Chip McClure, ArvinMeritor chairman, chief executive officer and president, has been named first vice chair of the Detroit Regional Chamber Board of Directors for the 2010-2011 program year and co-chair of the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference. In this position, McClure will help lead a charge that will bring viability back to U.S. manufacturing.
“As vice chair, I will continue to build on the work the Detroit Regional Chamber is doing that will serve as a microcosm of a national initiative to strengthen the partnership between the private and public sectors,” McClure says. “This effort will help our country regain its competitive edge on the global economic playing field.”
McClure, already a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and the Business Leaders for Michigan, has been an active leader locally and in Washington D.C. on building cooperation and interaction between business, community and government.
“This type of cooperation will lead our country back to the economic and technological power that it has historically enjoyed,” he says. “We need to demonstrate that U.S. manufacturing is still a wealth creator, serving as an integrator for technology, energy and the environment.”
McClure has long addressed key issues on American manufacturing, including:
• Supporting long-term educational achievement and closing skill gaps;
• Building confidence among international investors;
• Encouraging government support of research and development on both basic and applied research to support product commercialization; and
• Creating a pro-industry climate with policies on trade, taxes, energy, health care, education and training that make it competitive for U.S. and foreign manufacturers to build in this country.
“No country can grow and prosper with an economy rooted in service-based industries,” McClure says. “ ‘Made in America’ is not something we can afford to dismiss as an old way of life – rather, it needs to be our renewed commitment for economic vitality. ‘Made in America’ should be our new business plan.”
McClure begins his role as first vice chair on July 1. Planning for the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference will begin in August.
