Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Raleigh-based software company Red Hat, is among the executives who will attend President Barack Obama's jobs summit Thursday at the White House.
The group is expected to include about 130 business leaders, union chiefs, academics, mayors and representatives of nonprofit groups. The participants are scheduled to break into groups to discuss issues such as green jobs, small business incentives, long-range infrastructure plans and training for the jobs of the future.
Other corporate bosses invited by Obama include Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt, Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco and FedEx CEO Fred Smith.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama plans to give a speech next week that will lay out ideas, including some already under discussion by White House economic advisers and others that might arise out of the jobs summit. But both Gibbs and Democratic leaders in Congress caution that most new steps will have to wait until next year.
Whitehurst couldn't be reached for comment about what he hopes to achieve at the summit. Whitehurst took over as Red Hat CEO in January 2008. He previously was a top executive at Delta Air Lines.
The summit's opening session, closing session and several of the discussion groups on jobs will be streamed live here.
