President Obama has appointed Mac Arthur Corporation CEO, Christie Wong, and 18 other leaders in industry, academia, and labor to the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee 2.0.

The new Steering Committee will build on the work of the previous group and will work closely with the White House’s National Economic Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Department of Commerce.

“I am honored to serve on the Steering Committee 2.0. We will work to further implement key AMP recommendations and engage the broader manufacturing community in the important strategic agenda to build and sustain U.S. manufacturing competitiveness,” Wong says.

According to a White House press release, President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee “2.0,” part of a continuing effort to maintain US leadership in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance America’s global competitiveness. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) was created by the President in 2011 with the recognition that industry, academia, and government must work in partnership to revitalize our manufacturing sector.

The new Steering Committee will build on progress made by the inaugural Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee, created by the President. As outlined in its report released last year, Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing, that group called for a national effort to strengthen the US advanced manufacturing sector.

Most importantly, the inaugural Steering Committee called for sustaining US investments in science, technology, and innovation; establishing a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes – a set of public-private partnerships to build shared high-tech facilities and advance U.S. leadership in emerging technologies; upgrading community-college workforce training programs and deploying the talent of returning veterans to meet critical manufacturing skills needs; and improving the business climate for manufacturing investment through tax, regulatory, energy, and trade reform. The new Steering Committee will build on the progress made over the last several years and continue to make America a magnet for jobs and manufacturing so we continue to manufacture things the rest of the world buys.

Recognizing that the US manufacturing sector draws its strength from a multitude of tightly linked capabilities contributed by the private sector, academia, and labor, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and its second-generation Steering Committee will draw upon leadership from across manufacturers of all sizes, leading universities, and labor. Chaired by Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman, and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, and Rafael Reif, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the new Steering Committee includes:

• Wes Bush, Chairman, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman Corp.
• Mary Sue Coleman President, The University of Michigan
• David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
• Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley
• Kenneth Ender, President, Harper College
• Leo Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers
• Hon. Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Eric Kelly, President and CEO, Overland Storage
• Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa Inc.
• Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman, and CEO, The Dow Chemical Company
• Ajit Manocha, CEO, Global Foundries
• Douglas Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.
• Annette Parker, President, South Central College
• G.P. “Bud” Peterson, President, Georgia Tech
• Luis Proenza, President, The University of Akron
• Rafael Reif, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Eric Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens Corp.
• Mike Splinter, Executive Chairman of the Board, Applied Materials Inc.
• Christie Wong Barrett, CEO, Mac Arthur Corp.