The Business Council is an organization of business leaders in the United States.
It was founded by Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper and investment banker Sidney Weinberg as the Business Advisory Council for the United States Department of Commerce in 1933, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It formed the Industrial Advisory Board for the National Recovery Administration during the Great Depression. It also established committees to discuss the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Banking Act of 1935 and the Social Security Act.
It was renamed The Business Council as an organization independent from the Department of Commerce in 1961, under President John F. Kennedy.
Membership is limited to 200 active members, and the organization is strictly non-partisan. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C..
1933: Gerard Swope, General Electric.1934: S. Clay Williams, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.1934-35: Henry P. Kendall, Kendall Company.1936: George H. Mead, Mead Corporation.1937-39: W. Averell Harriman, Brown Bros. & Co..1940-41: William L. Batt, War Production Board.1942-43: R. R. Deupree, Procter & Gamble.1944-45: Thomas B. McCabe, Scott Paper Company.1946: George M. Humphrey, National Steel Corporation.1947-48: John L. Collyer, Goodrich Corporation.1949-50: James S. Knowlson, Stewart-Warner.1951-52: Robert T. Stevens, J.P. Stevens and Company.1953: John D. Biggers, Libbey–Owens–Ford.1954-55: Harold Boeschenstein, Owens Corning.1956-57: Eugene Holman, Jersey Standard.1958-59: Stephen Bechtel, Jr., Bechtel.1960-61: Ralph J. Cordiner, General Electric.1961-62: Roger Blough, U.S. Steel.1963-64: F. R. Kappel, AT&T.1965-66: W.B. Murphy, Campbell Soup Company.1967-68: Albert L. Nickerson, Mobil Oil.1969-70: Fred J. Borch, General Electric.1971-72: William M. Batten, J. C. Penney.1973-74: David Packard, Hewlett-Packard.1975-76: Edmund W. Littlefield, General Electric.1977-78: John D. deButts, AT&T.1979-80: Reginald H. Jones, General Electric.1981-82: Walter B. Wriston, Citicorp.1983-84: Clifton C. Garvin, Jr., Exxon.1985-86: Ruben F. Mettler, TRW Inc..1987-88: Stephen Bechtel, Jr., Betchel.1989-90: Roger B. Smith, General Motors Corporation.1991-92: John F. Welch, Jr., General Electric.1993-94: Robert E. Allen, AT&T.1995-96: Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., DuPont.1997-98: Larry Bossidy, AlliedSignal.1999-00: Ralph S. Larsen, Johnson & Johnson.2001-02: William T. Esrey, Sprint Corporation.2003-04: Charles O. Holliday, Jr., Bank of America.2005-06: Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric.2007-08: W. James McNerney, Jr., Boeing.2009-10: James W. Owens, Caterpillar Inc..2011-12: James Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co..2013-14: Andrew N. Liveris, The Dow Chemical Company.2015-16: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon.com.Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis RobertsAjay Banga, President and CEO, MasterCardSteven A. Kandarian, Chairman, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.Ellen J. Kullman, Retired Chair of the Board & CEO, DuPontDavid M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle GroupStephen F. Angel, Chairman, President & CEO, Praxair, Inc.James Dimon, Chairman & CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.Kenneth Frazier, Chairman, President & CEO, Merck & Co., Inc.Greg C. Garland, Chairman & CEO, Phillips 66Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO, Johnson & JohnsonHugh Grant, Chairman & CEO, Monsanto CompanyHenry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.Andrew N. Liveris, President, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Dow Chemical CompanyJames McNerney, Jr., Chairman, The Boeing CompanyPatricia A. Woertz, Retired Chairman & CEO, Archer Daniels Midland Company