Jim Murren (Nevada COVID-19 Task Force) oral history interview conducted by Magdalena Martinez and Kelliann Beavers: transcript

An Interview with Jim Murren

Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leadership and Learning in Nevada

Produced by:

The University of Nevada Las Vegas The Lincy Institute
2024

Principal Researchers:
Magdalena Martinez, Ph.D. and Kelliann Beavers, Ph.D.

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The following interview was a part of the “Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leadership and Learning in Nevada” research project. The recorded interview and transcript were made possible through the generosity of The Lincy Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The goal of the project was to understand and document how Nevada organizations and leaders responded to the myriad challenges that the pandemic engendered. The interviewees thank The Lincy Institute and their supporters for the opportunity to reflect on their roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers also acknowledge the following individuals who contributed to the conceptualization, data collection, and analysis of the project: Dr. John Hudak, Dr. Makada Henry-Nickie, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Taylor Cummings, Peter Grema, Kristian Thymianos, Saha Salahi, Madison Frazee, and Katie Lim.

Each interviewee had the opportunity to review their transcript. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the interviewee. This interview features Jim Murren, Chairman of Nevada COVID-19 Task Force, and was conducted on 2/21/23 by Magdalena Martinez and Kelliann Beavers. This interview covers topics including reflections on leadership, organizational challenges, and opportunities for collaboration.

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Interview with Jim Murren
Date: 2-21-2023
SPEAKERS: Magdalena Martinez, Kelliann Beavers, Jim Murren

Magdalena Martinez [00:02]
All right. Today is February 21st, 2023. We are here today with Mr. Jim Murren. And I just wanted to confirm that you are okay with us recording this interview.

Jim Murren [00:15]
I am okay with that, yes.

Magdalena Martinez [00:17]
And also, that you’re okay with us attributing any quotes that result from this interview in any kind of future publications, of course, with your review first. Should we use any quotes, we will send off the abstract to you where you’re being quoted.

Jim Murren [00:34]
That will be fine. Thank you.

Magdalena Martinez [00:35]
All right. Thank you so much. Well, again, we really appreciate you taking the time to meet with us today. Just to start off, if you can just give us an overview? Obviously, we are familiar with the work that you've done in our community and beyond. If you could just tell us a little bit about your role during the COVID – well, a little bit before COVID – so just kind of a high-level background of who you are. And then also during the start of COVID, what your role was?

Jim Murren [01:07]
Well, thank you, yes. I've been in this community since 1998. I was hired by Mr. Kekorian and MGM Grand to come out to be the CFO of MGM. In 2007, I became the president of the company that was then called MGM Mirage. And in 2008, I became the chairman and CEO of a company we renamed MGM Resorts International, which was the company that exists today. I was the chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts for 12 years, and I retired in – well, in February of 2020, right as the governor asked me to become the chairman of this newly-formed COVID Response, Relief, & Recovery Taskforce.

Magdalena Martinez [02:07]
And can you tell us a little bit more about your role as a chairman of the COVID Recovery Taskforce?

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Jim Murren [02:14]
Well, the idea at the time was that a group of private citizens could band together to effectuate change far more rapidly and effectively than the public sector could at that time. And the idea was to do exactly that – to create a group of men and women, from around the state, that would work together to solve some of the most vexing issues that the country, the world, and specifically Nevada were dealing with at the time. That occurred in February of 2020. And the first thing that we recognized was, we could be a good resource for the state, and we're a vessel to try to solve some of the state's most pressing needs of the day.

The first need of the day, if you recall three years ago, was a profound shortage of PPE – personal protective equipment. And the state was fighting with other states and other countries literally to get that critical personal protective equipment that our first responders needed, as well as the private – the public citizenry needed to protect themselves.

We were out. We worked with – the Nevada Community Foundation and set up a 501(c)(3) through them. We've raised, in a handful of days, in less than two weeks, $12,000,000 from the Philanthropic Community of Nevada. That $12,000,000 literally saved lives because we were able to reach out into our network of providers of PPE globally to secure millions of personal protective equipment – masks, gloves, and face shields that were sent to the state. We were able to pay for them and to ensure that the PPE that we were acquiring was authentic equipment and not bogus or false equipment that was plaguing a lot of other communities.

So the first job we did, and certainly, we can talk to this at greater length, was to acquire PPE. We actually did that for the better part of two years. We received a tremendous amount of equipment, over 2 million N95 masks, 2.6 million surgical masks, and 1.5 million gloves. We received a tremendous number of face coverings, containers of disinfectant, thermometers, face shields, goggles, safety glasses, and hand sanitizer. All of that equipment was brought into the state and then it was distributed by the National Guard, to where the state felt its most pressing need was.

Magdalena Martinez [05:47] Go ahead, please.

Jim Murren [05:50]
Well, we then worked on the next most pressing need, which was, if you recall at the time, we had really no idea of the trajectory of the disease in our state because testing was so backlogged. The fact that most tests were actually conducted here but then the test results had to be shipped out of state for them to be processed. We were only, at the time, processing in state about 500 tests a day. And you could imagine with a population of millions of people, testing only 500 people a day was almost meaningless.

And so, we worked again with the private sector, and we worked with a company called Thermo Fisher. Worked with UMC in the South, and up in the Nevada State labs up in Reno, and we created high throughput testing labs that were able to test up to 10,000 samples a day, which dramatically increased our ability to understand the trajectory of the disease. And at the time, it was all about what we call "flattening the curve." To try to isolate people that tested positive and

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be able to slow down the growth of the disease. And the only way to do that was to provide the medical professionals with the tools that they needed, which were the test results. And so, testing became a big part of the task force mission, and I would say, that was the second pillar of what we worked on.

The third pillar of what we worked on was something that was innovative. We were one of the first jurisdictions in the world to launch a COVID trace app, a COVID testing app, that people could download on their Smart devices. Which would let them know if they had been in close proximity to somebody that had tested positive for COVID. And by April of 2021, you know, just about a year into the program, we had over a million downloads onto that COVID testing app. It was called "COVID Trace." That also, obviously, gave the medical community and the general public far more information about where we stood in terms of the state, in terms of testing, and in terms of treatment, which was really the critical component to it.

The fourth pillar that we worked on was based on a conversation that I had had with Elaine Wynn, who had alerted me to the fact that we had tens of thousands of students that were not going to be able to learn in a virtual environment because they had either no access to the internet because of the communities they lived in, either rurally or some of our urban neighborhoods, or they had no device at all to learn from. And we developed a program called "Connecting Kids," that I'm incredibly proud of what we were able to accomplish there. We started that in July of 2020.

By August, we created the program. By the end of August, we created a heatmap of every neighborhood in the entire state to show what the internet capabilities were of each neighborhood statewide. We had dozens of community groups, all around the state, working to create four months of canvassing these neighborhoods to figure out where there were students that might need either a device or be connected to the internet. By September of that year, September 15th, ten school districts confirmed that all students participated in distance learning and had access to a device and the internet. And by the end of that month, by the end of September, 97% of Clark County School District students had been reached, and 96% of them had internet capability and had a device.

We completed that program in January of 2021, and 100% of all Nevada students had been confirmed, at that point in time, that they had access to digital learning because they had a device and they had access to the internet. We were one of the only states in the country that was able to do that, and we're certainly one of the first states that were able to do that in that short of a period of time. And again, that's the private sector working very closely with public agencies and nonprofits around the state. And without that private-public partnership, that would never have been accomplished.

And that really was the foundation of everything that we did. We tapped the private sector for their resources, whether it's Sands, MGM, Wynn, and Caesars fighting suppliers in Asia and the Middle East to provide us with access to PPE. Whether it was the medical community helping us find testing capacity with companies that were able to help develop high throughput testing labs. Whether it was the Philanthropic Community, that stated that they want a COVID trace app, which was spearheaded by a philanthropist here in town, Andrew Pascal, or it was – an

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individual said, "We need more facemasks." And that individual was Steve Cloobeck, and he donated a significant amount of money so that we could have Nevada flag-branded facemasks.

Or whether it was the professional community that donated so much of their time pro bono. I mentioned already, the Nevada Community Foundation. But they dispersed all the funds and were able to account for every single penny that the donors had donated to this effort. And we sent a full accounting of that to the state. Or whether it was R & R Partners, that did all the communications and all of the outreach for the task force. Or Brownstein-Hyatt-Farber-Schreck – that was the law firm that we used that integrated all the legal work so that we had a proper foundation with proper board governance on the COVID taskforce. E & Y donated all their time to do the accounting of it, and we had a network of private sector people that, whether it was in the Chamber or the Nevada Resort Association, or other people that really worked – stepped up to the plate to help us work this "magic," really, that could only have been created because the private sector was willing to step up and help the people of the state.

So it was an effort that went on for two years. We delivered an annual report, a final report, to Governor Sisolak about a year ago. And many of us feel like it was one of the most important efforts that we've been involved in in the state. And again, it shows the uniqueness of Nevada when there's a crisis, and sadly, we've had many in this state, and I've lived through many of them. The private sector steps up to the plate and works with the public sector to solve these most pressing needs.

Magdalena Martinez [14:10]
Thank you for that overview. That's really helpful. Kelliann, I think you had some questions specifically related to the organizational aspect. Do you want to-

Kelliann Beavers [14:20]
You spoke to many of them, but if you have anything else that you'd like to share, I was already interested in what you’re emphasizing about the private sector's ability to respond in a different way than the public sector. And I believe that that is likely true in many regions, not that it happened; but that that would have been true for the private sector to have – a letter response would have been more nimble than a governmental response. I'm curious if you have anything that you'd like to add about what makes our region, or our state specifically, capable of – or unique in the ways in which that happened. Because that's something that I have been learning from the philanthropic leaders that we've spoken with in finding really impactful and having a potential impact for the future.

Jim Murren [15:13]
Yeah, that's a good question. I believe that we were incredibly unique in the country in that we have a handful of very large employers in the state that represents such a large percentage of the state's GDP, and far more so than any other state that I'm aware of. And that creates a concentration of power and influence and speed of execution of solving problems.

So, for example, PPE. I reached out to the gaming industry that has broad Asian connections. Obviously, they have operations in Asia. That's where most of the PPE was being sourced for the United States, and we were able to jump ahead of many other states in the country that were

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dealing with purchasing departments at a state level, doing three bids, trying to figure out where they're going to get the equipment. And then they didn't have the money, and the suppliers were unwilling to ship anything without being paid 100% on-the-dollar right up front. And most states just could not – they're not set up to be able to transact in such a fashion.

We were able to use private dollars, philanthropy dollars, to be able to use the purchasing departments of Nevada Energy, and many of the gaming companies to go out and source PPE, make sure that it was authentic, reliable PPE coming from reliable vendors, and not fake PPE that was being shipped around the world. We were able to get that weeks, if not months, before anyone else. That could never have happened by the public sector. They never would have been able to get the kind of PPE that we were able to get. So, that's one example.

Another example would be testing. We have public testing capabilities in the state. Most of it's up north. We have some of it down in the south but it's very, very limited. And if we waited for the state to develop its own testing capacity, it would have been months, if not a year, before they were able to test the tens of thousands of people a day that we were ultimately able to test because we were able to use both the private sector and the healthcare contacts that we have in the state to reach out beyond the borders of Nevada – to find a company that was based in Massachusetts to be able to provide the equipment and the materials that we needed to test. And just another example of how the private sector was able to do that in a way that the public sector never could.

And I think the third major example would be what we were able to do educationally. The state knew they had a dire need, both in the rural communities for connectivity, where the internet is not accessible in many parts of rural Nevada, as well as in some of the less-advantaged neighborhoods in the urban communities. But they have really no way of evaluating, and therefore finding ways of actually raising the money and finding access to the internet so that we could provide connectivity to these kids. We were able to do that with internet providers, at a speed that I don't think the state could have been able to do so on its own. And certainly, by connecting people – we didn't have a problem getting devices; the federal government was actually very helpful, to all states, providing federal devices. But what good is a device if you don't have the internet to connect your tablet to? And so, that was a private sector response that was able to get those kids online learning as quickly as possible.

Magdalena Martinez [19:32]
That's very helpful. And in terms of reflecting on this experience now, and as you mentioned, Nevada has been really at the epicenter of many crises, be they economic or, of course, the pandemic, and so on. Based on this experience, what are some lessons learned that you think could be applied to future crises?

Jim Murren [19:57]
Well, relationships matter. That is something that Mr. Kekorian taught me as a young CFO of MGM, and he had such strong financial bank relationships with the country. Relationships matter. When you're in a crisis, you know, being able to pick up the phone, and finding somebody on the other side of the phone, whether it's the financial crisis in 2008 that we dealt

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with here as a community. And I was fighting the [S-??20:29] CityCenter Project that we were building at MGM. Relationships matter.

Secondly, I think we have to become far more independent, as a state, for our own healthcare, our own technology, and our own medical needs. It was a glaring hole in our state; that most of the testing that was being conducted in labs that were in Arizona or in California. That led to incredible delays in getting test results back, which makes the test results virtually worthless.

So, building our own infrastructure here, medical infrastructure, biotechnology – technology, and medical infrastructure in the state is vital to our state's security and preparedness for the next crisis. I think that we've learned – and I've dealt with both natural disasters here in the state, as well as manmade disasters – including obviously, an active, unspeakable, evil during the One October shooting.

Having the kind of relationship that the private sector has with law enforcement is vital, and that was very, very important during the pandemic as well. Working with first responders, with law enforcement, and with the National Guard, that was a very integrated response that I think Nevada is so great at dealing with a crisis.

And I think finally, being very candid with, you know, where we stand, both medically and educationally, and understand that we have a long way to go before we should be satisfied where we are medically in our community, or educationally where we are in our community. And people like me, who've been here, and feel like these are issues that we've raised for decades, we don't seem to make as much progress as we need to make, particularly educationally, and that's very vexing to people that care a lot about this community. But we just can't ever give up.

And I think that's the final point that I would make, which is something I learned during the financial crisis. You just never give up, and you never give in. Just never give in, and never give up. And you don't know what all the solutions are going to be to a problem, even as big as the pandemic. But you know that if you keep moving forward then you've got a fighting chance.

Magdalena Martinez [23:29]
Thank you. Did you have any follow-up questions to that, Kelliann?

Kelliann Beavers [23:37]
I don't, thank you. That was really meaningful.

Magdalena Martinez [23:41]
Yeah. Now, Jim, I know you’re also on the boards of a couple of post-secondary institutions, Howard University and Trinity College. And I'm wondering if you had any observations or insight in terms of the role of higher education during the pandemic, from your perspective, from your view as a trustee to your Board of Directors.

Jim Murren [24:02]
Well, I think that depending on the institution, there was a profound impact by many institutions around the country. I'm a proud father of two graduates of Johns Hopkins University. And it's

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very obvious the impact that Johns Hopkins had globally, in terms of working with the federal government, working with the state governments, and certainly, working in the communities in which they operate because of their medical expertise and their academic excellence in research and biotechnology. I saw that firsthand with Johns Hopkins. I certainly saw that firsthand with Howard University, as a trustee there, working in an inner city like Washington DC. And the medical center that Howard runs in DC and Howard Hospital – it depends on the university.

I worked closely with UNLV during the pandemic there, and certainly, the research efforts of UNLV, UNR, the Nevada State Lab, and the Nevada State colleges, I think we – higher education really did whatever they could with whatever resources they had available. For example, UNLV had a high throughput test machine that we were able to borrow. And that was something that was used to help test for COVID. So the adaptation of technology, equipment, personnel, and volunteers for higher education was really vital. And it just, again, shows how, in my opinion, important higher education is to any state in how much we need to invest in higher education here in the State of Nevada.

Magdalena Martinez [26:12]
That, of course, is music to our ears (laughs) as you might suspect.

Jim Murren [26:16] I believe it.

Magdalena Martinez [26:21]
Yeah, thank you for that. I want to transition over now to the role of leadership. And clearly, you have been in a variety of roles throughout your career. And certainly, your leadership has evolved – your thinking around – your philosophy around leadership. I'm wondering if you could reflect a little bit about what you learned from this experience, in terms of your existing leadership philosophy, and how that may have been reinforced and/or extended, or changed during this process. So, particularly around the COVID task force. You've mentioned you worked with many different organizations and actors, perhaps some that clearly, you had worked with previously but perhaps now, some new ones. Just reflecting about leadership and your ideas around leadership: what changed; what remained constant during this crisis and moving forward?

Jim Murren [27:26]
Well, I think one of the great joys of being able to be a part of teams is to see mostly the best of people. When I was the CFO of MGM, the CEO was a man named Terry Lanni, who sadly passed away. But Terry, I remember being in his office on 9-11. And I remember him saying to me, "Jim, there are going to be people that are going to disappoint you, that are just not going to be able to deal with the crisis at hand, that are going to act in a way that you are going to be disappointed in. But for every one of those people, there would be countless numbers of people that are going to arise to the occasion. And there are going to be heroes, that are unsung heroes, that are going to show you the best of humanity. And we're Americans and we're going to get through this." That was literally on 9-11.

I remember that when we were dealing with the financial crisis, and at the time here in Las Vegas, when I just started taking over as the chairman and CEO. And unemployment rates were

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in the teens here – it was incredibly dire. And we were building the largest construction project in the United States at the time, and we had 10,000 construction workers working on the site. And we were running out of money and the banks didn't want to lend to us. And people were losing their jobs, losing their cars, losing their livelihoods. And I saw incredible heroism. I saw men and women that came to work, regardless of what was going on at home. They took care of guests. They took care of their business. They comforted co-workers. And I believe that those individuals are every bit as heroic as firemen running into a fire to save somebody.

I saw heroism that has stuck with me through every other crisis that I've been a part of, whether it's One October, or obviously, the pandemic. Teams matter. People matter. Character matters. Integrity is everything. And I'm just looking at a list here of my fellow board members, who, just to give you a sense of the incredible men and women we had. We had Doug Cannon, who's the president and CEO of NV Energy. Catherine Cole who is Vice President over at R&R. We had Alex Dixon, who has left our community – he's gotten to bigger and better jobs – but he was the president at PureStar when he was here. Dr. McBeath, he's the president of Optum here. Steve Menziez, the president of Focus Companies. Scott Neilson, who ran the One October fund, by the way, was a key part of the COVID taskforce. Catherine Raw, who's the CEO of Barrick Gold, and Phil Satre, my friend, who's the chairman of Wynn Resorts.

These are just incredible men and women that I worked with, that worked so tirelessly and gave of themselves. So I would say, you know, living through what we have lived through, I have great confidence in our community. We've been battle-tested. We've certainly survived some incredible challenges, and I think we're a very, very strong community here, much stronger than people realize. I've traveled the world; I have for MGM, and I have since I retired. And I think people don't understand the true grit, and the courage, and the character of the average Nevadan. We've shown that time and time again, and I think that gives me great confidence that we can face any challenge in the future.

Magdalena Martinez [32:22]
Kelliann, any follow-up questions on that question?

Kelliann Beavers [32:30]
I don't think so. I think you've spoken to – I was thinking about a question that we have on our list, which is, which pivotal moment shaped your leadership? But I think you've spoken to that.

Magdalena Martinez [32:38] Yeah.

Kelliann Beavers [32:40]
If anything else comes to mind that you'd like to share, with respect to specific pivotal moments that you felt like shaped your leadership, we are all ears. But you certainly covered some of that.

Jim Murren [32:51]
Well, my greatest professional joy was my exposure and my ability to work for Mr. Kekorian for so many years. And the very fact that we're talking about this is a tribute to the legacy that he has left this community. And he taught me so much about business, but he really taught me more

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about being a good kind of person. And there was never a man that I've met that has shaped my thinking around business and thinking around giving back to the community more than Mr. Kekorian, and I miss him every day.

Kelliann Beavers [33:52] Thank you for that.

Magdalena Martinez [33:54]
Mm-hmm. That was very helpful. So, Mr. Kekorian was certainly key. And I'm wondering, what do you think it was about his own trajectory and/or leadership – that he was able to mentor you and others in this idea of not just business, but also being a good public servant of sorts?

Jim Murren [34:23]
Mr. Kekorian was the most accomplished businessman I've ever met. And yet, he had a great reservoir of humility that is so often absent from people of success. His handshake was everything. He was a man of his word. He gave so generously of his own wealth, mostly anonymously. He never wanted recognition for anything that he was able to do for people. He almost never said "no" to any nonprofit. He was one of the leading donors in the country in so many fields and internationally to his home country of Armenia. He was a person that stood in line to eat in restaurants at properties that he owned. He drove his own Jeep Cherokee. He had incredible modesty, but a force of nature that had unbelievable courage and steely determination and could never be rattled.

And I remember vividly, during the Great Recession in 2008 when I took over as Chairman and CEO of MGM, Mr. Kekorian called me every day. And the conversation was always to say – he would call himself, and he would say, "Jim, is this a good time to talk?" (laughs) I'm like, "Yes, anytime you want, Kirk, is a good time to talk." He said, "So how 'ya doin'?" I said, "I'm doing okay." He said, "How are your boys?" "The boys are great, Kirk." He said, "Did you work out today?" and I said, "Yes, Kirk, I worked out," and he says, "Good, good. I'll talk to you tomorrow." And no conversation like that lasted more than 45 seconds, but it was every single day for over a year. And I always will look back on that with just incredible gratitude and emotion because he never said, "Jim, what the hell are you doing? How are we going to get out of this mess? How did you get me into this mess?" He never complained. He never admonished me. He never was – he just wanted me to know that he was there and that he was on the other side of a phone if I ever needed him.

And so, how do you not want to do whatever you can for a person like that? And what I tried to do when I let MGM is just tried to ask myself a question every day, "What would Kirk do?" And I would try to answer that question in the kinds of programs that MGM does today, which I'm incredibly proud of, as an alumnus of the company. What they do philanthropically; what they do in the community; what they do as good corporate citizens. And I have to say that I've learned that very few companies in the country that are as community-minded as the Nevada-based companies, of every type. In the banking sector, in the energy sector, in the mining sector, in the hospitality sector, and in the healthcare sector. This is a very unique environment, and I think people don't really understand, and I think they take it for granted how community-minded companies are here, relative to companies that are located in other states, where they just don't

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mean as much to that state. And they don't invest as much in the state as the Nevada-based companies invest here in our state.

Magdalena Martinez [39:03]
And why is that? Why do you think that the Nevada companies are more community-oriented compared to others?

Jim Murren [39:11]
I think that, first off, we're a young state. We're a small government state. I think that a lot of the development here has been driven by the private sector more than the public sector. I think there are some challenges to that, which is why we have very poor mass transportation, and we have very poor urban planning. There are challenges to how our state evolved, no doubt. And our tax structure is not conducive to having the type of education and the type of healthcare that we deserve and need here. But the private sector has driven so much of the growth of this community, and still does to this day, that it was very much founder-driven. And I still think, even though most of those founders, like Mr. Kekorian, have come and gone, unfortunately, the philosophies that they led their companies remain.

And I feel like there's just a really great sense of responsibility that the corporate sector has here, that I just don't see, you know. I'm from Connecticut. I don't see the Connecticut companies doing, for that small state, what the Nevada companies do here. I lived in Manhattan for 14 years. You can't tell me that New York-based companies are as committed to the health and welfare of the State of New York as the Nevada-based companies are here. I think it's the fact that we're a small state. We're a young state. We have a high concentration of employees and a handful of employers. And it's a legacy, I think, of the founders, the founding fathers and mothers of the state, that the companies that exist today still do that.

Magdalena Martinez [41:28]
Thank you. Kelliann, did you have any follow-up questions?

Kelliann Beavers [41:35]
I'm just absorbing what you said and thinking about the word "legacy" and all that's contained in it. I don't that I have a specific follow-up question. But I appreciate you articulating a lot of what I think has been simmering in my own mind, trying to find words for it, so it's really helpful to have your perspective.

Magdalena Martinez [41:53]
Mm-hmm. Yes, and indeed, Kelliann and I are actually able to do this interview with you because of Mr. Kekorian (laughs). As you know, The Lincy Institute and the Brookings Mountain West are a part of our community because of individuals like him, other philanthropists, and other private sector leaders such as yourself. Identified a need, and said, "We are going to put our resources where our values are." And that is why we are able to do what we're doing here today. Capture these stories. Capture these moments. Not just for us to reflect on in the short term; but to exist in the long term. So that, as future generations come through this state, they can really gain a historical overview of not just the place, but the people that shaped and continue to shape our state.

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Kelliann Beavers [43:01]
A question comes to mind. I want to honor your time. I know we're coming to the end of the time you've dedicated to the interview. But I want to ask, with respect to all that you've articulated about the value of the private sector being able to step into the shoes of care for the community, as they have, and as they do. And recognizing that the actual COVID Response, Relief, and Recovery Taskforce has been "closed" – or whatever the word is, that you've ended that actual entity. Because, as time went on, it wasn't necessary for it to exist in the way that it has.

How do you see the potential for that same kind of coming together and responding and supporting that everyday emergency, relatively speaking, that our citizenry experiences at a range of levels? I know that, to some extent, that happens organically. But I think the existence of this organization is so fascinating in its ability to sort of marry the government and shake hands with folks in a way that is supportive but not necessarily under the scrutinized eye of, right? I feel like you had a lot of freedom to respond to how you were going to be supportive of the public sector. And seeing that carried forth – not necessarily as a pandemic response – but as a resource for the public sector.

How do you see the possibilities for that, or do you? It's something that I've thought a lot about. And also, folding in the philanthropic communities – not just the private sector with respect to the businesses themselves.

Jim Murren [44:39]
That's a really smart question that no one has asked me, and I haven't focused on. But I know that we didn't have a playbook when we developed the task force. There was nothing that we could draw upon. We looked but there was nothing we could draw upon, at least in our state, that was going to accomplish what our objectives were in terms of creating this private sector response to a crisis.

So we literally wrote the book, and then we gave the book to the state. So, in the form of an annual report that is – I could get you a copy of it. But it could absolutely be replicated in everyday life, and it probably should. Because there are so many things that the private sector is willing to do. They just need a galvanizing and unifying construct to work under. We have a lot of disparate efforts that are underway, always dealing with small and medium, and large crises in our state. But having a galvanizing principle doesn't – it shouldn't have to take a crisis to create this type of partnership. Something we should probably talk to the state about when they're tackling some of the needs that Governor Lombardo is dealing with right now. It would be maybe a good solution to it.

I know that the men and women that were involved in the COVID taskforce, almost all of them are still in the state. They still care about the state. They probably would say "yes" if I called them again, but they'd probably pause for a moment or two since it was a lot of work. But I think that it could be done again and again in our state.

Kelliann Beavers [46:53] Thanks.

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Magdalena Martinez [46:55]
Thank you so much, Jim. I will stop the recording at this point.

End of audio: 47:08

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