It’s the U.N.’s Week, but Executives Make It a High-Minded Mingle<br />“If you collide enough of the people that care about these issues, they start remembering that this is real and it’s happening.”<br />Ms. Keller and the B-Team steered clear of making any tangible promises on Monday,<br />but others were more than happy to use the collective attention of the global press corps to announce grand new projects.<br />The Bloomberg event on Wednesday, hosted at the opulent Plaza Hotel, drew some of the biggest names in town, including the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau; Mr. Ma of Alibaba; the PepsiCo chief executive, Indra K. Nooyi;<br />and Mr. Clinton himself, who delivered the opening remarks.<br />Last year former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton announced they would end it as she campaigned for president,<br />prompting Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, to step in with his own global forum.<br />For those who fancy themselves important actors on the world stage, the gravitational pull to New York City this week is strong,<br />and each year, more new events are added to an already overstuffed schedule, providing more excuses to show up, and adding a few more black S. U.V.s to the crowded streets.<br />I would be recruiting.”<br />Ajay Banga, the chief executive of Mastercard, said he was using the day to speak with peers about the United Nations<br />Sustainable Development Goals, a set of targets meant to improve quality of living for people around the world.<br />Mr. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said that if he were a head of state, “I’d want every smart person coming into my country.”<br />“Smart people create jobs,” he said onstage, in an allusion to immigration policy.
