Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer (CEO) of Intel Corporation, decided Monday to leave the American Manufacturing Council, an advisory board for U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I have already made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville, and earlier today I called on all leaders to condemn the white supremacists and their ilk who marched and committed violence," Krzanich wrote in a blog posting.
"I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them," he noted. "We should honor - not attack - those who have stood up for equality and other cherished American values. I hope this will change, and I remain willing to serve when it does."
Krzanich tendered his resignation earlier Monday.
He was the third CEO, after Kenneth Frazier of pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., and Kevin Plank of athletic equipment maker Under Armour Inc., who exited the presidential advisory board the same day, all citing the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white nationalist rally ended Saturday with the deaths of three people and injuries of 19 more.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Northern California, a region known as Silicon Valley, where technology industry prevails, Intel has been the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers based on revenue for decades.
"I am not a politician. I am an engineer who has spent most of his career working in factories that manufacture the world's most advanced devices. Yet, it is clear even to me that nearly every issue is now politicized to the point where significant progress is impossible. Promoting American manufacturing should not be a political issue," Krzanich wrote in a tone sure to echo many others in Silicon Valley.
His request, or his plea, as he put it in writing in the blog post for all those involved in the U.S. political system: "set scoring political points aside and focus on what is best for the nation as a whole. The current environment must change, or else our nation will become a shadow of what it once was and what it still can and should be."
"I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing. Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America's manufacturing base."
White supremacist groups gathered in Charlottesville Friday evening to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Civil War Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park. The rally evolved into clashes on Saturday before local authorities declared a state of emergency in the city.
