Executive Council on Infrastructure

Doug Peterson, McGraw Hill Financial l Susan Story, American Water
Patrick Decker, Xylem l Mike Ducker, FedEx Freight l Jack Ehnes, California State Teachers’ Retirement System
Jane Garvey, Meridiam Infrastructure l P. Scott Ozanus, KPMG LLP l Suzanne Shank, Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., L.L.C.

America is facing an infrastructure crisis. Despite bipartisan efforts in Congress and state legislatures, the reality is that government alone can’t fully fund all of the roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure that our economy needs?let alone upgrade our airports, shipping hubs and water supply systems to meet the challenges of the coming decades. And we are quickly falling behind countries that we compete with, which invest far more heavily in infrastructure as a percentage of their economy. In fact, the American government’s investment in infrastructure as a percentage of our nation’s economic output has fallen by 50 percent in the last 50 years, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Private capital can help address this challenge, yet tens of billions of dollars remain on the sidelines.

Business leaders are stepping up to identify the barriers holding back this much-needed funding, explore ways to overcome them, and develop strategies to encourage additional private investment in infrastructure and promote economic growth.

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Bridging the Infrastructure Funding Gap

Read the Press Release: BPC Forms New Council to Promote Private Investment in Infrastructure

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About the Council

The Executive Council on Infrastructure is a working group of corporate CEOs and executives drawn from the financial, industrial, logistics, and services industries. The council is developing recommendations to help facilitate increased private sector investment in U.S. infrastructure.

The goal of the council is to connect private capital to American infrastructure?tapping billions of dollars that could be available for this purpose but is currently targeted elsewhere. The council will explore measures to overcome information gaps that preclude private investment, including identifying legislative and regulatory barriers, as well as consider the creation of financial vehicles to aid in expanding the universe of private investors.

Informed by research, outreach to stakeholders and experts, and internal deliberations, the council will develop and endorse a set of specific recommendations aimed at achieving this goal. This work will culminate with the release of a final report in 2016.

A Unique Perspective

Council members represent different sectors of the economy with unique expertise in infrastructure. Those in the financial sector recognize the potential to develop new investment opportunities to diversify portfolios and better match assets to liabilities. Those in the logistics and services sectors know the costs of subpar infrastructure to their bottom line, through increased costs of vehicle maintenance, delays in goods movement, and higher employee recruitment and retention costs. These business leaders will bring a practical, market-based perspective to the on-going public policy debate over infrastructure investment.

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