President Joe Biden has named 25 members, including FedEx Corp. President and CEO Raj Subramaniam, to sit on the President’s Export Council, a committee that offers insight into the ways that government policies impact U.S. trade performance.
The announcement, made on Tuesday, adds Subramaniam, who became FedEx’s (NYSE: FDX) CEO last year, to a list of business leaders who will offer feedback on how Biden’s trade policies are affecting businesses across multiple U.S. sectors, including transportation.
Subramaniam accepted Biden’s offer even though he is still adjusting to the new role at FedEx, succeeding founder Frederick W. Smith, and is spearheading arguably the most dramatic operational changes in FedEx’s 52-year history.
Under Subramaniam’s leadership, the company is overhauling operational models that had been in place since its founding, and has pledged to cut more than $5 billion in costs by its 2025 fiscal year, which begins June 1, 2024.
Washington businessman Mark D. Ein will chair the Export Council, according to published reports. Ein currently serves as chairman of Lindblad Expeditions and Kastle Systems. Rosalind Brewer, who will serve as the council’s vice chair, had been COO and group president of Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) and CEO of big-box retailer Sam’s Club, a unit of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
The Export Council features expertise from labor, real estate, national security and law, and leaders of Fortune 200 companies. Biden has previously reached out to some of the executives for advice on the state of the economy, according to published reports.