President Obama to Appoint Ron Bloom Manufacturing Czar

September 06, 2009 8:12 PM


In Cincinnati tomorrow, President Obama will announce that he's appointing Ron Bloom his Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, White House sources tell ABC News.

Bloom is currently Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner as a member of the President’s Task Force on the Automotive Industry, named to that position in February. He will remain in that position even while he takes on his new task.

A key part of the team that advised the White House on the struggling U.S. auto industry, Bloom and team pushed U.S. automakers General Motors and Chrysler to come up with viable plans for the future, pushed the CEO of GM to resign, and pushed the U.S. government agreed to become a major shareholder in GM, ponying up $50 billion.

Working with the Auto Task Force, President Obama also supported Chrysler entering into a "short, surgical bankruptcy" and entering into a deal with FIAT while agreeing to provide the company with approximately $3.3 billion in debt or in possession financing to support Chrysler though the chapter 11 proceeding

A former vice president of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, Bloom was a restructuring expert for the U.S. Steelworkers. In his new position, Bloom will work with the National Economic Council, and the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, Energy, and Labor.

In a statement to be released Monday, President Obama will say, “Last week we learned that our manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in 18 months and had the highest monthly output in two years. It’s a sign that we’re on the right track to economic recovery, but that we still have a long way to go. That’s why I’ve asked Ron Bloom to help coordinate my Administration’s manufacturing policy. Distinguished by his extraordinary service on the Auto Task Force and his extensive experience with both business and labor, Ron has the knowledge and experience necessary to lead the way in creating the good-paying manufacturing jobs of the future. We must do more to harness the power of American ingenuity and productivity so that we can put people back to work and unleash our full economic potential.â€