LOS ANGELES — Faced with a pandemic that has left millions of Californians out of work, Governor Gavin Newsom promised to repair the economy, and steer it toward recovery.

Gov. Newsom is doing so by taking advise from an all-star roster of business titans that form his economic task force.

Among them is Los Angeles developer, Rick Caruso.

The Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery is a 108-member group that includes former California governors, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger, and former Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen.

“It is a big Zoom meeting, and there is great diverse group of people. The hard work happens in committees, so it breaks down into a lot of sub committees, smaller groups — maybe 10 to 20 of us — they get together every other week. The main task force Zoom meeting gets kicked off by the governor with updates, and then we have an opportunity to ask questions. It is much more effective than frankly I thought it would be for that size,” said Los Angeles developer, Rick Caruso.

On September 9, Gov. Newsom signed three laws that would give tax breaks and relief for small businesses.

“I think there needs to be an ecosystem of large businesses that help connect small businesses and support them on how to do their business more efficiently and effectively. We can all learn from each other. The great thing that I’ve received from this task force is that everybody is leaning in and there is no more competition. Instead, we’re supporting best practices with small business and large businesses. And, that is really going to be the recipe for the future in my opinion,” said Caruso.

As the chairman of the board of trustees at University of Southern California, Caruso is aware of the impact the pandemic has had on education. 

“Right now the digital divide is a big concern of the governor. He is putting a lot of effort into that. Long term, we have to invest in the right way in schools, and we have to rethink how we’re delivering education, because education has always been delivered in the same format since almost the beginning of time. But students learn differently. And we have to treat students, actually as the customer, and we have to identify how to best deliver an education for students across the board. That is the most precious thing we can do, the most important thing for the future,” added Caruso.

Caruso said there is a silver lining when it comes to COVID-19, and that is that we are given an opportunity to change the trajectory of California.

“If we don’t make fundamental changes, it is going to be a wasted struggle. We should instead take advantage of what we learned, make tough decisions, and make the quality of life better in the state of California. And, it can be done. It is going to take some bold leadership that is thinking of long term solutions at state, county, and local levels," said Caruso.