An expert panel of manufacturing and infrastructure professionals discuss how manufacturing is leading the way to a better future of jobs, technology, and training.
James W. Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T Services, Inc.
Scott Crump, Chairman of the Board and Chief Innovation Officer, Stratasys
Robbie Diamond, Founder, President and CEO, Securing America's Future Energy
Barbara Lang, President and CEO, D.C. Chamber of Commerce
Rey Ramsey, CEO, TechNet
Moderator: Steve Clemons, Washington Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic
Bio
James W. Cicconi
Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, is responsible for AT&T's public policy organization, and is chair of the AT&T Foundation. He has served in this capacity since November 2005, following the close of the merger between SBC Communications and AT&T Corp.
Previously, Mr. Cicconi served as general counsel and executive vice president for law & government affairs at AT&T Corp. Prior to joining AT&T in September 1998, he was a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. Mr. Cicconi also served in the White House under two presidents, including two years as deputy chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, and four years as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and to White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker, III.
Mr. Cicconi currently serves as a director of El Paso Electric Company, the American Council on Germany, Jobs for America's Graduates, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; is a member of the USTelecom Association executive committee, the University of Texas at Austin Development Board and the LBJ School of Public Affairs advisory council; he is an honorary trustee of The Brookings Institution, and is vice president of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. He recently served as chairman of the finance committee for the commissioning of USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77).
Mr. Cicconi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974 and a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1977. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of Texas.
Steve Clemons
Steve Clemons is Washington editor at large for The Atlantic as well as editor in chief of Atlantic LIVE. He also publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note at The Atlantic.com. Steve is Senior Fellow and Founder of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C., where he previously served as executive vice president. Clemons writes and speaks frequently about the D.C. political scene, foreign policy and national security issues, as well as domestic and global economic policy challenges.
Scott Crump
Scott Crump is Chairman of the Board and Chief Innovation Officer for Stratasys.
Robbie Diamond
Robbie Diamond is the Founder, President and CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). In 2006, he came together with Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, and General P.X. Kelley, USMC (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the Marine Corps, to form SAFE’s Energy Security Leadership Council, a group of prominent business leaders and retired senior military officers dedicated to combating the nation’s dangerous dependence on oil. Since then, SAFE and the ESLC have been at the forefront of the energy policy debate, successfully helping to shape legislation in 2007 and shepherd a new, comprehensive energy bill through the Senate Energy Committee in 2009.
Diamond is also the President and CEO of the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by the nation’s dependence on petroleum. The Coalition was launched in November 2009, and as its first official act, released the Electrification Roadmap, a sweeping report outlining a vision for the deployment of a fully integrated electric drive network.
Prior to his roles with SAFE and the Electrification Coalition, Diamond served as Deputy Director of Community Outreach on Senator Joe Lieberman’s 2004 presidential campaign. Before that, Diamond was a Director at the Washington firm Fontheim International LLC, working in all practice areas of the firm. Prior to coming to Washington, he worked with senior executives at Seagram Spirits and Wine Group on special projects.
Diamond earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in Peace and Conflict Studies and Political Science, as well as a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School.
Barbara Lang
Barbara Lang is President and Chief Executive Officer of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.
Rey Ramsey
Rey Ramsey is President & Chief Executive Officer of TechNet. TechNet is the preeminent bipartisan political network of Chief Executive Officers and Senior Executives of leading U.S. technology companies. Our members are the nation’s drivers of innovation in the fields of information technology, e-commerce, clean technology, biotechnology, venture capital and investment banking representing two million employees and $800 billion in revenues.
Mr. Ramsey was previously Chief Executive Officer of One Economy Corporation, a nonprofit organization that leverages the power of technology and information to connect low-income people to the economic mainstream by bringing broadband into their homes, producing public-purpose media, and training and employing youth to enhance communities’ technological capacity. He led the organization’s growth from four employees working in basement to a global organization that has taken root on four continents. Since 2000, One Economy has helped bring broadband access into the homes of over 300,000 low-income Americans. More than 17 million people have visited One Economy’s multilingual web properties.
Mr. Ramsey has been on the forefront of driving the creation and distribution of public purpose media, most notably through the Public Internet Channel (www.pic.tv), which he founded. Together with acclaimed director Robert Townsend, Mr. Ramsey has co-produced the miniseries “Diary of a Single Mom” and “Los Americans” for PIC.tv, as well as the soon to be released, full length feature, “The Hive”. Through One Economy programs, hundreds of youth have delivered nearly 50,000 hours of service to their communities.
Mr. Ramsey has spent years creating innovative partnerships between nonprofits, government and the private sector. Mr. Ramsey is the author, with Ben Hecht, of the book ManagingNonprofits.org: Dynamic Management for the Digital Age (John Wiley & Sons).
Prior to the founding of One Economy, Mr. Ramsey served as president and chief operating officer of the Enterprise Foundation. Before joining Enterprise, Mr. Ramsey served in the cabinets of two governors of Oregon as the state’s director of housing and community services and practiced law.
Mr. Ramsey serves on many boards, including the Schnitzer Investment Corporation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the Washington Jesuit Academy, where he is vice-chairman. In addition Mr. Ramsey serves on the Advisory Board of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. He was also chairman of the NAACP’s Futures Commission and served on the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. He was also the chairman of Habitat for Humanity International from 2003-2005.
Mr. Ramsey holds a bachelors degree in political science from Rutgers University and is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School.
Barbara Lang, CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce believes that the United States has lost it's competitive edge regarding education. Lang asserts that "we need to look at education in a whole different way because life is passing our young people by."
