Coronavirus has created a U.S. market full of instability and uncertainty, but President Donald Trump is calling on industry leaders and experts to answer the call “to chart the path forward toward a future of unparalleled American prosperity.”
Trump announced the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups on April 14, the same day he stated that “plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized” during a White House briefing. Included among the different industry groups is a Tech task force featuring some of the top names in technology and social media.
The announcement stated that bipartisan executives, economists, scholars, and industry leaders “will work together with the White House to chart the path forward toward a future of unparalleled American prosperity. The health and wealth of America is the primary goal, and these groups will produce a more independent, self-sufficient, and resilient Nation.”
The Tech revival task force consists of the following big names: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google (Alphabet Inc) CEO Sundar Pichai, co-founder and chairman of Oracle Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Safra Catz, Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff, SAP Co-CEO Jennifer Morgan, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, Intel CEO Bob Swan, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins, Advanced Micro Devices President and CEO Lisa Su, Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan and Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
Other notable tech experts, including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX co-founder and CEO Elon Musk and T-Mobile President and CEO Mike Sievert, were on separate task forces.
Protocol editor at large David Pierce made note of the tech task force in the outlet’s Wednesday newsletter, calling Trump’s announcement of the tech revival task force a “big deal.” But the outlet still found a way to knock the announcement by complaining about the acronym for the task forces:
“It’s also quite a name — though the acronym, GAERIG, leaves something to be desired.”
The Protocol writer also knocked Trump’s list of Big Tech executives, suggesting “there are some notable names missing.” So the outlet put together a list of what it is calling “surprising snubs,” which included people like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell, AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson and others in the entertainment industry.
Separately listed as “others that jumped out at” Pierce, included: Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Palantir CEO Alex Karp.
In a piece on the same topic headlined, “Who’s in and who’s out on Trump’s tech revival task force,” Protocol suggested that “[t]he list of leaders can reveal some of the administration’s thinking about who matters, and who might not.”
