Obama names valley tech leaders John Doerr, Charles Phillips to economic recovery board

President Barack Obama on Friday named celebrated venture capitalist John Doerr and Oracle President Charles E. Phillips to his new 16-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board that will, as the president put it, "enlist voices … from beyond the Washington echo chamber."

Led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, the committee includes corporate CEOs, labor leaders and university economists, including Laura D’Andrea Tyson of University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. The board is expected to meet regularly and "provide advice directly to the president on the programs to jump-start economic growth and facilitate economic stability," the White House said in a news release.

Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, forged a notable friendship with former Vice President Al Gore in the 1990s and is recognized as one of the world’s leading venture investors, having seeded such companies as Intuit, Sun Microsystems, Amazon and Google.

Phillips joined Oracle in 2003 after working in various roles at Morgan Stanley. He also serves on Oracle’s board of directors, as well as on the boards of Morgan Stanley and Viacom, according to Oracle’s Web site.

Doerr is also known for organizing Silicon Valley tech leaders politically in the 1990s. He is founder of the tech policy advocacy group TechNet, co-sponsored a successful California state initiative promoting charter schools and in recent years has become

a champion of clean tech.

The appointments of Doerr and Phillips reinforce perceptions that Silicon Valley perspectives will get a full airing in Washington.

"Tech definitely has a strong seat at the table in this administration," said Jim Hock, a TechNet spokesman in Washington.

Obama, Washington sources say, strongly considered Symantec Chief Executive John Thompson as nominee for commerce secretary before instead nominating Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Obama is also expected to appoint a "chief technology officer" to advise federal departments on ways to enhance efficiency, communication and openness.

Like Thompson, Phillips is recognized as one the nation’s most prominent African-American corporate executives. His eclectic résumé includes a stint as a captain in the Marine Corps, a law degree from New York Law School, an MBA from Hampton University and an undergraduate degree in computer science from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

In addition to Doerr, Phillips and Tyson, the appointees include Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric; William H. Donaldson, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Roger W. Ferguson Jr., CEO of financial services company TIAA-CREF; David Swensen, chief information officer of Yale University; Mark T. Gallogly, founder of Centerbridge Partners; Penny Pritzker, founder of Pritzker Realty Group; Jim Owens, CEO of Caterpillar; Monica Lozano, CEO of La Opinion; Anna Burger, chair of Change to Win; Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein.

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