The National Association of Manufacturers has announced new 2021 leadership for its Council of Manufacturing Associations at the CMA 2021 Winter Leadership Conference. Robb MacKie, president and CEO of the American Bakers Association, will serve as chair, and Phil Bell, president and CEO of the Steel Manufacturers Association, will serve as vice chair. Made up of more than 260 industry-specific manufacturing associations, the CMA is a powerful assembly of manufacturers and a critical NAM partner.

“As business leaders in our communities, bakers and manufacturers are the voice for free enterprise, opportunity and bold innovation. I am also excited to help promote the importance of manufacturers in solving our country’s challenges,” said MacKie. “Bakers and manufacturers play a vital role in our country, and I look forward to helping strengthen that role during these uncertain and challenging times.”

“America is confronting enormous challenges, and the business community has a responsibility to keep leading us forward—to defeat the pandemic and to protect our democracy,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “Robb and Phil are extraordinary leaders, profoundly committed to bring about an American renewal and upholding the values that have made us exceptional: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity. The CMA is in good hands with them at the helm, and manufacturing associations look forward to working with the incoming administration and all leaders who believe in these shared values.”

The CMA’s mission is focused on bolstering the industry’s nationwide grassroots mobilization efforts and improving the competitiveness of manufacturers in the United States. CMA members work with the NAM to unite the manufacturing association community, and ultimately the broader business community, around strategies for increased manufacturing job creation, investment and innovation in America.

MacKie is the baking industry’s chief advocate and spokesperson, bringing his decades of experience, knowledge of policy and meaningful relationships to promote and protect the interests of businesses in the baking sector. Before becoming ABA’s president and CEO in 2006, he was vice president of government relations. MacKie previously served as CMA vice chair.

New 2021 CMA board members selected to serve a three-year term include the following:

• Jennifer Abril, president and CEO, Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates
• Heidi Brock, president and CEO, American Forest & Paper Association
• Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association