In Cincinnati tomorrow, President Obama will announce that he's appointing Ron Bloom his Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, White House sources tell ABC News.Bloom is currently Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner as a member of the President's Task Force on the Automotive Industry, named to that position in February. He will remain in that position even while he takes on his new task.
A key part of the team that advised the White House on the struggling U.S. auto industry, Bloom and team pushed U.S. automakers General Motors and Chrysler to come up with viable plans for the future, pushed the CEO of GM to resign, and pushed the U.S. government agreed to become a major shareholder in GM, ponying up $50 billion.
Working with the Auto Task Force, President Obama also supported Chrysler entering into a "short, surgical bankruptcy" and entering into a deal with FIAT while agreeing to provide the company with approximately $3.3 billion in debt or in possession financing to support Chrysler though the chapter 11 proceeding
A former vice president of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, Bloom was a restructuring expert for the U.S. Steelworkers. In his new position, Bloom will work with the National Economic Council, and the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, Energy, and Labor.