Background on Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth

President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of Labor Solis will deliver remarks to open the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building today.

Following the opening session, senior administration officials will host discussions on job creation and expanding the economy. Each discussion will have print pools present; all six will be webcast on obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/live.

To close the forum, the President will reassemble participants in the South Court Auditorium to hold a discussion. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will also deliver remarks.

The approximately 130 attendees include small business owners, experts from green jobs sector, business leaders, academics, Mayors and representatives from nonprofits. A complete list of attendees, organized by breakout session participation, is below.

Creating Jobs Through the Rebuilding of America’s Infrastructure

Moderated by:

• Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
• OMB Director Peter Orszag
• Participants include:
• Gerard Arpey, American Airlines
• Mark Ayers, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
• Chandra Brown, United Streetcar
• Larry Cohen, Communications Workers of America
• Frank Cownie, Mayor, Des Moines, IA
• Peter Darbee, PG&E Corporation
• Theresa Daytner, Daytner Construction Group
• Dan Dimicco, Nucor Corporation
• Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink
• Paula Hammond, Washington State Department of Transportation
• Steve Heminger, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
• Doug Holtz-Eakin, DHE Consulting
• Reed Hundt, Coalition for the Green Bank
• Robert Kuttner, American Prospect 
• Wick Moorman, Norfolk Southern
• Rhonda Perry, Missouri Rural Crisis Center 
• Doug  Pitcock, Williams Brothers Construction Company
• Rob Puentes, Brookings Institution
• Charles Whittington, Grammer Industries
• Edward Wytkind, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
• Mortimer Zuckerman, Boston Properties

Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and the Engine of Job Growth

Moderated by:

• Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
• SBA Administrator Karen Mills

Participants include:

• Diana Aviv, Independent Sector 
• David Barber, Barber Foods
• Dorothy Bridges, City First Bank of DC, NA
• Ben Burkett, Mississippi Association of Cooperatives 
• Ralph Everett, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies 
• Zoar Fulwilder, Mavid Construction
• Woody Hall, Diversapack
• Ed Hill, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• William Hite, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters
• David Ickert, Air Tractor, Inc.
• Kara Kelley, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
• Joni Marie O'Neill, Mission Viejo Florist, Inc.
• Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown, PA
• Rodney Rodrigue, Timewise Management Systems
• Eric Schmidt, Google Inc.
• Carl  Schramm, Kauffman Foundation
• Sheryl Schwartz, Blue Canopy Group, LLC
• Angie Selden, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc.
• Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia
• Jesse Turner, Tri-State Bank, Memphis
• Rose Wang, Binary Group

The Innovation Agenda and Green Jobs of the Future

Moderated by:

• Energy Secretary Steven Chu
• Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy

Participants include:

• Ron Bloom, Senior Counselor to the President for Manufacturing Policy
• Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy
• Frank Alix, Powerspan Corporation
• Frank Blake, The Home Depot
• Jan Blittersdorf, NRG Systems
• Stephanie Burns, Dow Corning
• Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, TX
• Wesley Clark, Growth Energy
• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green for All 
• Tom Friedman, New York Times 
• Leo Gerard, United Steel Workers
• Lynn Jurich, SunRun Solar
• Lawrence Katz, Harvard 
• Scott Lang, Silver Spring Networks
• David Lincoln, Element Partners 
• Andrew Liveris, Dow
• Frank MacInnis, EMCOR
• Terry O'Sullivan, Laborers International Union of North America
• John Podesta, Center for American Progress
• Jeff Sachs, Columbia 
• Ronald Saxton, Jeld-Wen
• Tom Soto, Craton Equity Partners

Expanding Job Opportunities for America’s Workers Through Exports

Moderated by:

• Lawrence Summers, Director, National Economic Council
• Fred Hochberg, Chairman, U.S. Export-Import Bank

Participants include:

• Bill Aossey, Midamar Corporation
• Greg Bentley, Bentley Systems
• Ursula Burns, Xerox Corporation
• Susan Collins, University of Michigan
• James Hoffa, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• Bob Iger, Walt Disney Company
• Farooq Kathwari, Ethan Allen
• Paul Krugman, Princeton University 
• Larry Lindsey, The Lindsey Group
• James McNerney, Boeing
• Raul Pedraza, Magno International
• Jeffrey Schott, Peterson Institute 
• Frederick Smith, Fed-Ex
• John Surma, United States Steel Corporation

Encouraging Business Investment, Competitiveness and Job Creation

Moderated by:

• Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
• Christy Romer, Chair, Council of Economic Advisers

Participants include:

• Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President
• Julius Genchowski, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
• Alan Blinder, Princeton University
• Byron Auguste, McKinsey & Company
• David Bing, Mayor of Detroit, MI
• David Brennan, AstraZeneca
• Anna  Burger, Change To Win
• William Bynum, Enterprise Corporation of the Delta Hope Community Credit Union
• Christianna Connell, future-ink
• Roger DeRose, Kessler Foundation
• John Eagleton, Northstar Aerospace
• Glenn Hutchins, Silver Lake
• David Jones, Chrysalis Ventures
• Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical
• Debra Lee, BET
• Arpana Mathur, American Enterprise Institute
• William McComb, Liz Claiborne
• Larry Mishel, Economic Policy Institute  <
• Surya Mohapatra, Quest Diagnostics Inc.
• James O'Brien Ashland, Inc.
• Don Peebles, The Peebles Corporation
• Antonio Perez, Eastman Kodak Company
• David Sandahl, Princeton Job Creation Forum
• Robert Shapiro, New Democratic Network
• Peter Solmssen, Siemens USA
• Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO
• Raul Valdes-Perez, Vivisimo, Inc
• Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat
• John Wilhelm, Unite Here

Strengthening Workers and Main Street

Moderated by:

• Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
• Melody Barnes, Director, Domestic Policy Council Director

Participants include:

• Ed Montgomery, Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers
• Ceci Rouse, Council of Economic Advisors
• Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
• Burrell Ellis, County Executive, DeKalb County, GA 
• Rob Carmona, STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Service
• Rev. Luis Cortes, Esperanza USA
• Noel Cuellar, Primera Plastics
• Ted Daywalt, Vetjobs.com
• Ray DiPasquale, Community College of Rhode Island
• Bob Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Joe Hansen, United Food and Commercial Workers
• Sal Iannuzzi, Monster Worldwide
• Randy Johnson, Workforce Development, Inc.
• Donna Klein, Corporate Voices for Working Families 
• Jamie Merisotis, Lumina Foundation 
• Ralph Moore, St. Frances Academy
• Penny Pritzker, Pritzker Realty
• Barry Rand, AARP 
• Bruce Reed, Democratic Leadership Council & Progressive Policy Institute 
• Robert Reich, Berkeley 
• Ken Rogers, Automation Alley
• Matthew Segal, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs
• Randall Stephenson, AT&T 
• Andy Stern, Service Employees International Union
• Ashley Swearengin, Mayor of Fresno, CA 
• Andy Van Kleunen, Workforce Alliance 
• Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers