Chelsea “Chip” C. White III, Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics, was recently appointed to serve on the Executive Advisory Committee for the Council on Competitiveness’ new U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative (USMCI).  Founded in 1986, the Council on Competitiveness is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on enhancing the economic competitiveness of the U.S.  Based in Washington D.C., its members comprise corporation chief executives, university presidents, and labor leaders. 

The Executive Advisory Committee will help shape different aspects of the USMCI, provide expertise, and address integration issues. The USMCI, guided by input from the Executive Advisory Committee, will work to ensure that America is an attractive environment for high-value manufacturing and that the U.S. retains its position of leadership in an increasingly crowded and sophisticated global economic arena.

Former Georgia Tech president Wayne Clough also served in various leadership roles on the Council, including university co-vice chair. The Council is made up of three co-vice chairs, representing industry, universities, and labor that together make up the governing body of the Council on Competitiveness. Clough, with co-chair Sam Palmisano, chairman and CEO of IBM, also helped the Council launch the National Innovation Initiative.—a call to action to bolster U.S. competitiveness and innovation—that paved the way for the American COMPETES Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007.