Report from The Hill
In Brief – Meta has announced the appointment of Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chair as it accelerates investment in artificial intelligence and its “superintelligence” initiative. In the role, Powell McCormick will oversee the development of Meta’s “next decade of computing,” overseeing the company’s compute and infrastructure teams and aligning multibillion-dollar investments with corporate goals. Powell McCormick was a longtime partner at Goldman Sachs, has served in senior advisory roles under two Republican presidents, including as deputy national security advisor to President Trump during his first term, and is married to Republican Senator David McCromick (PA). A key part of her mandate is expected to be building new strategic capital partnerships and identifying ways to expand Meta’s long-term investment capacity to back Meta’s push to build data centers, train advanced AI models, and develop energy infrastructure to operate the systems. President Trump publicly praised the appointment, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited her financial expertise and global relationships as assets for the company’s capital-intensive AI strategy.
Context – The embrace of President Trump by top tech leaders since the final months of the 2024 campaign has been much noted. Mark Zuckerberg has been among the most public, including changing his company’s content moderation policies and naming Republican Joel Kaplan to lead global public policy. While the President and many of his senior officials have heavily criticized foreign tech regulation and taxes, support for AI deregulation and infrastructure investments has been their most consistent tech priority. However, MAGA is not remotely united in support of Big Tech or AI, with the likes of Senator Josh Hawley (MO) and thought leader Steve Bannon aggressively critical. In that context, Powell McCormick is arguably the most politically connected top business executive hire ever, and given reported AI-related pay packets, maybe the most highly compensated business hire from the political world. If you have a suggested equivalent, please send it along.