocated to Brussels, Belgium in 1997, initially as director of Science and Technology for Europe and then subsequently as the director for two of Dow Corning’s industries, electronics and life sciences. In December 2000, she returned to the United States to become Executive Vice President, responsible for global operations.  Dr. Burns serves on the boards of the American Chemistry Council, the Society for Women’s Health Research, and GlaxoSmithKline plc.  She is also the honorary president of the Society of Chemical Industry.
 
Scott Davis, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Scott Davis serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of UPS.  Prior to his current position, Mr. Davis served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer.  He joined UPS in 1986 when the company acquired the Oregon technology company, II Morrow. He had served as the chief financial officer and then CEO. Beginning in 1991, Mr. Davis held positions of increasing responsibility as the treasury manager, financial reports and plans manager, accounting manager, and vice president of finance.  He joined the UPS Management Committee in 2001, when he assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer. A certified public accountant, Mr. Davis recently completed a term as the chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and is on the board of Honeywell International, Inc. and is also a member of The Business Council.
 
Richard L. Friedman, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Dick Friedman is President and Chief Executive Officer of Carpenter & Company, Inc. Mr. Friedman is on the board of directors of the Steppingstone Foundation, GateHouse Media, Mount Auburn Foundation, The Bridge Fund, and formerly served as a director of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.  Mr. Friedman served as an officer in the US Army and was the Harvard College ski coach. He also served on the real estate investment committee of Dartmouth College. In 2000, Mr. Friedman was appointed by former President Clinton as Chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, the major Federal government urban planning agency.
 
Gene Hale, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Gene Hale is the President and Founder of G&C Equipment Corporation. The company was founded in 1981 and is engaged in the sale, lease, and procurement of construction equipment, material and supplies. Mr. Hale is also President of Gence Corporation, a construction material supply company, as well as President of G&C Service and Supply Corporation.  President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Hale to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He also was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Small Business Board. Mr. Hale is currently Chairman of the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce as well as the Gardena Police Foundation.
 
C. Robert Henrikson, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
C. Robert Henrikson is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of MetLife, Inc.  He previously served as MetLife’s President and Chief Operating Officer, President of MetLife’s U.S. Insurance and Financial Services businesses and President of its Institutional Business.  During his more than 36-year career with MetLife, Mr. Henrikson also has held a number of senior positions in the company's Individual, Group and Pension businesses.  Mr. Henrikson is Chairman of the Board of the American Council of Life Insurers, former Chairman of the Financial Services Forum, a Director Emeritus of the American Benefits Council, Chairman of the Board of the Wharton School's S.S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education and a Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.  He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Emory University and the Boards of Directors of the Partnership for New York City, the New York Philharmonic and The New York Botanical Garden.
 
William Hite, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
William Hite is General President of United Association, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the association, supervising the overall interests of the UA and for rendering decisions and adjusting disputes concerning matters affecting the organization. He is also President of the Mechanical Allied Crafts, which consists of the UA, the IBEW, the Sheet Metal Workers, the Ironworkers, the Insulators, and the Elevator Constructors. He is an elected member of the AFL-CIO Executive Committee and the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Mr. Hite is a member of the Governing Board of Presidents of the Building Trades Department, AFL-CIO and a member of the Executive Council of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO. He is also the labor lead for the United States Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative Council. In addition, Mr. Hite serves on the Board of Directors for the Theodore Roosevelt Foundation and the Union Sportsman Alliance.
 
Robert A. Iger, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Robert A. Iger is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. From 2000 until 2005, Mr. Iger served as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Walt Disney Company, helping to oversee all aspects of the company's worldwide operations including its filmed entertainment, theme parks and resorts, media networks and consumer products businesses. Mr. Iger also became a member of Disney's board of directors at this time. Mr. Iger began his career at ABC in 1974. Throughout his tenure at the company, Mr. Iger held a series of increasingly responsible senior management positions, including serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of Capital Cities/ABC, where he guided the complex merger of ABC with The Walt Disney Company. He officially joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as Chairman of the Disney-owned ABC Group and in 1999, was given the additional responsibility of President of Walt Disney International.   Mr. Iger is a member of the board of directors for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
 
Charles Kaye, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Charles R. Kaye, Co-President of Warburg Pincus, has been with the firm since 1986 and was instrumental in the launch and development of Warburg Pincus' Asian operations. Mr. Kaye is a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations; former Chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council and interim chairman of the Asia Society. He also sits on the International Advisory Board of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Board of Directors for the Partnership for New York City.
 
Jeffrey Kindler, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Jeff Kindler is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Kindler joined Pfizer in 2002 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel; he was named Vice Chairman in 2005 and appointed CEO in 2006. He previously served as President of Partner Brands, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of McDonald’s Corporation, Vice President of Litigation and Legal Policy at General Electric, and Partner at Williams & Connolly.  Mr. Kindler began his legal career as law clerk to Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the D.C. Circuit and later served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. He is Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a member of the Business Roundtable and currently serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Tufts University, and Ronald McDonald House Charities, as well as a number of other business-related and charitable boards.
 
Andrew Liveris, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Andrew N. Liveris is President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company, a global diversified specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics company based in Midland, Michigan. Mr. Liveris' 34 year Dow career has spanned manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, business and general management.  He has spent the bulk of his career in Asia, where he was general manager for the company's operations in Thailand, and later head of all Asia-Pacific operations.   Mr. Liveris is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of The Institute of Chemical Engineers. He serves on the board of directors of Citigroup and IBM; is a member of the executive committee of the US Business Council and Business Roundtable; and is past chairman and a current member of the board of the US-China Business Council.  Mr. Liveris is also a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, the Detroit Economic Club, the National Petroleum Council, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the American Australian Association and the U.S.-India CEO Forum.
 
Robert A. Mandell, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Robert A. Mandell served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Greater Properties from 1998 until 2005.  Currently, Mr. Mandell serves on the Board of Directors of Florida Hospital, The Burnham Institute for Medical Research of LaJolla, California, The Vermont Studio Center, and serves on the Audit and Finance Committee of the Adventist Health System.  Previously, Mr. Mandell served as a member of the Orange County Chairman’s Transportation Commission and the Blue Ribbon Panel on Education for the Orange County Public School System.
 
Alan Mulally, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Alan Mulally is President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Mulally joined Ford after nearly 40 years with Boeing where his more senior roles included serving as the executive vice president of The Boeing Company and the president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Throughout his career, Mr. Mulally has been recognized for his contributions and industry leadership, including being named one of “The World’s Most Influential People” by TIME magazine in 2009, “Person of the Year” for 2006 by Aviation Week magazine and one of “The Best Leaders of 2005” by BusinessWeek magazine.  He is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of England’s Royal Academy of Engineering. He also served as a past president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and is a former president of its Foundation.
 
Raul Pedraza, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Raul Pedraza is the Founder and President of Magno International L.P., a certified veteran and minority owned enterprise that provides global integrated logistics solutions to meet point-to-point distribution needs.   Mr. Pedraza has more than 25 years of experience in the logistics industry.   He is also a former President of the National Bonded Warehouse and Cargo Association and President of the Florida Customs' Brokers and Forwarders Association. After serving in the U.S. Army he founded Eagle Companies in 1982.  Eagle Companies grew into well-established global operations and in 1998 he merged Eagle Companies with Eagle Global Logistics (EGL), and became EGL’S President for Latin America and Advisor to the Chairman until founding Magno International, L.P.
 
Ivan Seidenberg, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Ivan Seidenberg is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon, a premier global network company based in New York.  Seidenberg was instrumental in forming Verizon through a number of mergers and acquisitions, including Bell Atlantic and NYNEX (1997), GTE (2000) and MCI (2006). He also helped create what is now Verizon Wireless in 1999.  Seidenberg has led Verizon since its inception, and the company now operates an advanced global Internet backbone, a premier national wireless network and a next-generation fiber-optic broadband network.  In June 2009, Seidenberg was elected chairman of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies. Also in 2009, he became a member of the President's Council of the New York Academy of Sciences.
 
Glenn Tilton, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Glenn Tilton is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of UAL Corporation and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Air Lines, its principal subsidiary. Prior to joining United in September 2002, Tilton was the vice chairman of the board of directors of ChevronTexaco, as well as the interim chairman of Dynegy Inc.  Tilton worked for 30 years in various marketing, corporate planning and European downstream assignments of increasing responsibility at Texaco Inc., ultimately assuming the role of chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 2001. Tilton serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Air Transport Association, the industry trade organization representing the leading U.S. airlines. He is also on the board of directors of Abbott Laboratories, and Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. Tilton serves on the board of trustees for the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry. He is a member of The Business Council and Business Roundtable.
 
James S. Turley, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
James S. Turley is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ernst & Young, an international accounting firm with auditing and accounting operations in 140 countries. He began his career with Ernst & Young in 1977, became Deputy Chairman in 2000 and Chairman and CEO in 2001. Mr. Turley co-chairs the Russia Foreign Investment Advisory Council and serves on the International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai. He is Chair of the Catalyst organization, an Officer for the Boy Scouts of America, Chair of the National Corporate Theater Fund, and a Trustee for Rice University. In addition, he is a member of the U.S Business Roundtable and Chair for the U.S. Center for Audit Quality's Governing Board.
 
Patricia Woertz, Appointee for Member, President’s Export Council
Patricia A. Woertz is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Archer Daniels Midland Company. Woertz was named CEO and President in April 2006, and assumed the additional role of Chairman of the board in February 2007.  Woertz began her career as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Ernst, later Ernst & Young, in Pittsburgh. She joined Gulf Oil Corporation in 1977, where she held various positions in refining, marketing, strategic planning and finance. Following the merger of Gulf and Chevron in 1987, Woertz led international operations and a global workforce as President of Chevron Canada and, later, Chevron International Oil Company. With the merger of Chevron and Texaco in 2001, she was named the executive vice president in charge of the company’s global refining, marketing, lubricant, and supply and trading operations.  Woertz serves on the board of directors of The Procter & Gamble Company, the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and The Business Council.