President-elect Trump tapped financial software giant CEO Frank Bisignano late Wednesday to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA) in his second administration.
“Frank is a business leader, with a tremendous track record of transforming large corporations,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He will be responsible to deliver on the Agency’s commitment to the American People for generations to come!”
Bisignano currently serves as the CEO of fintech and payment processing company Fiserv. In the past, he served as chief operating officer at JPMorgan Chase.
In his announcement, Trump noted that the businessman has a “long career” leading various financial services through “great transformation.”
The president-elect promised on the campaign trail to slash Social Security taxes. However, experts have raised concerns about the costs of scrapping income taxes on Social Security checks and how the program’s finances would be impacted.
The combined trust funds for retirement and disability benefits under SSA are expected to run out in 2035. But experts warn that Trump’s proposals could drain them by 2031 and lead to an increase in the agency’s deficit by $2.3 trillion.
Bisignano secured one of the most coveted positions in New York’s finance world by his late 20s. He became the senior vice president of the former Shearson Lehman Brothers, which was an investment bank that collapsed in 2008 and helped set off the recession, The New York Times reported.
He was listed as the second highest-paid chief executive in the country in 2017, making more than $100 million that year. He made more than 2,000 times the salary of an average employee he oversaw, a previous Times analysis found.
Bisignano has a history of donating to Republican candidates, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) — who ran against Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections — the Times reported.
