San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – Meta on Monday appointed banker Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chairman, tapping a former member of the Trump administration to help steer the technology giant’s massive AI infrastructure expansion.
Powell McCormick, who served on Meta’s board, will join the company’s management team as it scales what founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as “the massive physical and financial model that will power the next decade of computing.” “Dina’s experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth,” Zuckerberg said.
In a separate post, Zuckerberg said 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.” The appointment comes as Meta accelerates investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers and energy supply.
In her new role at Meta, Powell McCormick’s banking experience will be key. She will help guide the company’s overall AI infrastructure strategy and oversee its multi-billion-dollar investments. She will also focus on building partnerships to expand the company’s investment capacity, the company said, as Meta seeks to keep up with its big tech rivals in spending massively on AI.
An Egyptian-American, Powell McCormick spent 16 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs, serving on the firm’s management committee and leading its global sovereign investment banking business. Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East have become major investors in the AI infrastructure build-out and could play a role in Meta achieving its AI spending goals.
Her last job was at BDT & MSD Partners, a bank and advisory firm that has been involved in finding US investors for TikTok, according to news outlet Axios. Her hiring continues Zuckerberg’s political pivot to the right, with Republican Powell McCormick one of the company’s most visible arrivals since Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer and member of the Clinton administration who left in 2022.
Zuckerberg has recently made a visible shift toward President Donald Trump and conservative positions, doing away with third-party fact-checking, reversing company diversity initiatives, and embracing a more traditionally masculine image. Trump congratulated Powell McCormick on the appointment in a social media post, calling her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction.”
Powell McCormick served as deputy national security advisor during Trump’s first term, a role in which she helped shape US foreign policy. She is married to the Republican senator from Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick.
© 2024 AFP
