On September 27, 2018, Moran Family of Brands Co-Founder, Chairwoman and CEO Barb Moran attended an invitation-only economic conference in Washington, DC, the White House Economic Summit.
“It was an amazing opportunity to meet some of the key players in Washington, and to hear from them on some of the country’s most pressing economic issues as well as the successes, and I was honored to be invited,” said Moran.
The summit began at 12:30 in the afternoon and became a veritable Who’s Who of business leaders. Ivanka Trump and a number of senior administration officials and Cabinet secretaries attended the conference – as well as numerous business leaders, including several people representing franchising. Moran was one of several members from the International Franchise Association who were invited to take part in the conference, which included CEOs and presidents of franchises such as JANI-KING, Great Clips, Home Instead Senior Care and Glass Doctor.
Some of the panelists present included Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Kevin Hassett, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, SBA Administrator Linda McMahon and Chairman of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow.
As Kudlow observed in his speech, “Consumer confidence continues to soar to the highest level in 20 years. Small business confidence recently achieved its highest mark in 35 years.”
The conference focused on the economic effects of the administration’s regulatory actions and tax cuts, although many topics were discussed or touched upon, such as consumer confidence and the importance of “re-training and re-skilling” in today’s marketplace.
By re-training and/or re-skilling, that is, recognizing that college isn’t always the answer for all high school graduates or underemployed people in today’s economy; sometimes it’s attending a trade school or a co-op school.
“While the economy is doing great, and unemployment is low, the downside is that it can be hard to attract and retain talent within the trades,” Moran says. “I heard a lot of interesting ideas for helping to improve how companies like ours can find employees. You never know what will come out of these events, but I do think it benefits the business community to get together like this and share ideas and discuss issues.”