AIAC at YALE CEO CAUCUS IN DC
For Immediate Release
September 17, 2025 – Washington, D.C. L. M. Levie, Chairman of American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC), joined 100 corporate leaders from industry and finance along with senators, congressmen, Executive Agency officials, and journalists at the Yale CEO Caucus, held in Washington DC on September 17, 2025. Convened by the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, the program was held on the top floor and terrace at 101 Constitution Avenue, in full view of the US Capitol.
The Yale CEO Caucus was entitled “Trading Places: Understanding the Rules on Where to Invest During Periods of Extreme Uncertainty” and focused on the following general themes:
Keeping Pace in a Rapidly Changing Trade and Policy Environment
Rewriting the Trade Rules to Win the Global AI and Tech Race
Navigating Multinational Business Trade Through the Tides of Nationalism
Following an introduction by Yale School of Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Senator and Majority Whip John Barrasso, MD (R-WY), Senator and Majority Whip Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Senator David McCormick (R-PA).
Yale CEO Caucus participants included the following:
Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer
Richard Dickson, CEO, Gap
Don Allan, Jr., CEO, Stanley Black & Decker
Nick Pinchuk, Chairman and CEO, Snap-On Inc.
Richard Adkerson, Chairman, Freeport-McMoran
Tom Rogers, Founder, MSNBC and CNBC
Glenn Fogel, CEO, Bookings Holdings
Farooq Kathwari, Chair and CEO, Ethan Allen
Dr. Joel Meyers, Founder and Chair, AccuWeather
Jeffrey Solomon, President, TD Cowen
Nancy Brown, CEO, American Heart Association
Mark Ein, CEO, Capital Investment Corporation
Steve Moore, Economic Advisor to President Trump and Senior Fellow, Heritage Foundation
Donna Shalala, 18th Secretary, US Health and Human Services Department, US Congresswoman
Olivia Troye, Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, Member, White House Coronavirus Task Force
Chris Shays, Former US Congressman
Denis Ross, former US Envoy to the Middle East and Special Advisor to US Secretary of State
Stephanie Ruhle, Anchor, MSNBC 11th Hour, NBC News Senior Business Analyst, former Managing Editor and Anchor for Bloomberg Television
Morgan Brennan, Anchor, CNBC
Steve Liesman, Senior Economics Reporter, CNBC
Steven Bandrowczak, CEO, Xerox
Pedro Pizarro, CEO, Edison International
Thomas Bossert, President, Trinity Cyber
Mary Bara, Chair and CEO, GM
Elaine Chao, 18th US Secretary of Transportation
James Clapper, 4th Director of National Intelligence
Roger Crandall, Chair, Mass Mutual
Charlie Dent, former Congressman,
Stuart Eizenstat, Former US Ambassador, EU and White House Domestic Policy Director
Joele Frank, Founder and Managing Partner, Joele Frank, Wilkerson, Brimmer Katcher
Thomas Gage, CEO, Marconi Pacific
Chris Galvin, Former CEO, Motorola Solutions
Greg Ip, Chief Economic Contributor and Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Stacy Kenworthy, Founder and Chair, Asylum Capital
John Ketchum, Chair, President and CEO, Next Era Energy
John Lapides, CEO and Chair, United Aluminum Corporation
Steven Lipin, Founder and CEO, Gladstone Place Partners
Paras Malik, Counselor to the Secretary & Chief AI Policy, US Treasury
Anja Manuel, Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group
Frank McCourt, Jr., Executive Chair, McCourt Global
Robert Miller, Chair, Purdue Pharma
Alan Patricoff, Co-Founder and Chair, Primetime Partners, Founder Patricoff Capital.
James Quincey, Chair and CEO, The Coca Cola Company
Dan Raviv, Former Correspondent, CBS News
Andrew Reamer, Professor, Professor, George Washington University
Ralph Reed Jr., Founder & Chairman, Faith & Freedom Coalition
Dennis Ross, Ambassador, Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Kevin Rudd, Ambassador and former Prime Minister of Australia
Rui Chenggang, Former Director and Anchor, China Central Television
Robert Simonds, Founder and Chair, STX Entertainment
Lewis Steverson, Vice Chair, EVP and Chief Legal and Admin. Officer, Corning
Richard Swett, Former US Ambassador to Denmark
Eddie Tam, CEO, Central Assets Investments
Wendell Weeks, Chair and CEO, Corning
Lauren Hirsch, Reporter, New York Times
Nick Lichtenberg, Contributing Editor, Fortune
Adam Boehler, Special Envoy for Hostage Response, US State Department
William D. Anderson, Senior Managing Director, Evercore
By Video, the following individuals participated:
Marc Benioff, Founder, Chair and CEO, Salesforce
Sam Mulopulos, Chief of Staff to US Trade Representative Jamison Greer
Mike Huckabee, US Ambassador to Israel, former Governor of Arkansas
At the conclusion of the Yale CEO Caucus, Dr. Sonnenfeld led the presentation of the Yale Legend in Leadership Award to Greg Brown, Chair and CEO of Motorola Solutions. The award ceremony included remarks by Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, Glenn Fogel, CEO of Bookings Holdings, and Marc Benioff, Founder, Chair and CEO of Salesforce.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management commented, “I am pleased to recognize Greg Brown as our Yale Legend in Leadership Award Winner, following our recognition of Greg as the Fortune Magazine CEO of the Year. Nobody deserves this honor more than Greg. He has transformed an iconic American company, reinventing Motorola Solutions as a safety and security technology powerhouse.”
Following the event, Mr. Levie remarked, “Like all prior Yale CEO Caucus sessions, today’s discussion was candid, bi-partisan, respectful, and stimulating. Professor Sonnenfeld’s orchestration of this symphony of debate was diplomatic and adept.”
Mr. Levie continued, “I join my friends and colleagues at the Yale CEO Caucus in extending warm congratulations to Greg Brown, who has achieved an astonishing and heroic corporate feat, reinvigorating the mission and business of Motorola. This resulted in a 1,500% return to investors over his tenure and the company ascending to the ranks of Fortune’ Most Admired Company list. Turnarounds of this magnitude require perseverance, courage, and tenacity, key attributes which Greg holds in abundance, along with humor and humility. Great work, Greg!”
For further information, please see:
https://som.yale.edu/centers/chief-executive-leadership-institute/programs/ceo-caucus
About Glenn Brown
Greg Brown – Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Motorola Solutions
Greg Brown has been the chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions for 18 years, guiding the near‑100‑year‑old firm through a transformative era that includes more than 50 acquisitions and a total shareholder return exceeding 1,500 percent. Under his leadership the company has repeatedly earned top honors, such as number one on Fortune’s Most Admired List list and placement on Time’s World’s Best Companies Ranking.
Before joining Motorola Solutions, Brown served as chairman and CEO of Micromuse and held the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Rutgers University Board of Governors, and the Midwest chapter of the Navy SEALs Foundation. He also co‑chairs Prium, sits on the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on numerous Chicago civic and business boards, including the Economic Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Rutgers University, where he now chairs the Board of Governors. He is a two‑time presidential adviser, having served on President Obama’s Management Advisory Board and President George W. Bush’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
His tenure is marked by a focus on mission‑critical communications for public safety and enterprise customers, extensive community philanthropy, and a reputation as one of the nation’s top CEOs.
For further information, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Brown_(businessman)
About the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute
The Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI) is the pioneer of CEO learning and hosts CEO Summits which bring together top business leaders and policy makers, as well as leading academics, in a unique learning environment that fosters candid, off-the-record exchanges among participants. The Yale Mayors College is a best-practices dialogue among municipal leaders in an off-the-record interactive setting, with participants sharing the steps they are taking to make their cities more livable. The Yale CEO Caucus is a semiannual roundtable for business leaders, political leaders, and scholars to discuss the business implications of urgent national and global events that span economics, diplomacy, security, energy, environment, regulation, and politics. The Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit brings together university presidents and board chairs, along with other top leadership, to discuss the higher education environment and key strategies to shape the future of colleges and universities in the U.S.
CELI is the world’s first school for CEOs, featuring applied research and peer-driven learning through lively exchanges among the world’s top business leaders, influential public policy makers, media opinion leaders, as well as foremost scholarly thought leaders, employing candid, confidential discussions of timely global business leadership challenges and compelling societal concerns.
For further information, please see:
https://som.yale.edu/centers/chief-executive-leadership-institute
About the Yale Legend in Leadership Award
The Yale Legend in Leadership Award was created 35 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Recipients have included the following:
March 2025
Glenn Fogel, CEO, Bookings Holdings
December 2024
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
Larry Fink, Chair and CEO of BlackRock
September 2024
James Quincey, CEO of Coca Cola Corporation
June 2024
Marc Benioff, Founder, Chair & CEO, Salesforce
March 2024
Mike Sievert, President & CEO, T-Mobile
January 2024
Shirley Tilghman, 19th President, Princeton University
December 2023
Ajay Banga, President, World Bank Group
September 2023
Arvind Krishna, Chairman & CEO, IBM Corporation
June 2023
Steven Spielberg, Filmmaker & Chairman of Amblin Partners
March 2023
Kathy Warden, Chair, President & CEO, Northrop Grumman Corporation
January 2023
Hanna Holborn Gray, 10th President, University of Chicago
December 2022
Satya Nadella, Chairman & CEO, Microsoft
June 2022
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
September 2022
Darius Adamczyk, Chairman & CEO, Honeywell
March 2022
W. Douglas Parker, CEO, American Airlines Group
December 2021
Albert Bourla, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer
Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO, Johnson & Johnson
September 2021
Lynn J. Good, CEO, Duke Energy
June 2021
Lisa Su, CEO, Advanced Micro Devices
March 2021
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
December 2020
Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart Corp.
September 2020
Arne M. Sorenson, CEO, Marriot International
June 2020
Brian C. Cornell, CEO, Target
December 2019
Randall L. Stephenson, CEO, AT&T
September 2019
Colin Powell, Retired Four-Star U.S. Army General; Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–93), and 65th U.S. Secretary of State (2001–05)
June 2019
Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty, Chairman, President & CEO, IBM Corporation
March 2019
Janet Yellen, Former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
December 2018
Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever PLC
September 2018
Mary T. Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors Company
June 2018
Brian Moynihan, Chairman & CEO, Bank of America
March 2018
David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder & Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group
December 2017
Leonard S. Schleifer, President & CEO, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
George D. Yancopoulos, President & Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
September 2017
Brian L. Roberts, Chairman & CEO, Comcast Corporation
June 2017
Ronald M. Shaich, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Panera Bread
December 2016
Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.
September 2016
Marillyn A. Hewson, Chairman, President & CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation
June 2016
Zhang Ruimin, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Haier Group
March 2016
Denise M. Morrison, President & CEO, Campbell Soup Company
December 2015
Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman, President & CEO, Merck & Co.
September 2015
W. James McNerney, Chairman, The Boeing Company
June 2015
Ian M. Cook, Chairman, President & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive
March 2015
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs Group
Prior Winners
Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman & CEO, Alcoa
JIANG Jianqing, Chairman, ICBC
GAO Xiqing, President & CIO, China Investment Corporation
D. Scott Davis, Chairman, UPS
Frank Blake, former Chairman & CEO, The Home Depot
Duncan L. Niederauer, former CEO, NYSE
Kenneth R. Feinberg, Managing Partner, Feinberg Rozen
Ellen J. Kullman, former Chairman & CEO, DuPont
David Stern, former Commissioner, National Basketball Associate
FU Chengyu, former Chairman, Sinopec
David M. Cote, Chairman & CEO, Honeywell International
Sir James Wolfensohn, Former President, World Bank Group
Jeffrey L. Bewkes, Chairman & CEO, Time Warner Inc.
Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo
Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman & CEO, General Electric Company
Michael S. Dell, Chairman & CEO, Dell Inc.
Andrew Liveris, Chairman, President & CEO, The Dow Chemical Company
Kenneth Chenault, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company
Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, Chairman & CEO, JCPenney Company, Inc.
Alan Mullally, President & CEO, Ford Motor Company
Anne Mulcahy, Chairman, Xerox Corporation
Robert A. Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Ivan G. Seidenberg, Chairman & CEO, Verizon Communications
Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO, JPMorgan Chase
Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Former Chairman & CEO, IBM
Richard J. Harrington, Chairman & CEO, The Thomson Corporation
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman & CEO, The Blackstone Group
Herbert V. Kohler Jr., Chairman, President & CEO, Kohler Company
Thomas G. Stemberg, Founder, Staples
Wilbur L. Ross Jr., Chairman & CEO, W.L. Ross & Company
Terry S. Semel, Chairman & CEO, Yahoo!
Ann M. Fudge, Chairman & CEO, Young & Rubicam
John E. Pepper Jr., Former Chairman & CEO, The Procter & Gamble Co.
Jack Valenti, Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Association
Kenneth L. Wolfe, Former Chairman & CEO, The Hershey Company
John C. Bogle, Founder, The Vanguard Group
William W. George, Former Chairman & CEO, Medtronic
Roger A. Enrico, Former Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo
Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder, Infosys
Ratan Tata, Tata Group
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for the construction of major airports, schools, hospitals, performing arts and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary. AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance, emergency portable power generators utilized in global conflict zones and during natural disasters.
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, exploration, and the performing arts. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, the Trilateral Commission, and the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: HTTPS://WWW.AIAC.COM, HTTPS://WWW.AIAC.COM/OUR-VALUES
Media Contact:
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+ 1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com