Wayne T. Price

FLORIDA TODAY

MELBOURNE — Harris Corp. Chief Executive Officer William Brown, fresh from a meeting with President Donald Trump and key federal officials on Thursday, said he came away optimistic that business leaders have someone who will listen to their concerns and ideas to build manufacturing and the economy.

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Less than a week after Trump visited the Space Coast, Brown was among nearly two dozen top U.S. business leaders who met with the president and key advisers Thursday to talk manufacturing and the economy. It's meant to be part of an ongoing series of meetings that address issues such as workforce training, infrastructure, manufacturing and tax, trade and regulatory reform.

Harris, headquartered in Melbourne, was the only Florida-based company represented at the Thursday meeting in Washington. The business leaders met first for about an hour with Vice President Mike Pence, key cabinet leaders, as well as Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband — and Trump adviser — Jared Kushner. They then met with Trump for another hour.

Some of the Manufacturing Advisory Council meeting was open to the media, while other parts were closed-door sessions, Brown said.

"From my perspective, I came away encouraged about his openness to ideas," Brown told FLORIDA TODAY on Friday during a brief telephone interview.

"He brought his own perspective. He had his own ideas," Brown said. "But he's willing to listen to industry and the private sector for what are some of the best ideas out there."

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Harris, headquartered in Melbourne, is a leading communications, information and technology company heavily involved with the government and military operations.

Harris is one of Brevard County's top employers with about 6,000 workers locally and it's the only Fortune 500 company located on the Space Coast. Globally, Harris has about 17,000 employees.

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Brown was out of the country on business on Feb. 18 and was unable to attend the Trump rally at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport, though he did bring up the visit to the area with Trump. Brown expects more council meetings with Trump and his team in the near future.

"The way he closed the meeting was that he wants to meet again soon and he wants to meet regularly," Brown said. "He suggested either bi-monthly or quarterly and he left it to Jared Kushner and Wilbur Ross, his secretary of commerce nominee, to get these meetings orchestrated. I was encouraged by the fact that he listened and wants to continue to have a regular dialogue about these very important issues."

Contact Price at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Fla2dayBiz.