AIAC REPRESENTED AT THE YALE CEO SUMMIT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2023 – New York, New York - American Industrial Acquisition Corporation Chairman L. M. Levie participated in the 140th Yale School of Management CEO Summit, which took place on December 11 and 12, 2023 in New York City. The Summit was led by Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at Yale School of Management, and Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies. Dr. Sonnenfeld is founder and CEO of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
The Yale CEO Summit is a bi-annual event that convenes influential CEOs from major Fortune 500 companies, political and academic leaders for collaborative, off the record discussions on critical global topics. The December 2023 Summit, themed "Re-imagining Your Strategic Mission with Your Current Leadership," provided a dynamic forum for corporate, government and thought leaders to explore current challenges and opportunities facing industries worldwide.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie weighed in during a vigorous CEO discussion concerning the importance of organizational values and culture on corporate renewal, in which he described AIAC’s Shared Sacrifice Program for corporate transformation. “You need to assemble all stakeholders, ask them for a measured contribution and see that everyone at the table has taken a measured, shared sacrifice,” he commented.
Other topics covered during the Summit included the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Ukraine war, China-Taiwan tensions, defamation, misinformation in social media, hate speech on university campuses, corporate consolidation in the media, anti-trust enforcement, retailing industry challenges, artificial Intelligence, cyber terrorism, cryptocurrencies, shareholder activism, the role of the public capital markets in supporting innovation, and climate change.
Summit participants included the following:
William A. Ackman, Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Senior Chairman, Goldman Sachs
Ambassador John Negroponte, former US Ambassador to the UN
The Honorable Ned Lamont, Governor of Connecticut
Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President and CEO of Ethan Allen
Brad Karp, Chairman, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Christopher Krebs, Former US Director of Cybersecurity & Infrastructure
President Isaac Herzog, Israel
Jared Kushner, Former Senior Advisor, The White House
Mike Sievert, CEO, T-Mobile
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Editor, DealBook, The New York Times; Co-Anchor, CNBC
Dr. Joel N. Myers, Founder & Executive Chairman, AccuWeather
James F. McCann, Founder & Chairman, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
Kay Koplovitz, Founder, USA Networks; Chairman, Springboard Enterprises
Sara Eisen, Co-Anchor, Squawk on the Street, CNBC
Senator Richard Blumenthal, US Senator, Connecticut
Tom Rogers, Founder, CNBC, MSNBC
Bob Bakish, President & CEO, Paramount Global
Tom Wilson, CEO, Allstate Insurance
Jennifer Witz, CEO, Sirius XM Radio
Bob Diamond, Former Chairman of Barclays, Founder & CEO, Atlas Merchant Capital
Asutosh Padhi, Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company
Igor Kirman, Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Erik Nordstrom, CEO, Nordstrom
Jeff Horwitz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Morgan Brennan, Anchor, CNBC Closing Bell
Steven Brill, Founder, American Lawyer and Court TV, Co-CEO, NewsGuard Technologies
Gary P. Naftalis, Partner & Co-Chairman, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
The Honorable Douglas Ginsburg, Senior Judge, DC Circuit, US Court of Appeals
Nancy Brown, CEO, American Heart Association
Alan Slatas, Partner, AlixPartners
Mary C. Tanner, Senior Managing Director, Evolution Life Science Partners
John Driscoll, President, US Healthcare; EVP, Walgreens
At the conclusion of the Yale CEO Summit program, Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group, was presented the Yale Legend in Leadership Award by Jessica Sibley, CEO of TIME, Alex Gorsky, Executive Chairman of Johnson & Johnson and Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. Mr. Banga was recognized as an inspiring, ethical global business leader. During his 11 years as CEO of Mastercard, revenues tripled, net income increased sixfold, and market capitalization grew by 18 times from under $20 billion to more than $360 billion. Mr. Banga extended the brand’s Priceless campaign to create the Priceless Planet Coalition, a group of 100 firms that make environmental investments. Now, at the World Bank, Mr. Banga is focused on addressing challenges including poverty, climate change, the debt load in emerging markets, and food insecurity. In accepting the award, Ajay Banga declared that, truly successful leaders need to attract team members with high IQ, EQ, and DQ, which he defined as the “Decency Quotient”, the instinct and drive to take the ethical path forward.
Following the Yale CEO Summit, Mr. Levie remarked, “Professor Sonnenfeld possesses a rare talent for attracting top global corporate and political leaders, capturing their full attention and engagement, and eliciting candid and respectful dialogue. His combination of charm, wit, and an encyclopedic knowledge of business, sports, and music is nothing short of astonishing. As I have personally witnessed as a panelist in his class on Leadership at the Yale School of Management, Jeffrey is as beloved and charismatic a figure on campus as he is in the concrete canyons of capitalism. He is a force of nature and the conscience of corporate America.”
About AIAC
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. 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 Corporation manufacturing 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. AIAC companies manufacture materials, components, assemblies, packaging, equipment, and finished products. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded wire and cable, electrical devices, lighting products, plumbing supplies, construction equipment, indoor and outdoor cooking appliances and fixtures, electronics, cameras, and watches throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
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 Canada, the US, and Mexico. A leader in ultra high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies also produce 2,200 fan blades and blisks for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell. AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Honda. In connection with its paper manufacturing interests, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
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