3M's Ivan Fong From the COVID-19 Bunker: Trump's Tweet, Masks and Bundt Cake
The former GC of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, Fong is well-versed in the art of crisis. Still, the pandemic presents its own brand of challenges.
April 16, 2020 at 12:34 PM
8 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
This is the second installment of my series "From the COVID-19 Bunker" on how legal luminaries are dealing with the pandemic.
This is one top job that you probably don't want right now: Being the legal chieftain of 3M, the maker of the scarce N95 respirator masks. Not only has the company been under enormous pressure to step up production of the critical N95, but President Donald Trump lambasted 3M in a tweet, suggesting that it was failing the country during the COVID-19 crisis. (On April 2, Trump tweeted: "We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks … Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing—will have a big price to pay!" )
Ivan Fong—3M's general counsel, senior vice president and secretary—helped steer the company through that recent storm, negotiating with the Trump administration to reach an agreement on production of the N95s. (Four days after the initial tweet, Trump changed his tune, suggesting that his scolding whipped 3M into shape: "We're very proud now to be dealing with 3M.")
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