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Donald Trump has chosen a banking executive, Frank Bisignano, to head the Social Security Administration. Bisignano has worked at big banks on Wall Street for most of his career and has a track record of making political donations, mostly to Republican candidates.
Authored by Minho Kim
Reporting live from the
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On Wednesday evening, President-elect Trump revealed his selection of Frank Bisignano, who serves as chairman of the payment processing company Fiserv, to lead the Social Security Administration. This federal agency has over 1,200 field offices and nearly 60,000 employees.
The president-elect praised Frank as a skilled business leader who has successfully led major corporations in the past. He expressed confidence in Frank’s ability to fulfill the Agency’s promises to the American people.
In his late 20s, Mr. Bisignano achieved a highly desirable position in the New York finance industry as a senior vice president at Shearson Lehman Brothers. This investment bank’s collapse in 2008 was a contributing factor to the global recession. After spending almost five years at Shearson Lehman Brothers in the late 1980s, he transitioned to other prominent Wall Street banks, starting with Morgan Stanley, then moving to Citigroup, and eventually landing at JPMorgan Chase & Company.
In 2017, Mr. Bisignano was reported as the second-highest-earning CEO in the country, earning over $100 million that year. This made him one of the few executives to receive such high compensation, exceeding 2,000 times the average salary of an employee at his company, First Data Corporation, which later merged with Fiserv.
Mr. Bisignano has a track record of donating money to political causes, mostly to Republicans. Official records from federal campaign finance show that his wife, Tracy Bisignano, gave close to $1 million to support Mr. Trump’s campaign in October. However, in November 2023, he also contributed $15,000 to the presidential campaign of Chris Christie, a Republican former governor from New Jersey who initially ran against Trump but later decided to withdraw from the race.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump posted a detailed biography of Mr. Bisignano on social media and praised him and his family without mentioning the specific position he was being appointed to. An hour later, the president-elect clarified the situation, putting an end to the speculation about Mr. Bisignano’s future role.
Minho Kim reports on current events and environmental issues, working out of Washington. To learn more about Minho Kim, visit his profile.
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