Business Roundtable

The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major United States companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, BRT members are exclusively CEOs. The BRT lobbies for public policy that is favorable to business interests, such as lowering corporate taxes in the United States and internationally, as well as international trade policy, like NAFTA. In 2019, BRT redefined its definition of the purpose of a corporation as participating in stakeholder capitalism, putting the interests of employees, customers, suppliers and communities on par with shareholders. BRT board members include, in 2021, chair Doug McMillon of Walmart, president and CEO, former White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Mary Barra of General Motors, Tim Cook of Apple, and Chuck Robbins of Cisco. History On October 13, 1972, the March Group, co-founded by Alcoa chairman John D. Harper and General Electric CEO Fred Borch, the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable, founded by retired U.S. Steel CEO Roger Blough, and the Labor Law Study Group (LLSG) merged to form the Business Roundtable. The March Group consisted of chief executive officers who met informally to consider public policy issues; the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable was devoted to containing construction costs; and the Labor Law Study Committee was largely made up of labor relations executives of major companies. Harper was the newly founded group's first president, followed by Thomas Murphy of General Motors, Irving Shapiro of DuPont, then Clifford Garvin of Exxon.