Dina Powell McCormick is Meta’s president and vice chair. Who is this ex-Trump official? – Firstpost

Facebook owner Meta has announced former Trump administration official Dina Powell McCormick as its president and vice chairman. In her management role, she will assist guide Meta’s overall strategy, including the execution of multi-billion-dollar investments, the company declared.

United States President Donald Trump has hailed Powell McCormick’s appointment at Meta. She is a “fantastic, and very talented, person” who served his administration with “strength and distinction,” he wrote on his Truth Social account minutes after the company’s announcement on Monday (January 12).

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But who is she? We take a look.

Who is Dina Powell McCormick?

Dina Powell McCormick is a longtime finance executive and former Republican official. She was a Meta board member from April to December last year, as she resigned just eight months after joining.

As a member of Meta’s Board of Directors, she was “deeply engaged” as the company expanded its “pursuit of frontier AI and personal superintelligence”, it stated in a statement.

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Powell McCormick spent 16 years in senior leadership roles at Goldman Sachs. Her most recent job was as vice chair, president and head of global client services at BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank based in Chicago.

She also has experience in other corporate board positions, including at oil giant Exxon Mobil, reported Associated Press (AP).

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Axios: “I’ve known Dina for about 20 years and run into her all over the world. She’s an exceptional banker with superb relationships. Clients have deep respect for her given her knowledge, experience ability to execute and deliver, and the fact she works so hard.”

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“She is a better banker and has more or better relationships than many huge finance CEOs,” Dimon added.

Powell McCormick served as deputy national security adviser (NSA) to Trump during his first presidential term. She was an assistant secretary of state under US President George W Bush.

She is married to US Senator David McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee on energy policy — an area in which his wife will be involved at Meta.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADRepublican Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Dina Powell react at his watch party, during the 2024 U.S. Election, in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 6, 2024. File Photo/Reuters

McCormick will “continue to comply with all US Senate ethics rules,” his spokesperson Katy Montgomery told Reuters by email.

“Senator McCormick should recuse himself from every vote or committee action that involves Meta’s business,” Sacha Haworth, executive director at the Tech Oversight Project, a group that has criticised the industry, was quoted as saying by the news agency.

What’s her role at Meta?

Powell McCormick is joining Meta full-time as president and vice chairman. She will report to CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, a spokesperson told Axios.

She will coordinate with compute and infrastructure teams to ensure Meta’s multi-billion-dollar investments “execute against our goals and drive positive economic impact in the communities where we operate around the world,” the company reported in a statement.

Powell McCormick will also make efforts to forge “new strategic capital partnerships and find innovative ways to expand our long-term investment capacity.”

“Dina’s experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to support Meta manage this next phase of growth as the company’s President and Vice Chairman,” Zuckerberg noted in a statement.

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In a separate post, the Facebook founder declared Powell McCormick “will be involved in all of Meta’s work, with a particular focus on partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s AI and infrastructure.”

How Meta has been courting Trump

Dina Powell McCormick’s promotion at Meta is another move by Zuckerberg’s company to woo Trump.

As Meta ramps up investments in frontier AI and personal superintelligence, Zuckerberg wants the US president’s backing to develop data centers and energy capacity for those projects, reported Reuters. 

Before Trump returned to the White House last January, Zuckerberg had visited him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The Meta CEO was among the powerful tech leaders who dined with the US president at the White House.

Zuckerberg’s company has pledged more than $600 billion to the US by 2028 to “support AI technology, infrastructure, and workforce expansion.”

Last year, Meta appointed Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White to its board, another known figure in Trump’s circles. The company has also recruited former Trump trade adviser CJ Mahoney to lead its legal mannschaft, replacing general counsel Jennifer Newstead.

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The company has elevated Republican Joel Kaplan as its modern chief global affairs officer.

Meta also scrapped its US fact-checking programme and ended its diversity initiatives to court Trump.

With inputs from agencies

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